Reference no: EM132098695

1. When Walmart decided to incorporate grocery stores into some locations and created "supercenters," was this a business-level strategy of differentiation or a corporate strategy of diversification? Why? Explain your answer.

2. Franchising is widely used in the casual dining and fast-food industry, yet Starbucks is quite successful with a large number of company-owned stores. In 2014 Starbucks had over 7,000 companyowned stores in the United States. How do you explain this difference? Is Starbucks bucking the bandwagon effect, or is something else going on?

3. The chapter identifies three governing mechanisms for strategic alliances (non-equity, equity, and joint venture). Provide the benefits for each of these mechanisms.

4. The alliance purpose can affect which governance structure is optimal. Compare a pharmaceutical R&D alliance with a prescription-drug marketing agreement, and recommend a governing mechanism for each. Provide reasons for your selections.

5. Professor Pankaj Ghemawat delivered a TED talk entitled " Actually, the World Isn't Flat." Do you agree with his assessment that the world is at most semi- globalized, and that we need to be careful not to fall victim to " globalony"?

6. "Licensing patented technology to a foreign competitor is likely to reduce or eliminate the firm's competitive advantage." True or false? Write a short paragraph defending your answer.