Competitive Strategy
Case studies on competitive strategy.
Costco — The Price of Membership
Should Costco raise its U.S. membership fees? Evaluate customer value, competing warehouse-club offers and Executive rewards using information available on 9 July 2024. Includes five discussion questions and an optional quantitative exercise. Read case
1stDibs — The Price of a Place on the Marketplace
On 3 March 2025, 1stDibs filed its annual report for 2024. The company said it had shifted seller acquisition and monetization toward “fewer, but more highly engaged sellers.” During the year, it discontinued a pricing option with no monthly subscription fee and higher commissions, which it said contributed to seller churn. Read case
A10 Networks — Where to Focus Commercial Attention?
A10 Networks entered the second half of 2026 with strong reported growth and a changing revenue mix. First-half revenue was $155.1 million, up 14.5% year over year. Enterprise revenue rose $35.3 million, while service-provider revenue fell $15.7 million. At the same time, one unnamed customer represented 38% of both second-quarter and first-half revenue. Read case
Align Technology — Choosing the Next Growth Lever
You are an outside strategy adviser preparing a recommendation about Align Technology’s 2024 growth priorities. Use only information available by 1 February 2024. Recommend which of two publicly disclosed levers Align should emphasize, or whether it should stage both: Read case
Altria: Funding the Next Step Beyond Smoking
Altria had invested $2.75 billion to acquire NJOY in June 2023. The company expected the acquisition's return on invested capital to exceed its weighted average cost of capital by 2027. That was a management target, not a reported result. Read case
Amazon — How Much Fulfillment Capacity Should the Company Keep?
On 2 February 2023, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy described a mismatch between capacity decisions made in 2020 for anticipated 2022 demand and demand that later developed. He said Amazon had “more capacity than we needed” in early 2022, and that the company had delayed some builds and mothballed some facilities while reviewing its investment needs. Read case
Amgen Inc.: Pricing Amjevita for the U.S. Humira market
Amgen had a date for entering the U.S. market with Amjevita, its biosimilar to AbbVie’s Humira, but no public launch price or payer-contracting offer. The agreed U.S. license date was 31 January 2023, four months away. Read case
Arista Networks — Where to Place the Next Bet?
On 4 August 2026, Arista Networks reported its first quarterly revenue above $3 billion and announced new 1.6 Tbps AI fabric platforms. The following day, its Form 10-Q described demand for networking as strong while warning that the long-term trajectory of AI networking remained unknown. Read case
AT&T — Fiber's Next Mile
AT&T ended 2023 with fiber passing more than 26 million consumer and business locations. Management said the company was on track to pass more than 30 million by the end of 2025. AT&T also offered Internet Air, a home broadband service delivered over its 5G network where available. Read case
Axon Enterprise — Scaling the AI Era
Axon’s second-quarter 2026 results showed rapid growth across its connected devices and software businesses. The company reported that AI Era revenue had grown nearly 700% year over year. Yet the release did not provide an absolute AI Era revenue base, product-specific margins, customer usage, or renewal data. Read case
Boeing — Sequencing the 737 Ramp
On 3 August 2026, the Federal Aviation Administration issued an amended type certificate and updated Production Limitation Record for Boeing’s 737 MAX-7. The FAA said the amended type certificate confirms compliance with applicable design and safety requirements; the updated production record authorizes Boeing to begin production of the aircraft. Read case
Booking Holdings — The Rules of the Marketplace
In January 2024, Spain's competition authority, the Comisión Nacional de los Mercados y la Competencia (CNMC), notified Booking.com of a draft decision proposing a €486 million fine and restrictions on certain parity provisions and the criteria Booking.com could use to rank hotels. Read case
Brown & Brown — Choosing the First AI Workflows to Scale
On 23 July 2026, Brown & Brown announced that it was moving toward an AI-first enterprise. Its plan included deploying Anthropic’s Claude across approximately 23,000 teammates, working with Anthropic, McKinsey and Accenture, and establishing a value management office (VMO) to monitor adoption, impact, return on investment and controls. Read case
Bunge and Viterra: What Should the Remedy Package Protect?
On 13 June 2023, Bunge and Viterra announced an agreement to combine their global agribusiness operations. Bunge described the businesses as complementary across crops, regions and seasons. Read case
BXP: Which work comes next?
On August 6, 2026, BXP filed its second-quarter report. Occupancy had improved, leasing activity was strong relative to the company’s historical second-quarter average, and a large share of its commercial development and redevelopment pipeline was pre-leased. Read case
Carnival Corporation & plc — Pricing the Booked Position
On 21 December 2023, Carnival Corporation & plc reported a record FY2023 revenue of $21.6 billion and said it entered 2024 with its best booked position yet for both price and occupancy. Read case
Carvana: How long should the return promise last?
Carvana built its retail model around an online transaction. A customer can search a large inventory, inspect annotated photographs and vehicle details, arrange financing, and have the car delivered or pick it up. Carvana says its high-definition virtual tours show the actual vehicle and visible imperfections. Read case
Centene — Where to Compete in Medicare Advantage?
Centene Corporation had built a national managed-care business around Medicaid, then extended into Medicare and the Health Insurance Marketplace. Its principal Medicare Advantage brand was Wellcare. On April 26, 2024, Centene filed its first-quarter results. Read case
Charter Communications: What Should Spectrum Sell Next?
On 24 July 2026, Charter Communications reported a split in its consumer connectivity trends. Residential Internet customers were down 510,000 year over year, while residential mobile lines were up approximately 1.6 million. In the quarter, total Internet customers declined by 172,000 and total mobile lines increased by 406,000. Read case
Chubb — Underwriting Discipline after a Soft-Market Warning
By 28 July 2026, Chubb had filed its quarterly report for the three months ended 30 June. The results showed sharply different premium trends within North America Commercial P&C. The reported Major Accounts & Specialty category had contracted, while middle-market and small commercial had grown. Read case
The Cigna Group — How Far Should ClearCareRx Go?
In April 2023, Express Scripts announced ClearCareRx, a new pharmacy-benefit contract option for employers, health plans and government-employer clients. Read case
Cincinnati Financial — Growth at the Right Price
At the end of July 2026, Cincinnati Financial Corporation (CINF) had a business problem that could be described in two ways. Personal-lines renewal premiums were growing after substantial rate increases, and the segment had returned to underwriting profitability in the first half of 2026. Read case
CME Group — Should Energy Trade Around the Clock?
On October 2, CME Group said it was withdrawing the filing for its proposed 10-Barrel WTI Crude Oil futures contract. The company attributed the decision to discussions with industry participants who were concerned that continuous energy trading without further due diligence could create unintended consequences and additional risk. Read case
Coinbase — Choosing the Next Growth Engine
At the close of 2023, Coinbase had three plausible sources of growth. Its core trading products served consumers and institutions; USDC and related services could connect reserve-backed stablecoin balances with payment use; and Base offered a platform on which developers could build on-chain applications. Read case
Comcast — Where Should the Next Network Dollar Go?
Comcast's U.S. broadband business is investing in a network that combines hybrid fiber-coax (HFC) infrastructure with fiber deployment and line extensions. Fiber providers and wireless carriers are also expanding connectivity offers. At the same time, Comcast continues to report domestic broadband customer losses while its wireless line base grows. Read case
Conagra Brands: Reinvest, harvest, or wait for better evidence?
Conagra Brands’ fiscal 2026 Form 10-K reported a steep decline in operating profit for its Refrigerated & Frozen segment and large impairment charges for both the segment’s goodwill and several brand names. Birds Eye, a recognized frozen-food brand, was among them. Read case
Corning: Where should optical communications attention go next?
Corning’s Optical Communications business serves two broad groups. Its carrier network products support communications infrastructure for video, data and voice services. Its enterprise network products are optical networks sold to businesses, governments and individuals for their own use. The company sells fiber, cable, hardware and connectivity solutions across these markets.¹ Read case
Aetna and the 2025 Medicare Advantage bid
It is 1 April 2024. CMS has just released its final payment announcement for the 2025 Medicare Advantage (MA) year. Aetna is preparing its 2025 plans, and its leadership team must decide how to balance medical-cost pressure, member value and competitive position as it sets bids and benefits. Read case
Delta Air Lines — Sequencing Premium-Capacity Growth
On March 1, 2024, imagine you are preparing a commercial and network review for Delta Air Lines. Delta has reported faster growth in premium-product ticket revenue than in Main cabin and has announced a firm purchase of 20 Airbus A350-1000 aircraft, with deliveries scheduled to begin in 2026. Read case
DoorDash: How should the fee rollout be governed?
On July 23, DoorDash announced a change to consumer delivery fees. The company said its Service Fee would vary with delivery effort, including distance and order size. The announcement described the update as a way to better match fees to delivery effort while keeping nearby orders affordable and allowing consumers to order from farther-away merchants. Read case
Erie Indemnity: Setting the Next Management Fee
Erie Indemnity Company occupies an unusual position in the insurance business. It is a publicly traded stock company and attorney-in-fact for the subscribers of Erie Insurance Exchange. The Exchange writes insurance and is Indemnity’s sole customer. Read case
Fair Isaac Corporation: Competing on Mortgage Scores
On 9 September 2026, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) changed an important condition in the conforming-mortgage market. All lenders approved to sell loans to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac could use VantageScore 4.0 on eligible loans without first obtaining written approval. A lender could continue using Classic FICO. Read case
The Hershey Company — Pricing the Moment
Hershey’s North America Confectionery segment had realized approximately 2% higher prices in the third quarter of 2024, while segment volume declined approximately 2%. Over the first nine months, price realization was approximately 3% higher and volume declined approximately 5%. Read case
Hewlett Packard Enterprise: How much AI demand should supply chain commit to?
Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) had just reported record quarterly revenue and record AI-systems revenue. The results also showed how difficult it could be to convert interest into durable orders: during the quarter HPE booked approximately $1.2 billion in AI-systems orders, then removed a $700 million order over concern about a specific customer. Read case
Insulet Corporation — Sequencing Omnipod 5’s Next Releases
Insulet’s Omnipod 5 is a tubeless automated insulin delivery (AID) system that works with compatible continuous glucose monitors (CGMs). Users can select among compatible sensors; availability depends on regulatory clearance, launch timing and local access. Insulet describes its system as combining a pod, controller or compatible smartphone, and CGM. Read case
Interactive Brokers Group — What Is Cash Worth?
On 16 April 2024, Interactive Brokers Group (IBKR) reported first-quarter net interest income of $747 million, up 17% from a year earlier. It also reported $104.9 billion in customer credit balances, 2.75 million customer accounts, and $465.9 billion in customer equity. Read case
Intuitive Surgical — Who Gets the First da Vinci 5 Systems?
Intuitive Surgical ended 2023 with a da Vinci installed base of approximately 8,606 systems across hospitals worldwide. Those systems supported approximately 2.286 million procedures during the year, up 22% from 2022. The company placed 1,370 da Vinci systems in 2023: 666 in the United States and 704 outside it. Read case
JetBlue Airways — The Spirit Decision
On 7 March 2023, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), joined by Massachusetts, New York, and the District of Columbia, sued to block JetBlue Airways’ proposed acquisition of Spirit Airlines. JetBlue and Spirit said they would continue to advance the transaction. Read case
JFrog — How Fast Should Cloud Grow?
JFrog’s software-supply-chain platform was growing, and its hosted cloud business was growing faster by the company’s reported cloud metric. The company also continued to offer self-managed software for customers running workloads in public cloud, private cloud, on-premise, or hybrid environments. Read case
The Kroger Co. — Where Should the Next Customer Dollar Go?
Imagine you advise Kroger’s leadership as it plans its next annual cycle of customer-value investment. By the close of 8 December 2023, the company had reported a mixed third quarter: identical sales excluding fuel declined, digital sales grew, and management described margin support from Our Brands and sourcing alongside the cost of price investment. Read case
Lennar Corporation: Volume, optionality, and the value of pace
Lennar entered the fall of 2026 with a strategic tension. In its latest quarter, orders and gross margin were lower than a year earlier, while management reported faster construction cycles, lower construction cost per square foot, and fewer completed unsold homes per community. Read case
Martin Marietta Materials — Price, Tons, and the Next Growth Market
Imagine that you advise Martin Marietta Materials as it plans its next phase of growth. The company has just reported a quarter in which aggregates shipments declined while realized pricing and gross profit rose. It has also said that the proceeds from a recently completed cement-plant sale give it flexibility to pursue pure-play aggregates acquisitions. Read case
OneSpan: Where should the next product and go-to-market effort go?
At 4:05 p.m. Eastern on August 4, OneSpan had just released second-quarter results. A conference call was scheduled for 4:30 p.m. The release showed a business growing at different speeds: Cybersecurity revenue fell 7% from the prior-year quarter, while Digital Agreements revenue rose 25%. Total revenue increased 1%. Read case
OneSpaWorld: Where to Put the Next Operating Push?
On July 29, 2026, OneSpaWorld Holdings Limited reported a record second quarter. Revenue rose 9% year over year to $261.2 million, and Adjusted EBITDA rose 13% to $34.4 million. The company had operated wellness centers on 208 cruise ships by quarter-end. Read case
OneWater Marine — Stocking for a Softer Season
At 30 June 2026, OneWater Marine had $485.5 million of inventory and $68.7 million of unrestricted cash. The late-July Q3 release showed a mixed picture: reported revenue and same-store sales declined, while gross margin and operating income improved. Read case
Onterris: A Review Without a Bid
On August 5, Onterris, Inc. announced a Board-led strategic review. The review covers the company’s business, portfolio, capital allocation, long-range plan and strategic alternatives. Read case
Philip Morris International: Sequencing the U.S. Smoke-Free Portfolio
In July 2026, Philip Morris International (PMI) reported a mixed first-half record for ZYN in the United States. First-half shipments declined year over year, while second-quarter shipments edged higher and management described offtake as flat to slightly growing. Read case
Pinnacle West — Buying Time, Capacity, and Flexibility
On 26 February 2025, Pinnacle West Capital Corporation (PNW) had just filed its FY2024 Form 10-K. Its Arizona Public Service subsidiary (APS) had received proposals in a new all-source resource solicitation. APS sought at least 2,000 MW for summer peaks, reserves, and the needs of extra-high-load-factor customers. The proposal deadline had passed on February 5. Read case
Snap-on — Building the Independent-Shop Diagnostics Proposition
On February 12, 2026, Snap-on filed its FY2025 Form 10-K. A hypothetical executive team is deciding how to prioritize the next two to three years of product, software, support, and channel resources for professional diagnostics used by U.S. independent repair shops. Read case
Southwest Airlines — Rebuilding the Seat Experience
Southwest Airlines had spent more than fifty years letting passengers choose any open seat after boarding. On 25 July 2024, the company announced that it would adopt assigned seating and offer premium seats with extra legroom. Read case
Target Corporation — Rebuilding the Store Around the Guest
On March 3, Target announced more than $2 billion of incremental investment for 2026: more than $1 billion in additional capital expenditure and $1 billion in operating investment. The plan emphasized merchandise authority, guest experience, technology, and the team and communities. Management described store payroll, training, reliability and technology as parts of the effort. Read case