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)

Whole Foods: Creating An Organic Experience
Vicky V
Last modified on December 9, 2015 at 11:35 pm
How "America's Healthiest Grocery Store" leverages its operations to deliver on quality
ClassPass: Gym Trial, Business Error?
Alison Lu
Last modified on December 8, 2015 at 4:57 pm
Will ClassPass ever be profitable?
US LNG import/export
Stan
Posted on December 6, 2015 at 6:13 pm
US LNG import/export
Wayfair.com, not your daddy’s furniture store
Yi Xie
Posted on December 9, 2015 at 10:55 pm
Imagine the last time you shopped for furniture. Was it a good experience? Did you visit several stores before purchasing? Did you weigh the costs of furniture delivery vs renting your own U-Haul? Did you have to call your friend [...]
Aravind Eye-Care System – McDonaldization of Eye-Care
Aravind Krishnan
Last modified on December 9, 2015 at 11:29 pm
Developing a replicable model which delivers high-quality eye-care to India's poor
Methuen Festival of Trees Creates Value through Two-Sided Marketplace
Nicolas II
Posted on December 9, 2015 at 9:01 pm
The Methuen Festival of Trees brings local businesses together with members of the community every Christmas to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for historical restoration projections.
Electronic Arts – the “Evil Empire” regains its groove
Kchoo
Last modified on December 9, 2015 at 8:05 pm
After enduring a tough recession and a few missteps with its monetization model, Electronic Arts (EA) is again minting cash, striking a delicate balance as one of the world’s most popular game publishers and, at the same time, one of [...]
5-hour Energy: Get your boost for the day
Rahul
Last modified on December 9, 2015 at 11:04 pm
An inspirational story of someone who dropped out of Princeton college, spent 12 years as a monk in India, came back into the work force only to take low paying jobs such as a taxi driver, laborer and after a [...]
Strategy&: Delivering Strategy through Execution
Antoine
Last modified on December 9, 2015 at 8:14 pm
The story behind the acquisition of Booz & Company
Method Soap: Bringing Green (and the Rest of the Color Spectrum) to the Masses
Amanda Yang
Posted on December 9, 2015 at 10:54 pm
A pioneer in the rapidly-growing market for environmentally friendly cleaning products.
Vidangel – “Watch movies your way – however the BLEEP you want”
tsmith
Posted on December 9, 2015 at 11:05 pm
Vidangel - a crowdsourced method to enable $1-2 movie rentals and provide edited movies for families
Selling Luxury Online – Yoox Net-A-Porter
Mohamed
Last modified on December 9, 2015 at 8:50 pm
Through leveraging an interlocked business model and operating strategy, YNAP has successfully defined the luxury ecommerce space and is positioned as the clear market leader in the industry.
H&M: How Fast Fashion Translates into Low Prices and Success
Carolina Manrique
Last modified on December 6, 2015 at 8:48 pm
H&M has become one of the leading fast fashion companies using its supply chain and techonology as core competitive advantages.
Red Bull doesn’t make anything… except money
Andrea
Last modified on December 9, 2015 at 6:36 pm
They’re an Austrian marketing company that owns cars, jet-planes, and sports teams, but does not own manufacturing plants.
Emirates, connecting the world.
Tariro
Posted on December 9, 2015 at 6:13 pm
Emirates Airline, connecting the world. A classic example of well aligned business and operational models.
Warby Parker’s Prescription for Disrupting “Four-Eyed” Fashion
Libby
Last modified on December 6, 2015 at 3:25 pm
How a company with $95 glasses changed the $65 billion-per-year eyewear industry — and gave the gift of sight to those who need it most.
Pandora: Pay Us to Not Annoy You
Brandon K
Last modified on December 8, 2015 at 9:08 pm
Pandora falls behind competition on unique operating model.
Whole Foods Market: Adapting to a competitive natural foods grocery store environment
changeme_43
Posted on December 9, 2015 at 3:31 pm
Whole Foods Market (WFM) is a premier natural foods grocery company, also known as “America’s Healthiest Grocery Store”. In addition, Whole Foods has been touted as one of the “100 Best Companies to Work For” by Fortune Magazine and consistently [...]
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
Shaping Moore’s Law in the semiconductor industry: the success story of ASML
AM Schoonbeek
Last modified on December 10, 2015 at 8:19 am
In 1984, the year of ASML’s spin off from Philips, you could fit about 2200 transistors on one square millimeter of a computer processor chip. Today, it’s almost 8.5 million1. ASML produces the machines that made this remarkable development possible. [...]
IKEA: High End Design for All
Damon Rankin
Posted on December 8, 2015 at 10:25 pm
This blog post may require assembly.
Learn a New Language and Change the World
Avilia Guardiola
Last modified on December 9, 2015 at 8:00 pm
Leveraging interactive educational technology for a greater mission of equality for humanity!
Illinois Tool Works: Extreme Decentralization
Jon_Sheedy
Last modified on December 9, 2015 at 6:01 pm
Building a conglomerate with operations in 57 countries one customer at a time.
Rio Tinto: supplying raw materials for the world
Alek
Posted on December 9, 2015 at 5:22 pm
Rio Tinto survives commodity crash by aligning business and operating model to focus on low-cost mineral production
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