15.900  Competitive Strategy (meets w/ 15.9001)

Dear all,

Thank you for your final memos! Zofia and Lea will be sending back individual comments by end of today. We wanted to make a few high-level comments on the assignment as well.

 First, in terms of the numbers the average grade was 90 (out of 100).  This was a strong performance overall, good job!

 As you look over the individualized comments, please keep in mind the following.

Top memos were the ones were you:

·     Performed a systematic 5 forces analysis & qualified / prioritized the forces (high/low) to surface the main threats and pressures on profitability.

·     Assessed the casual game industry attractivity, from your 5 forces analysis and potentially other dimensions.

·     Identified Farmville’s key features, determinant for its success, and compared it with Zynga’s earlier games.

·     Relied on a framework to perform a structured analysis of Zynga’s strategy prior to the IPO, highlighting its main features, differentiation with competition, and alignment of not for the internal capabilities and partnership to support the achievement of the company’s goal.

·     Identified competitive advantage – or lack of competitive advantage and provided supportive evidence. While the large number of users can be an evidence of a competitive advantage, it is not one by itself. Among others, you could have mentioned 1^st mover advantage or thoughtful use of data for continuous improvement.

·     Formulated recommendations supported by arguments evidencing their importance / impact for Zynga, and / or tangible next steps evidencing how to implement your strategy. An assessment of the risks (and how to mitigate them), and / or an identification of alternatives and the opportunities they represent, was also appreciated. 

Hello everyone,

First, thank you for your numerous emails, very nice of you to take the time - no irony

Sorry for the unclear guidelines, I put an example as if you were grading only the 3 others - I changed and added yourself as a 4th. The important is that the total adds up to 100. If you were 3 and give 33, 33, 34 we'll consider everyone contributed equally :)

Thank again, hope it all works now https://survey.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_eICekoIvFy9fU8Z

Hello everyone,

We hope you enjoyed 15.900!

We are almost done, please 2 last steps:

1/ Fill the class evaluation, by Monday 9 am, only 44% so far: http://web.mit.edu/subjectevaluation

2/ Fill the peer evaluation, by Monday too: https://survey.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_eICekoIvFy9fU8Z

Thank you, have a great break

19.500 Team

Hello everyone,

The schedule for lunches had been finalized: if you signed up but did'nt receive an answer, please reach out to me.
As a reminder, lunch is NOT provided,

Stay warm !