Strategic decisions can tend to involve
how you might distinguish yourself from the competition.
So again in the context of this case, is this an important decision for Piaggio?
It might be, right?
So when we think about that specific decision that is
highlighted in the case, one of the challenges here is, how to
connect that to the kind of analytical tools you can bring to bear on the case.
Because again,you've got opportunity to use your tools here, or
frameworks to learn something about Piaggio and
Piaggio's situation and it's position in the industry.
So for instance, you could use a five forces analysis,
that would tell you something about the dynamics of the industry, and
the makeup of the competitive environment.
Is this a tough industry to be in or not so tough?
And why or why not?
That might be a useful tool to use.
You might conduct an environmental analysis that will tell you something
about trends in the industry and how things are likely to change in the future.
But I think the challenge here is to figure out how to put those things
together, how can you connect the decision,
there's a specific decision in this case to the kinds of analytical tools in
analysis you might do with those tools, right.
So I had one student observe once after reading and discussing and
thinking about this case, the student said,
you know when I first read the case I thought that what the case was really
about was should they build this green engine plant, but this student told me,
after I really carefully considered the case and had conducted a lot of analysis,
I came to the conclusion that whether we had to build the green engine plant or
not, if we're Piaggio, may not be the key question in the case, and
I think that idea sort of evokes something that we often see in consulting.
Consultants often talk about how, in a given situation or case,
there's a presenting problem and then there's a real, or a fundamental problem.
And I think we might see that a little bit in this Piaggio case.
There's a presenting problem, the question you're given in the case explicitly is
should Piaggio build this green engine plant.
But as you do some analysis, it might lead you to think that well,
there's maybe more of a fundamental or a real issue that needs to be considered.
And I think you might decide that a key issue in this case involves Piaggio's
competitive position.
What position do they occupy and
how does that compare to their competitors positions?
And that might be sort of a key area of focus.
So you know as you start to do your analysis, a fundamental you might
as yourself is if you're Piaggio, what competitive position do you want?
And there's some tools that you can use to help you figure that out, right?
You could think about generic, competitive positions in a market segment.