Exam InstructionsThere are five essay exam questions below. Select three of them to answer.Eachâ€

Exam Instructions:There are five essay exam questions below. Select three of them to answer.Each question starts with an abstract of an article in Business Week Magazine. Copy and paste the link into your browser to access the full article.Question 11. Please read the article below by copying and pasting the link into your web browser.Sony’s TV Business Keeps Fading to Red (.businessweek.com/magazine/sonys-tv-business-keeps-fading-to-red-08042011.html?chan=magazine+technology+channel_news+-“>http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/sonys-tv-business-keeps-fading-to-red-08042011.html?chan=magazine+technology+channel_news+-+companies+%26amp%3b+industries)Reviewer: Charles NewmanAbstractTwo months ago, Sony optimisticallypredicted it would sell 27 million TV sets this year; on July 28, it slashedthe figure to 22 million and issueda profit warning. The television business, Sony’s biggest revenue generator,is forecast to lose a billion dollarsthis year—following seven straight years of red ink. (PHG )Royal PhilipsElectronics and several other longtimerivals have called it quits, saying they can’t compete as prices tumbleinto commodity territory. But Sony Chief ExecutiveOfficer Howard Stringer considers the TV unit vital tohelping sell products that work with the company’ssets, including Blu-ray players and its popular PlayStationgame consoles.On Aug. 1, Sony said it would not divest its TV business and the next day announced that a reorganization of the unit is in the works. There’s little fat left to cut. Stringer already has eliminated 30,000 jobs, entered into joint manufacturing ventures with rivals and shed assets.Sony’s widescreen woes aren’t unique. Most major manufacturers are sitting on six- to 10-weeks’ inventory as consumers show scant interest in the latest features such as sets with Internet connectivity or those that can show movies in 3D, says (IHS) IHS iSuppli analyst Riddhi Patel. Not helping matters is the slew of smaller-screen devices such as iPads and iPhones that are competing for consumers’ disposable income.Discussion Questions1. Discuss the structural characteristics of the television manufacturing industry using the Five Competitive Forces (Porter) framework. To help you answer this question here is a link to further information TV-Manufacturing-Wars-March2010 (.marconipacific.com/TV-Manufacturing-Wars-March2010.pdf”>http://www.marconipacific.com/TV-Manufacturing-Wars-March2010.pdf). Feel free to find and cite other information sources as well.2. Discuss the Sony strategy using the Resource-Based View of the Firm framework.3. Discuss the Sony strategy using the Competitive Advantage (Porter) framework.Question 2Please read the articles below by copying and pasting the link into your web browser.Walmart’s Rocky Path from Bricks to Clicks (.businessweek.com/magazine/walmarts-rocky-path-from-bricks-to-clicks-07212011.html”>http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/walmarts-rocky-path-from-bricks-to-clicks-07212011.html)Reviewer: Charles Newman AbstractWalmart.com’s sales are less than a fifth of Amazon.com, but a new division, @WalmartLabs, is experimentingwith social media and mobile apps. Since Wal-Mart Stores first ventured into cyberspace 15 years ago, theBentonville, Ark., company has struggled online. Early on, Walmart.com featured a clunky digital version ofthe greeter who welcomes shoppers at each store. Walmart.com still doesn’t excel at features that arecommonplace on other major e-commerce sites, such as personalization and recommendations.The company doesn’t disclose its online sales, but analysts say Walmart.com does about $6 billion a year inbusiness, less than 2 percent of total sales and well below Amazon.com’s $34 billion in 2010 retail revenue. Fora long time, Wal-Mart’s poor online performance didn’t much matter. The retailer built hundreds ofSupercenters every year in the late 1990s, and profits soared. Over the past two years, however, the companyhas cut its new U.S. store development by half. Sales at domestic Wal-Marts open for at least a year havedeclined in each of the last eight quarters. Over that time e-commerce has exploded, even among the lower-income households that are Wal-Mart’s core customers.Chief Executive Officer Mike Duke has recently focused his company’s considerable firepower (and an $11 billion cash hoard) on improving its use of the Web. He bought a Chinese online merchant, is testing home delivery of fresh groceries ordered online in San Jose, and most significantly, has created @WalmartLabs. Run by Silicon Valley veterans Venky Harinarayan and Anand Rajaraman, the division is charged with bringingWal-Mart up to speed with innovations such as smartphone paymenttechnology, mobileshopping applications,and Twitter-influenced product selection for stores. It’s an ambitiousattempt at a technological makeover, butstill might not be enough. One goal of @WalmartLabs is to use social media and mobileapps to get shoppers tospend more at Wal-Mart’s physical stores. One-third of Wal-Mart customers own a smartphone, and the company is investing in tools for them. The plans for increasing online sales are more vague. The@WalmartLabs divisionis testing an app that allowsFacebook users to give gifts withoutever clicking awayfrom the social network.DiscussionQuestions1. Discussthe structuralcharacteristics of the onlineretail Industry, from the point of viewof the FiveCompetitive Forces (Porter) framework. To help you answer this question here is a link to further information Online Retail — Industry Overview(.streetauthority.com/cmnts/pt/2005/03-10.asp”>http://web.streetauthority.com/cmnts/pt/2005/03-10.asp). Feel free to find and cite other information sources as well.2.Discuss the Wal-Mart online strategy, from the perspective of the Resource Based View of the Firm framework.3.Discuss the Wal-Mart online strategy, from the perspective of the Competitive Advantage (Porter) framework.Question 3Please read the articles below by copying and pasting the link into your web browser. Citigroup Hopes Small Really IsBeautiful(.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_48/b4205061118307.htm?chan=magazine+chan”>http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_48/b4205061118307.htm?chan=magazine+chan nel_news+-+markets+%2B+finance)Reviewer: Charles NewmanAbstractThe Bloomberg Businessweek article “Citigroup Hopes Small Really Is Beautiful” (Nov. 22-Nov. 28, 2010) discusses how Citigroup is expanding in small business lending. It is targeting U.S. companies with less than $20 million in annual sales and plans to hire about 200 bankers by the end of 2011 to court them. That would bring the number of small business bankers to about 500. Expanding the bank’s focus to include doctors, restaurants, and cabinet makers alongside Coca- Cola and wealthy individuals won’t be easy. It’s totally different and requires a good deal of monitoring.The four largest banks by assets have been criticized by some entrepreneurs for tightening credit to small business after taking a combined $140 billion of federal bailout money. A record 41 percent of small business owners say they cannot get adequate financing. Banks with less than $10 billion in assets make 56 percent of the country’s small business loans. Larger banks are now trying to muscle in as losses stay high on home loans and commercial mortgages.Discussion Questions1. Discuss the structural characteristics of the banking industry from the point of view of the Five Competitive Forces (Porter)(.12manage.com/methods_porter_five_forces.html”>http://www.12manage.com/methods_porter_five_forces.html ) framework. To help you answer this question here is a link to further information The Industry Handbook: The Banking Industry(.investopedia.com/features/industryhandbook/banking.asp”>http://www.investopedia.com/features/industryhandbook/banking.asp. Feel free to find and cite other information sources as well.)2. Discuss the Citibank strategy from the perspective of theBCG Matrix (.quickmba.com/strategy/matrix/bcg/”>http://www.quickmba.com/strategy/matrix/bcg/ ) framework.3. Discuss the Citibank strategy from the perspective of the Competitive Advantage (Porter) (.12manage.com/methods_porter_competitive_advantage.html”>http://www.12manage.com/methods_porter_competitive_advantage.html ) framework.Question 4Please read the articles below by copying and pasting the link into your web browser. United and Continental Reach for theSky(.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_20/b4178019955335.htm?chan=magazine+channel_n”>http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_20/b4178019955335.htm?chan=magazine+channel_n ews+-+companies+%2B+industries)Reviewer: Charles NewmanAbstractThe Bloomberg Businessweek article “United and Continental Reach for the Sky” (May 17, 2010) discusses the merger of United Airlines and Continental. The U.S. aviation history is littered with the debris of airline mergers. Jeff Smisek, the CEO to be of the combined airline, will have to figure out a way to generate profits atthe combined carrier after annual losses at UAL and Continental in each of the past two years. He will have to navigate a tough U.S. antitrust review and work with restive unions that had demanded the ouster of United CEO Glenn Tilton, who is staying on as nonexecutive chairman of the combined carrier.Key to Smisek’ssuccess will be his ability to realize $1.2 billionin combined cost savings and new revenue,while funnelingadditional traffic from the expanded United-Continental domestic network into its morelucrative international routes. Just managing the sheer logisticsof the combined airlines willbe a hugeundertaking. Traditionally, the key task has been harmonizingwork rules and consolidatingunion senioritylistsinto a single worker roster. Smisek must also convince regulatorsthat the Continental-United marriagewillnotsignificantly reduce competition. Some industry insiders believeregulators may force route divestituresor thesale of some of United and Continental’s takeoff and landing slots at coveted airports in the New York andWashington areas.Discussion Questions1. Discuss the structural characteristics of the airline industry from the point of view of the Porter Five Forces framework. To help you answer this question here is a link to further information The Industry Handbook: The Airline Industry (.investopedia.com/features/industryhandbook/airline.asp”>http://www.investopedia.com/features/industryhandbook/airline.asp ) . Feel free to find and cite other information sources as well.2. Discuss the United-Continental merger from the perspective of theAcquisition Integration Approaches(.12manage.com/methods_haspeslagh_acquisition_integration_approaches.html”>http://www.12manage.com/methods_haspeslagh_acquisition_integration_approaches.html ) framework.3. Discuss the United-Continental merger from the perspective of the Competitive Advantage (Porter) (.12manage.com/methods_porter_competitive_advantage.html”>http://www.12manage.com/methods_porter_competitive_advantage.html) framework.Question 5Please read the articles below by copying and pasting the linkinto your web browser.Revenge of the CableGuys(.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_12/b4171038593210.htm?chan=magazine+channel_”>http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_12/b4171038593210.htm?chan=magazine+channel_top+stories)Reviewer: Charles NewmanAbstractOnce upon a time, not long ago, a bunch of small companies in Silicon Valley thought the futureof televisionwas theirs. Soon, the thinking went, TV would be everywhere,including laptops and cell phones. The networksuits and the cable guys just didn’t have the digital chops to make it happen. Fueled with venturemoney, techcompanies with names like Boxee, Roku, and Sezmi pursued their dream of untethering viewersfrom their TVsets – and owning a piece of the advertising revenue.As the big picture comes into focus though, it looks like the cable guys are playing the lead roles, using the $12 billion they pay content providers each year as leverage. The cable guys came up with a quick fix, so that you don’t have to be a geek to get it: Viewers can watch shows for free, but only if they’re cable subscribers. However, unless most of the pay TV and content players band together, this idea, called TV Everywhere, wouldn’t work; viewers could simply flock to sites that don’t require a cable subscription.Comcast’s service is the furthest along and provides a window on where TV Everywhere is headed, accordingto the Bloomberg BusinessWeek article, “Revenge of the Cable Guys” (March 22, 2010). Only subscribers whohave Comcast’s broadband service are eligible. Subscribers can tune into two dozen channels and view 19,000 full-length TV shows and movies. They can use it on as many as three PCs and get most episodes 24 hours after they first air on TV. Eventually, Comcast aims to let subscribers access this content on their smartphones and tablets.Discussion Questions1. Discuss the structural characteristics of the TV industry from the point of view of the Five Competitive Forces (Porter) framework. To help you answer this question here is a link to further information TV-Manufacturing-Wars-March2010 (.marconipacific.com/TV-Manufacturing-Wars-March2010.pdf”>http://www.marconipacific.com/TV-Manufacturing-Wars-March2010.pdf ). Feel free to find and cite other information sources as well.2. Discuss the Comcast strategy from the perspective of the Resource-Based View of the Firm framework.3. Discuss the Comcast strategy from the perspective of the Competitive Advantage (Porter) framework.