Here are the pre-course assignment guidelines: Pre-course Expectations and Reflections on Readings. Participants will compose a 1,000 words (+/- 10%) discussion on key thoughts and learning...

Strategic Management        2
STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT
a) In the essay known as ‘Pipelines, Platforms and the New Rules of Strategy’, the importance of platform is described in a great detail throughout the essay. Platforms provide the appropriate infrastructure and rules for a marketplace as a result of which the producers and consumers come together within a single ecosystem. Platforms have an ecosystem with the same basic structure, even though they come in a variety of forms. The ecosystem in the platform comprises of four kinds of players. The owners of the platform have a control over their intellectual property. The providers act as the platform’s interface with the users. Producers are meant to create the offerings whereas the consumers in the ecosystem use the offerings that provided by the producers. The essay also explores the ways in which platforms are more efficient for the market in comparison to the pipelines, based on the classic value-chain model.
In order to shift from pipelines to platforms, three steps need to be followed: one has to shift from resource control to resource orchestration. In simpler terms, the chief asset in platforms is the network between producers and consumers. Another important step required in the shift is moving from internal optimization to external interaction where the emphasis shifts from dictating processes to persuading the potential consumers. The third important step is to move the focus from customer value to ecosystem value.
The essay ‘Deciding How to Decide’ discusses the way in which the managers of different organisations can take correct decisions to eliminate maximum risk and ensure an overall success through the implementation of strategic decision making. In order to do so, the managers need to expand their toolkit of decision support tools and have a complete understanding of the appropriate use of tools during times of crisis. Although there are a wide variety of tools that is inclusive of case-based decision analysis, qualitative scenario analysis and information markets, which can be used...