International University in Geneva MBA 698 – Case Study Session 2 Professor:

Pierre-Yves Bénain

Competition in the MP3 Player Industry page C-116 from the book Crafting and Executing Strategy The quest for competitive advantage Concepts and cases 15th edition Authors: Thompson, Strickland, Gamble

Please read the case in advance and perform extra research on the internet if required.

Assignment Questions

1.

What are the dominant strategy-shaping economic characteristics of the digital music player industry (DMPI)?

2. What is competition like in the digital music player industry? Which of the five competitive forces is the strongest? Which is the weakest? 3. What forces are driving change in the digital music player industry? Are the changes acting to make the industry environment more or less attractive from a profitability standpoint? 4. What are the key success factors in the MP3 player industry? What will it take for a competitor to be successful? 5. What does your strategic group map of the competitors in digital music players look like? How do the maps compare for the hard driven and flash- based players? 6. Which makers of digital music players appear to be in the strongest and weakest positions? Support your answer with a weighted competitive strength assessment like that presented in Table 4.5 in Chapter 4. Does this differ for flashbased and hard drive-based players? 7. What strategic moves do you think Apple’s rivals might take to attract buyers and cut into Apple’s sales of iPods? 8. All things considered, is the MP3 player business attractive? Are factors acting to make the industry more or less attractive?