Fluent Essays

Please read chapter 10 and answer questions.  1. Name and describe two problems caused by agency relationships in organizations. 2.Name 2 methods used to keep management (agents) from acting purely in their own self-interests. 3.Name a company that you feel has an ineffective board of directors.  Why do you feel that way?  What could the board do to improve your perception of them? 4.One example of agency theory is product diversification.   What is agency theory?  How could diversification lead to conflicts of interest between the company and the execs hired to take care of the company? Michael A. Hitt Texas A&M University and Texas Christian University R. Duane Ireland Texas A&M University Robert E. Hoskisson Rice University STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT Competitiveness & Globalization Concepts and Cases 12e Australia • Brazil • Japan • Korea • Mexico • Singapore • Spain • United Kingdom • United States © 2017, 2015 Cengage Learning® WCN: 01-100-101 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this work covered by the copyright herein may be reproduced, transmitted, stored, or used in any form or by any means graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including but not limited to photocopying, recording, scanning, digitizing, taping, Web distribution, information networks, or information storage and retrieval systems, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Unless otherwise noted all items © Cengage Learning. Library of Congress Control Number: 2015955692 ISBN: 978-1-305-50214-7 Cengage Learning 20 Channel Center Street Boston, MA 02210 USA Cengage Learning is a leading provider of customized learning solutions with employees residing in nearly 40 different countries and sales in more than 125 countries around the world. Find your local representative at www.cengage.com. Cengage Learning products are represented in Canada by Nelson Education, Ltd. To learn more about Cengage Learning Solutions, visit www.cengage.com Purchase any of our products at your local college store or at our preferred online store www.cengagebrain.com Strategic Management: Competitiveness & Globalization: Concepts and Cases, 12e Michael A. Hitt, R. Duane Ireland, and Robert E. Hoskisson Vice President, General Manager, Social Science & Qualitative Business: Erin Joyner Product Director: Jason Fremder Senior Product Manager: Scott Person Content Developer: Tara Singer Product Assistant: Brian Pierce Marketing Director: Kristen Hurd Marketing Manager: Emily Horowitz Marketing Coordinator: Christopher Walz Senior Content Project Manager: Kim Kusnerak Manufacturing Planner: Ron Montgomery Production Service: Cenveo Publisher Services Senior Art Director: Linda May Cover/Internal Designer: Tippy McIntosh Cover Image: © RomanOkopny/Getty Images Intellectual Property Analyst: Diane Garrity Project Manager: Sarah Shainwald Strategic Focus: © RomanOkopny/Getty Images Watercolor opener: © BerSonnE/Getty Images For product information and technology assistance, contact us at Cengage Learning Customer & Sales Support, 1-800-354-9706 For permission to use material from this text or product, submit all requests online at www.cengage.com/permissions Further permissions questions can be emailed to [email protected] Printed in Canada Print Number: 01 Print Year: 2016 To My Family: I love each and every one of you. Thank you for all of your love and support. — Michael, DaD, PaPa To Mary Ann: “Now everyone dreams of a love lasting and true.” This was my dream that you have completely fulfilled. Thank you for all of the love, support, and encouragement throughout our life together. — R. Duane iRelanD To Kathy: My love for you is eternal, and I hope that we can be eternally together. Thanks for all the support and love you’ve given me throughout my life. — BoB Preface, xiii About the Authors, xx Part 1: Strategic Management Inputs 2 1. Strategic Management and Strategic Competitiveness, 2 2. The External Environment: Opportunities, Threats, Industry Competition, and Competitor Analysis, 38 3. The Internal Organization: Resources, Capabilities, Core Competencies, and Competitive Advantages, 76 Part 2: Strategic Actions: Strategy Formulation 108 4. Business-Level Strategy, 108 5. Competitive Rivalry and Competitive Dynamics, 142 6. Corporate-Level Strategy, 172 7. Merger and Acquisition Strategies, 204 8. International Strategy, 236 9. Cooperative Strategy, 276 Part 3: Strategic Actions: Strategy Implementation 308 10. Corporate Governance, 308 11. Organizational Structure and Controls, 344 12. Strategic Leadership, 382 13. Strategic Entrepreneurship, 416 Part 4: Case Studies C-1 Name Index, I-1 Company Index, I-20 Subject Index, I-23 Brief Contents iv Preface xiii About the Authors xx Part 1: Strategic Management Inputs 2 1: Strategic Management and Strategic Competitiveness 2 Opening Case: Alibaba: An Online Colossus in China Goes Global 3 1-1 The Competitive Landscape 7 1-1a The Global Economy 8 1-1b Technology and Technological Changes 10 Strategic Focus: Starbucks Is “Juicing” Its Earnings per Store through Technological Innovations 11 1-2 The I/O Model of Above-Average Returns 14 1-3 The Resource-Based Model of Above-Average Returns 16 1-4 Vision and Mission 18 1-4a Vision 18 1-4b Mission 19 1-5 Stakeholders 19 Strategic Focus: The Failure of BlackBerry to Develop an Ecosystem of Stakeholders 20 1-5a Classifications of Stakeholders 21 1-6 Strategic Leaders 25 1-6a The Work of Effective Strategic Leaders 25 1-7 The Strategic Management Process 26 Summary 28 • Key Terms 28 • Review Questions 29 • Mini-Case 29 • Notes 30 2: The External Environment: Opportunities, Threats, Industry Competition, and Competitor Analysis 38 Opening Case: Are There Cracks in the Golden Arches? 39 2-1 The General, Industry, and Competitor Environments 41 2-2 External Environmental Analysis 43 2-2a Scanning 43 2-2b Monitoring 44 2-2c Forecasting 44 2-2d Assessing 45 2-3 Segments of the General Environment 45 2-3a The Demographic Segment 45 2-3b The Economic Segment 48 2-3c The Political/Legal Segment 49 2-3d The Sociocultural Segment 50 2-3e The Technological Segment 51 2-3f The Global Segment 52 Contents v vi Contents 2-3g The Sustainable Physical Environment Segment 53 Strategic Focus: Target Lost Its Sway Because Tar-zhey No Longer Drew the Customers 54 2-4 Industry Environment Analysis 55 2-4a Threat of New Entrants 56 2-4b Bargaining Power of Suppliers 59 2-4c Bargaining Power of Buyers 60 2-4d Threat of Substitute Products 60 2-4e Intensity of Rivalry among Competitors 60 2-5 Interpreting Industry Analyses 63 2-6 Strategic Groups 63 Strategic Focus: Watch Out All Retailers, Here Comes Amazon; Watch Out Amazon, Here Comes Jet.com 64 2-7 Competitor Analysis 65 2-8 Ethical Considerations 67 Summary 68 • Key Terms 68 • Review Questions 68 • Mini-Case 69 • Notes 70 3: The Internal Organization: Resources, Capabilities, Core Competencies, and Competitive Advantages 76 Opening Case: Data Analytics, Large Pharmaceutical Companies, and Core Competencies: A Brave New World 77 3-1 Analyzing the Internal Organization 79 3-1a The Context of Internal Analysis 79 3-1b Creating Value 81 3-1c The Challenge of Analyzing the Internal Organization 81 3-2 Resources, Capabilities, and Core Competencies 84 3-2a Resources 84 Strategic Focus: Strengthening the Superdry Brand as a Foundation to Strategic Success 85 3-2b Capabilities 88 3-2c Core Competencies 89 3-3 Building Core Competencies 89 3-3a The Four Criteria of Sustainable Competitive Advantage 89 3-3b Value Chain Analysis 93 3-4 Outsourcing 96 3-5 Competencies, Strengths, Weaknesses, and Strategic Decisions 96 Strategic Focus: “We’re Outsourcing that Activity but Not That One? I’m Surprised!” 97 Summary 98 • Key Terms 99 • Review Questions 99 • Mini-Case 100 • Notes 101 Part 2: Strategic Actions: Strategy Formulation 108 4: Business-Level Strategy 108 Opening Case: Hain Celestial Group: A Firm Focused on “Organic” Differentiation 109 4-1 Customers: Their Relationship with Business-Level Strategies 112 4-1a Effectively Managing Relationships with Customers 112 4-1b Reach, Richness, and Affiliation 113 4-1c Who: Determining the Customers to Serve 114 4-1d What: Determining Which Customer Needs to Satisfy 114 viiContents 4-1e How: Determining Core Competencies Necessary to Satisfy Customer Needs 115 4-2 The Purpose of a Business-Level Strategy 116 4-3 Types of Business-Level Strategies 117 4-3a Cost Leadership Strategy 118 4-3b Differentiation Strategy 122 Strategic Focus: Apple vs. Samsung: Apple Differentiates and Samsung Imperfectly Imitates 126 4-3c Focus Strategies 127 4-3d Integrated Cost Leadership/Differentiation Strategy 129 Strategic Focus: RadioShack’s Failed Focus Strategy: Strategic Flip-Flopping 130 Summary 134 • Key Terms 135 • Review Questions 135 • Mini-Case 135 • Notes 136 5: Competitive Rivalry and Competitive Dynamics 142 Opening Case: Does Google Have Competition? Dynamics of the High Technology Markets 143 5-1 A Model of Competitive Rivalry 146 5-2 Competitor Analysis 147 5-2a Market Commonality 147 5-2b Resource Similarity 148 Strategic Focus: Does Kellogg Have the Tiger by the Tail or Is It the Reverse? 150 5-3 Drivers of Competitive Behavior 150 5-4 Competitive Rivalry 152 5-4a Strategic and Tactical Actions 152 5-5 Likelihood of Attack 153 5-5a First-Mover Benefits 153 5-5b Organizational Size 155 5-5c Quality 156 5-6 Likelihood of Response 157 5-6a Type of Competitive Action 157 5-6b Actor’s Reputation 158 5-6c Market Dependence 158 5-7 Competitive Dynamics 159 5-7a Slow-Cycle Markets 159 5-7b Fast-Cycle Markets 161 5-7c Standard-Cycle Markets 162 Strategic Focus: The Ripple Effect of Supermarket Wars: Aldi Is Changing the Markets in Many Countries 163 Summary 164 • Key Terms 166 • Review Questions 166 • Mini-Case 166 • Notes 167 6: Corporate-Level Strategy 172 Opening Case: Disney Adds Value Using a Related Diversification Strategy 173 6-1 Levels of Diversification 175 6-1a Low Levels of Diversification 176 6-1b Moderate and High Levels of Diversification 177 6-2 Reasons for Diversification 178 6-3 Value-Creating Diversification: Related Constrained and Related Linked Diversification 179 viii Contents 6-3a Operational Relatedness: Sharing Activities 180 6-3b Corporate Relatedness: Transferring of Core Competencies 181 6-3c Market Power 182 6-3d Simultaneous Operational Relatedness and Corporate Relatedness 184 6-4 Unrelated Diversification 185 6-4a Efficient Internal Capital Market Allocation 185 Strategic Focus: GE and United Technology Are Firms that Have Pursued Internal Capital Allocation and Restructuring Strategies 186 6-4b Restructuring of Assets 187 6-5 Value-Neutral Diversification: Incentives and Resources 188 6-5a Incentives to Diversify 188 Strategic Focus: Coca-Cola’s Diversification to Deal with Its Reduced Growth in Soft Drinks 190 6-5b Resources and Diversification 192 6-6 Value-Reducing Diversification: Managerial Motives to Diversify 193 Summary 196 • Key Terms 196 • Review Questions 196 • Mini-Case 197 • Notes 198 7: Merger and Acquisition Strategies 204 Opening Case: Mergers and Acquisitions: Prominent Strategies for Firms Seeking to Enhance Their Performance 205 7-1 The Popularity of Merger and Acquisition Strategies 206 7-1a Mergers, Acquisitions, and Takeovers: What Are the Differences? 207 7-2 Reasons for Acquisitions 208 Strategic Focus: A Merger of Equals: Making It Happen Isn’t Easy! 209 7-2a Increased Market Power 210 7-2b Overcoming Entry Barriers 211 Strategic Focus: Different Strategic Rationales Driving Cross-Border Acquisitions 212 7-2c Cost of New Product Development and Increased Speed to Market 213 7-2d Lower Risk Compared to Developing New Products 214 7-2e Increased Diversification 214 7-2f Reshaping the Firm’s Competitive Scope 215 7-2g Learning and Developing New Capabilities 215 7-3 Problems in Achieving Acquisition Success 216 7-3a Integration Difficulties 217 7-3b Inadequate Evaluation of Target 218 7-3c Large or Extraordinary Debt 219 7-3d Inability to Achieve Synergy 220 7-3e Too Much Diversification 221 7-3f Managers Overly Focused on Acquisitions 221 7-3g Too Large 222 7-4 Effective Acquisitions 222 7-5 Restructuring 224 7-5a Downsizing 224 7-5b Downscoping 224 7-5c Leveraged Buyouts 225 7-5d Restructuring Outcomes 225 Summary 227 • Key Terms 228 • Review Questions 228 • Mini-Case 228 • Notes 230 ixContents 8: International Strategy 236 Opening Case: Netflix Ignites Growth Through International Expansion, But Such Growth Also Fires Up the Competition 237 8-1 Identifying International Opportunities 239 8-1a Incentives to Use International Strategy 239 8-1b Three Basic Benefits of International Strategy 241 8-2 International Strategies 243 8-2a International Business-Level Strategy 243 8-2b International Corporate-Level Strategy 246 Strategic Focus: Furniture Giant IKEA’s Global Strategy 248 8-3 Environmental Trends 250 8-3a Liability of Foreignness 250 8-3b Regionalization 251 8-4 Choice of International Entry Mode 252 8-4a Exporting 253 8-4b Licensing 253 8-4c Strategic Alliances 254 8-4d Acquisitions 255 8-4e New Wholly Owned Subsidiary 256 8-4f Dynamics of Mode of Entry 257 8-5 Risks in an International Environment 258 8-5a Political Risks 258 8-5b Economic Risks 259 Strategic Focus: The Global Soccer Industry and the Effect of the FIFA Scandal 260 8-6 Strategic Competitiveness Outcomes 262 8-6a International Diversification and Returns 262 8-6b Enhanced Innovation 263 8-7 The Challenge of International Strategies 264 8-7a Complexity of Managing International Strategies 264 8-7b Limits to International Expansion 264 Summary 265 • Key Terms 266 • Review Questions 266 • Mini-Case 266 • Notes 268 9: Cooperative Strategy 276 Opening Case: Google, Intel, and Tag Heuer: Collaborating to Produce a Smartwatch 277 9-1 Strategic Alliances as a Primary Type of Cooperative Strategy 279 9-1a Types of Major Strategic Alliances 279 9-1b Reasons Firms Develop Strategic Alliances 281 9-2 Business-Level Cooperative Strategy 284 9-2a Complementary Strategic Alliances 284 9-2b Competition Response Strategy 286 9-2c Uncertainty-Reducing Strategy 287 9-2d Competition-Reducing Strategy 287 Strategic Focus: Strategic Alliances as the Foundation for Tesla Motors’ Operations 288 9-2e Assessing Business-Level Cooperative Strategies 290 9-3 Corporate-Level Cooperative Strategy 290 9-3a Diversifying Strategic Alliance 291 x Contents 9-3b Synergistic Strategic Alliance 291 9-3c Franchising 291 9-3d Assessing Corporate-Level Cooperative Strategies 292 9-4 International Cooperative Strategy 292 9-5 Network Cooperative Strategy 293 9-5a Alliance Network Types 294 9-6 Competitive Risks with Cooperative Strategies 295 Strategic Focus: Failing to Obtain Desired Levels of Success with Cooperative Strategies 296 9-7 Managing Cooperative Strategies 297 Summary 299 • Key Terms 300 • Review Questions 300 • Mini-Case 300 • Notes 302 Part 3: Strategic Actions: Strategy Implementation 308 10: Corporate Governance 308 Opening Case: The Corporate Raiders of the 1980s Have Become the Activist Shareholders of Today 309 10-1 Separation of Ownership and Managerial Control 312 10-1a Agency Relationships 313 10-1b Product Diversification as an Example of an Agency Problem 314 10-1c Agency Costs and Governance Mechanisms 316 10-2 Ownership Concentration 317 10-2a The Increasing Influence of Institutional Owners 318 10-3 Board of Directors 319 10-3a Enhancing the Effectiveness of the Board of Directors 321 10-3b Executive Compensation 322 10-3c The Effectiveness of Executive Compensation 323 Strategic Focus: Do CEOs Deserve the Large Compensation Packages They Receive? 324 10-4 Market for Corporate Control 325 10-4a Managerial Defense Tactics 326 10-5 International Corporate Governance 328 10-5a Corporate Governance in Germany and Japan 328 Strategic Focus: “Engagement” versus “Activist” Shareholders in Japan, Germany, and China 330 10-5b Corporate Governance in China 331 10-6 Governance Mechanisms and Ethical Behavior 332 Summary 333 • Key Terms 334 • Review Questions 334 • Mini-Case 335 • Notes 336 11: Organizational Structure and Controls 344 Opening Case: Luxottica’s Dual CEO Structure: A Key to Long-Term Success or a Cause for Concern? 345 11-1 Organizational Structure and Controls 347 11-1a Organizational Structure 347 Strategic Focus: Changing McDonald’s Organizational Structure: A Path to Improved Performance? 348 11-1b Organizational Controls 350 11-2 Relationships between Strategy and Structure 351 11-3 Evolutionary Patterns of Strategy and Organizational Structure 351 11-3a Simple Structure 352 xiContents 11-3b Functional Structure 353 11-3c Multidivisional Structure 353 11-3d Matches between Business-Level Strategies and the Functional Structure 354 11-3e Matches between Corporate-Level Strategies and the Multidivisional Structure 357 Strategic Focus: Sony Corporation’s New Organizational Structure: Greater Financial Accountability and Focused Allocations of Resources 362 11-3f Matches between International Strategies and Worldwide Structure 365 11-3g Matches between Cooperative Strategies and Network Structures 369 11-4 Implementing Business-Level Cooperative Strategies 370 11-5 Implementing Corporate-Level Cooperative Strategies 371 11-6 Implementing International Cooperative Strategies 372 Summary 373 • Key Terms 373 • Review Questions 374 • Mini-Case 374 • Notes 375 12: Strategic Leadership 382 Opening Case: Can You Follow an Icon and Succeed? Apple and Tim Cook After Steve Jobs 383 12-1 Strategic Leadership and Style 384 12-2 The Role of Top-Level Managers 387 12-2a Top Management Teams 387 12-3 Managerial Succession 391 Strategic Focus: Trial by Fire: CEO Succession at General Motors 395 12-4 Key Strategic Leadership Actions 396 12-4a Determining Strategic Direction 396 12-4b Effectively Managing the Firm’s Resource Portfolio 397 Strategic Focus: All the Ways You Can Fail! 400 12-4c Sustaining an Effective Organizational Culture 401 12-4d Emphasizing Ethical Practices 402 12-4e Establishing Balanced Organizational Controls 403 Summary 406 • Key Terms 407 • Review Questions 407 • Mini-Case 407 • Notes 409 13: Strategic Entrepreneurship 416 Opening Case: Entrepreneurial Fervor and Innovation Drive Disney’s Success 417 13-1 Entrepreneurship and Entrepreneurial Opportunities 419 13-2 Innovation 420 13-3 Entrepreneurs 420 13-4 International Entrepreneurship 421 13-5 Internal Innovation 422 13-5a Incremental and Novel Innovation 423 Strategic Focus: Innovation Can Be Quirky 425 13-5b Autonomous Strategic Behavior 426 13-5c Induced Strategic Behavior 427 13-6 Implementing Internal Innovations 427 13-6a Cross-Functional Product Development Teams 428 13-6b Facilitating Integration and Innovation 429 13-6c Creating Value from Internal Innovation 429 13-7 Innovation through Cooperative Strategies 430 xii Contents 13-8 Innovation through Acquisitions 431 Strategic Focus: What Explains the Lack of Innovation at American Express? Is It Hubris, Inertia, or Lack of Capability? 432 13-9 Creating Value through Strategic Entrepreneurship 433 Summary 435 • Key Terms 436 • Review Questions 436 • Mini-Case 436 • Notes 437 Part 4: Case Studies C-1 Preparing an Effective Case Analysis C-4 CASE 1: Kindle Fire: Amazon’s Heated Battle for the Tablet Market C-13 CASE 2: American Express: Bank 2.0 C-30 CASE 3: BP In Russia: Bad Partners or Bad Partnerships? (A) C-42 CASE 4: Carlsberg in Emerging Markets C-47 CASE 5: Fisk Alloy Wire, Inc. and Percon C-56 CASE 6: Business Model and Competitive Strategy of IKEA in India C-66 CASE 7: Invitrogen (A) C-78 CASE 8: Keurig: From David to Goliath: The Challenge of Gaining and Maintaining Marketplace Leadership C-87 CASE 9: KIPP Houston Public Schools C-97 CASE 10: Luck Companies: Igniting Human Potential C-112 CASE 11: Corporate Governance at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia: Not “A Good Thing” C-126 CASE 12: The Movie Exhibition Industry: 2015 C-141 CASE 13: Polaris and Victory: Entering and Growing the Motorcycle Business C-161 CASE 14: Safaricom: Innovative Telecom Solutions to Empower Kenyans C-179 CASE 15: Siemens: Management Innovation at the Corporate Level C-193 CASE 16: Southwest Airlines C-208 CASE 17: Starbucks Corporation: The New S-Curves C-223 CASE 18: Super Selectos: Winning the War Against Multinational Retail Chains C-237 CASE 19: Tim Hortons Inc. C-250 CASE 20: W. L. Gore—Culture of Innovation C-262 Name Index I-1 Company Index I-20 Subject Index I-23 Chapter 2: xiii Preface xiii Our goal in writing each edition of this book is to present a new, up-to-date standard for explaining the strategic management process. To reach this goal with the 12th edition of our market-leading text, we again present you with an intellectually rich yet thoroughly practical analysis of strategic management. With each new edition, we work hard to achieve the goal of maintaining the standard that we established for presenting strategic management knowledge in a readable style. To prepare for each new edition, we carefully study the most recent academic research to ensure that the content about strategic management that we present to you is up to date and accurate. In addition, we continuously read articles appearing in many different and widely read business publications (e.g., Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg Businessweek, Fortune, Financial Times, Fast Company, and Forbes, to name a few). We also study post- ings through social media (such as blogs) given their increasing use as channels of infor- mation distribution. By studying a wide array of sources, we are able to identify valuable examples of how companies are using (or not using) the strategic management process. Though many of the hundreds of companies that we discuss in the book will be quite familiar, some will likely be new to you. One reason for this is that we use examples of companies from around the world to demonstrate the globalized nature of business operations. To maximize your opportunities to learn as you read and think about how actual companies use strategic management tools, techniques, and concepts (based on the most current research), we emphasize a lively and user-friendly writing style. To facilitate learning, we use an Analysis-Strategy-Performance framework that is explained in Chapter 1 and referenced throughout the book. Several characteristics of this 12th edition of our book are designed to enhance your learning experience: ■■ First, we are pleased to note that this book presents you with the most comprehensive and thorough coverage of strategic management that is available in the market. ■■ The research used in this book is drawn from the “classics” as well as the most recent contributions to the strategic management literature. The historically significant “classic” research provides the foundation for much of what is known about strate- gic management, while the most recent contributions reveal insights about how to effectively use strategic management in the complex, global business environment in which firms now compete. Our book also presents you with many up-to-date exam- ples of how firms use the strategic management tools, techniques, and concepts that prominent researchers have developed. Indeed, although this book is grounded in the relevant theory and current research, it also is strongly application oriented and pres- ents you, our readers, with a large number of examples and applications of strategic management concepts, techniques, and tools. In this edition, for example, we examine more than 600 companies to describe the use of strategic management. Collectively, no other strategic management book presents you with the combination of useful and insightful research and applications in a wide variety of organizations as does this text. xiv Preface Company examples you will find in this edition range from large U.S.-based firms such as Apple, Amazon.com, McDonald’s, Starbucks, Walmart, Walt Disney, General Electric, Intel, American Express, Coca-Cola, Google, Target, United Technologies, Kellogg, DuPont, Marriott, and Whole Foods. In addition, we examine firms based in countries other than the United States such as Sony, Aldi, Honda, Tata Consultancy, Alibaba, IKEA, Lenova, Luxottica, and Samsung. As these lists suggest, the firms examined in this book compete in a wide range of industries and produce a diverse set of goods and services. ■■ We use the ideas of many prominent scholars (e.g., Ron Adner, Rajshree Agarwal, Gautam Ahuja, Raffi Amit, Africa Arino, Jay Barney, Paul Beamish, Peter Buckley, Ming-Jer Chen, Russ Coff, Rich D’Aveni, Kathy Eisenhardt, Gerry George, Javier Gimeno, Luis Gomez-Mejia, Melissa Graebner, Ranjay Gulati, Don Hambrick, Connie Helfat, Amy Hillman, Tomas Hult, Dave Ketchen, Dovev Lavie, Yadong Luo, Shige Makino, Costas Markides, Anita McGahan, Danny Miller, Will Mitchell, Margie Peteraf, Michael Porter, Nandini Rajagopalan, Jeff Reuer, Joan Ricart, Richard Rumelt, David Sirmon, Ken Smith, Steve Tallman, David Teece, Michael Tushman, Margarethe Wiersema, Oliver Williamson, Mike Wright, Anthea Zhang, and Ed Zajac) to shape the discussion of what strategic management is. We describe the practices of promi- nent executives and practitioners (e.g., Mary Barra, Jack Ma, Reed Hastings, Howard Schultz, John Mackey, Yang Yuanqing, Angela Ahrendt, Marilyn Hewson, Jeff Immelt, Ellen Kullman, Elon Musk, Paul Pullman, Li Ka-Shing, Karen Patz, and many others) to help us describe how strategic management is used in many types of organizations. The authors of this book are also active scholars. We conduct research on a number of strategic management topics. Our interest in doing so is to contribute to the strategic management literature and to better understand how to effectively apply strategic man- agement tools, techniques, and concepts to increase organizational performance. Thus, our own research is integrated in the appropriate chapters along with the research of numerous other scholars, some of whom are noted above. In addition to our book’s characteristics, there are some specific features and revisions that we have made in this 12th edition that we are pleased to highlight for you: ■■ New Opening Cases and Strategic Focus Segments We continue our tradition of providing all-new Opening Cases and Strategic Focus segments! Many of these deal with companies located outside North America. In addition, all of the company-spe- cific examples included in each chapter are either new or substantially updated. Through all of these venues, we present you with a wealth of examples of how actual organizations, most of which compete internationally as well as in their home mar- kets, use the strategic management process for the purpose of outperforming rivals and increasing their performance. ■■ Twenty Cases are included in this edition. Offering an effective mix of organizations headquartered or based in North America and a number of other countries as well, the cases deal with contemporary and highly important topics. Many of the cases have full financial data (the analyses of which are in the Case Notes that are available to instructors). These timely cases present active learners with opportunities to apply the strategic management process and understand organizational conditions and contexts and to make appropriate recommendations to deal with critical concerns. These cases can also be found in MindTap. ■■ New Mini-Cases have been added that demonstrate how companies deal with major issues highlighted in the text. There are 13 of these cases, one for each chapter, although some of them can overlap with other chapter content. Students will like their conciseness, but they likewise provide rich content that can serve as a catalyst for individual or group analysis and class discussion. Each Mini-Case is followed by a set of questions to guide analysis and discussion. xvPreface ■■ More than 1,200 new references from 2014 and 2015 are included in the chapters’ endnotes. We used the materials associated with these references to support new material added or current strategic management concepts that are included in this edition. In addition to demonstrating the classic and recent research from which we draw our material, the large number of references supporting the book’s contents allow us to integrate cutting-edge research and thinking into a presentation of strate- gic management tools, techniques, and concepts. ■■ New content was added to several chapters. Examples include the strategic ecosystem such as the one used by Apple with its “ecosystem of app producers” (Chapters 1 and 4), sustainable physical environment (Chapter 3), mentoring new CEOs (Chapter 12), …