Reference no: EM131448862

Sensor tech's acquisition of Red Ant Technologies, Inc. was highly successful as it enabled Sensor Tech to obtain some of the cutting edge technologies and access to top-notch engineering talent. It turns out that the new motion sensor technologies have many applications that would enable self-driving cars detect other cars on the road. However, Sensor Tech does not have any experience in the automobile or related industries. Tim again wants to consult you for advices.

1) Tim first wants to know what the eco-system of the industry looks like. Please list the group of players occupying various value-adding activities in the evolving industry with examples of companies in the real world and a short description of the key strategic issues faced by each group. For instance, one group who clearly has a stake in the evolution of this industries is the traditional automobile manufacturers such as Ford, GM, and Toyota. These companies are studying whether the proliferation of self-driving cars will increase or reduce the demand for their cars and what type of new technologies they will need to develop to cope with the changes in the industry.

2) A few years go by and the self-driving cars became a reality! Meanwhile, Tim had engaged in an acquisition frenzy over the previous few years - some of them (e.g., Red Ant Technologies, Inc.) were highly successful and were integrated as part of Sensor tech, but others (mostly consumer-oriented businesses) were a disaster. Being a B2B business, Sensor Tech has never fully developed or even embraced consumer marketing that is vital in succeeding in the consumer market. The economy is now facing a recession and Tim is thinking about divesting some of the consumer-oriented business units. What factors should he consider to (a) decide which businesses to divest, and (b) how to divide up the assets between the divested units and the rest of the company?