The TOM Challenge: TOM Winners and Losers Assignment

December 09, 2015

Read The Full Prompt

The basic thesis of the TOM course is that company performance is driven by the alignment between the company’s business model and operating model. As defined in the “Introduction to the RC TOM Course” note, a business model is defined as how the firm creates and captures value, and an operating model refers to the processes that transform a firm’s assets (e.g., capital, labor, intellectual property, equipment, etc.) into valuable actions.

Please identify one organization in the global economy that you think is highly effective (or one that is highly ineffective) at driving alignment between its operating and business models

  1. Did you choose the company as an example of effectiveness or ineffectiveness? Why?
  2. Describe the company’s business and operating models. What is interesting about them?
  3. Do the models align and support each other?  How?  What specific features of the operating model are designed to create and sustain competitive advantage?  What features of the business model leverage unique capabilities of its operating model?  What are the implications for performance?

Submitted (929)

Jet.com – What is the price of disruption?
Anna
Last modified on December 9, 2015 at 5:56 pm
With the elimination of its membership fee, Jet.com sacrificed its major source of profits in exchange for gaining scale. But is this enough to achieve scale?
Care More. It’s What They Do.
Brendan
Posted on December 9, 2015 at 10:41 pm
As healthcare moves from a volume to value-based model, CareMore is striving to do more with less.
IKEA: For the many people, not just the few.
mshea
Last modified on December 9, 2015 at 4:24 pm
More than just low-cost procurement, manufacturing and logistics.
Allergan: The M&A Machine
Aileen
Posted on December 9, 2015 at 1:25 am
Finding growth, repositioning the business and being nimble in the dynamic pharma environment
Massively Popular, Massively Challenged? Coursera and the rise of MOOCs
Sam Stone
Last modified on December 7, 2015 at 4:11 pm
Coursera is a pioneer in the Massive Open Online Course ("MOOC") space. While MOOCs appear poised to reshape higher education, the landscape is becoming increasingly crowded. Coursera sets itself apart by delivering a differentiated value proposition to student, universities, and [...]
Hai Di Lao: Service Beyond Imaginations
CY Cai
Last modified on December 7, 2015 at 10:00 pm
How a hot pot chain creates and captures value from focusing on customer services in China?
Soylent – Winning your heart with your stomach
Ben W
Posted on December 9, 2015 at 11:22 pm
Soylent has successfully created the anti-consumer packaged food, sacrificing taste for function and looks for efficiency. At the same time, much of the value it creates for users is emotional--linked to values and identity over nutrition.
Airbnb: your home away from home
Betty Jiang
Last modified on December 9, 2015 at 11:56 pm
Airbnb is a multi-sided online platform that enables people (hosts) to list their available space and earn rent while enabling travelers to book unique home stays and save money.  Upon each reservation booked, Airbnb charges hosts a 3% host service [...]
Mumbai Dabbawalas Vs Top Gear
Saumya
Last modified on December 7, 2015 at 4:38 pm
200,000+ hungry customers to be fed – who will you bet on?
Goods Doing Good: Sustainable Luxury at Maiyet
Selin
Posted on December 9, 2015 at 8:52 pm
Maiyet is paving the way for sustainable luxury through partnerships with artisans around the world.
Ibstock Brick – No longer a commodity?
Henrik
Posted on December 9, 2015 at 11:15 pm
A stone-age product experiencing venture-like growth driven by a unique supply/demand imbalance.
Minerva: Reinventing Higher Education in the 21st Century
trosbash
Posted on December 9, 2015 at 9:26 pm
Minerva has invented a new higher education model from the ground up to deliver a unique high-quality and low-cost undergraduate student experience.
Blank Label: designed in the USA experience at made in China prices
James Graham
Last modified on December 6, 2015 at 2:02 pm
From its origins as an online custom shirt maker, Blank Label's has evolved into one of the fastest growing bespoke menswear stores in the US. Blank Label's operating model has been a key to this success and has directly enabled [...]
Kickstarter: Crowdfunding Creative Projects
JulieJ
Last modified on December 7, 2015 at 9:15 pm
Crowdfunding creative projects in the arts through an online platform.
MCX and CurrentC: How to Become the Laughingstock of the Mobile Payments Industry
Marc Batchan
Last modified on December 9, 2015 at 7:52 pm
Conceived in 2012 to save retailers $15 billion in annual payment card processing fees, CurrentC is still not widely available, largely due to a disconnect between MCX's business and operating models.
L.L. Bean: It Pays to be a Contrarian
Anthony R
Last modified on December 6, 2015 at 3:00 pm
What happens when IDEO Design Thinking meets a Vertically Integrated Supply Chain meets a No-Holds-Barred Customer Satisfaction Policy? Simple. Meet L.L. Bean.
Omaha Steaks: Multi-Channel Expansion
Meghan Abramczyk
Last modified on December 5, 2015 at 6:42 pm
Quickly adapting to technology innovations has allowed Omaha Steaks to build a prospering 21st century sales and operating model
Domino’s Pizza: Bites through Bytes
sptl
Last modified on December 9, 2015 at 9:06 pm
Domino's delivers millions of pizza bites each day by relying heavily on millions of terabytes of data.
ARTSY: Finding Art at the Intersection of Science and Technology
mj
Last modified on December 9, 2015 at 11:27 pm
A look at how one company is mapping out a digital taxonomy of all the world’s art  
Airbnb: how a simple online matching service trumps value of hotel giant, Marriott
Anny J
Posted on December 9, 2015 at 11:29 pm
How does a simple online matching service become valued higher than hotel giant Marriott, a long-established hotel giant that owns over 4,000 physical properties, in just under 8 years? The secret is in its disruptive genius business model – designed [...]
Beating Nike to Become Nike? Check out Oiselle
Margo
Last modified on December 9, 2015 at 12:47 pm
Nike, take note. Oiselle has figured out how to speak to and sell to female athletes. Can they keep it up?
Arrow Electronics: High Margin Sales and Decades of Dominance in Electronics and IT Distribution
me & my Arrow
Last modified on December 9, 2015 at 10:41 pm
Arrow Electronics (Arrow) is an example of a company that is effective at driving alignment between operating and business models. Arrow distributes electronic components and provides enterprise computing solutions to customers worldwide. The customers are OEMs and value-added resellers (VAR) [...]
Figure Skating in Russia: the Operations Behind Athletic Prowess
SashaPang
Last modified on December 9, 2015 at 7:35 pm
Effective operations management - key to success in Russian figure skating
Fitbit – Find Your Fit
Ryan J Lee
Last modified on December 9, 2015 at 5:40 pm
The San Francisco-based wearable fitness-tracking device maker's efficient business and operating model in organization, focus, hardware, and software.
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