Discuss the general environment elements
Strategic Management
You will answer all five questions on the following pages. The answers all pertain to the Caribou Coffee video and the Wikipedia page that was assigned before the exam. In all questions you must use concepts discussed in class and in the reading material. Everyone has the same space for answering questions – one page per answer! Use only the space provided for each question. Please use good grammar and spelling.
Criteria for exam evaluation:
You must demonstrate both an understanding of the video that you saw in preparation for this exam as well as the concepts in the chapters of your text and the cases that we also discussed in class. I do not want just a regurgitation of material from the text. Instead, you need to provide keen analysis of the important issues and how they will affect the company over time and why they will affect the company.
A word to the wise: know the material, think about it, allocate your space carefully, and organize your answers so that they are convincing and easy to read. Explain your answers.
1. Using information from the video and Wikipedia, discuss the general environment elements that are affecting the companies in the industry and how these forces might affect the companies in the industry in the future. What opportunities and threats do you perceive?
2. Please conduct a five forces analysis of the industry. In general is this an attractive industry. Explain.
3. Describe the internal environment of the company. What are its resources and capabilities? What core competencies does it possess? Are they the source of a competitive advantage? Explain.
4. Discuss Caribou Coffee’s business-level strategy (please provide evidence of this). Does the company have a good fit between its resources and capabilities and its business-level strategy? Explain. What threats do you see for Caribou given its business-level strategy? Be specific.
5. Imagine that you are the CEO of Caribou. What strategic actions would you take to grow the company (be specific and justify your recommendations with sound logic). What would you expect competitors would do in response (be specific). How should Caribou respond to these competitor reactions?
