Why was the videoconferencing market attractive (pre-COVID)? (e.g., network effects, value produced).The industry was growing at about 10% - what were the drivers of this and how will this change in the future? What is Zoom’s strategy? I use the strategy diamond framework (arena, vehicles differentiators, staging/pacing…) but one can use a standard set of questions to explore this.The Zoom context hits just about every key aspect of a strategy course so you can circle back to it repeatedly: ![]() It is also an introduction to decision trees as a simple tool for modeling complex sources of uncertainty (this is available in a separate instructor spreadsheet that uses PrecisionTree to model the uncertainty). This highlights how qualitative analysis affects assumptions in quantitative models. In addition, I have created a spreadsheet that guides students through key scenarios and how they would affect the value of the company (Do rivals match on quality? Is there a price war, Does Zoom keep innovating?). I have compiled a short packet of news articles for the case. The current market capitalization is about $80B which puts it well above many more established companies ( including the combined value of the 7 largest airlines). This semester, Zoom is a great alternative. This is especially helpful if some of one’s cases are older. ![]() I like to start the semester with a “ripped from the headlines” case. the bottom line was that the market capitalization was so high that selling the company should probably be considered as a very real alternative (e.g., what problem are you trying to solve?). We then discussed the probabilities associated with each scenario. I assigned each team to a scenario and at breakout, sent them all to the Google sheet to predict profit margins and revenue growth in that scenario. Varying these 3 sources of uncertainty (H/L) generates 8 scenarios. This link goes to a Google sheet with 8 Zoom financial models based on: 1) Rival product quality 2) Rival price competition, and 3) Zoom’s continued innovation/quality. These are used to develop assumptions in the next exercise. Then, after 10 minutes, I brought them to the main room, shared the Google Doc and asked the teams to describe their analysis to predict how the industry will develop (post pandemic) – rivalry, growth, willingness to pay, etc. As a breakout exercise, I assigned 2 teams to each page of the worksheet and told them to start at different places in the framework. The link goes to a 5 forces worksheet for before, during and after the pandemic (3 tables in the doc). Here, I rely on group breakouts with Google docs. Again, it is easy to grade since it is clear whether they understand from the order. Then indicate a few factors that drive the differences in willingness to pay. Put them in order reflecting their willingness to pay (high to low). For buyer power: List several types of buyers in the video conferencing industry (at least 3) where each might be thought of as a market niche. Then they explain their ordering briefly. For each force, students list 3 actors ordered by their impact on industry profitability. ![]() The 5 forces worksheet is also entered as a canvas survey. While these are short essay questions, it is easy to see if they are able to understand the framework and allows synchronous sessions to move faster. Specifically, the prompt is: Zoom recently entered conferencing hardware, describe the strategy using the framework (e.g., Arena, Differentiator, Staging/Pacing, Vehicles, Economic Logic). I use Hambrick & Fredrickson’s strategy diamond framework to answer the question “what is strategy?” I entered the worksheet as a quiz/survey in canvas but the link is the answer key in MS Word. These questions are structured so the answers need not be long and are easy to grade. I’ve created “worksheets” using essay questions in the Canvas survey/quiz tool. Here’s how:Īsynchronous Zoom Assignments. One really important tip: Use worksheet assignments and Google docs for group breakouts in synchronous sessions. The key task here is to use some asynchronous learning before a synchronous session so you can hit the ground running. ![]() Most instructors are all or partially online now so I’m sharing some online tips for teaching the case. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.The Zoom live case is provided in an earlier post.
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