Instructors’ Manual to Accompany Contemporary Strategy Analysis (9th edn. Wiley, 2016)
CHAPTER 10. COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE IN MATURE INDUSTRIES
Introduction
Chapter 10 addresses strategies for mature industries—including those in decline. It is the shortest chapter in
the book and exists primarily to complement the chapter on strategies for emerging and technology-based
industries. The chapter does not introduce any fundamentally new concepts or frameworks; hence, whether or
not this topic is included in your strategy course depends primarily upon your course objectives and whether
you view this topic as an opportunity to introduce a particularly interesting teaching case.
Class Outline
If the key concepts of industry evolution have been covered in a previous class, there is little need to spend
time on introducing concepts. Hence, the teaching of the topic can be focused around the lessons arising from a
particular specific case. My preferred approach is to use a case that requires students to use creativity and
judgment in developing strategies for a firm that is facing the challenges of a maturing—even declining—
Cases
New York Times: The Search for a New Business Model. (R. M. Grant, Contemporary Strategy Analysis:
Text and Cases, 9th edn., Wiley, 2016)
assets and employees and seeking ways to build and monetize its online readership, while sustaining its
reputation for brilliant journalism. During 2014–2015, The Times’ quest for a viable online model was
reinvigorated by its incoming CEO, Mark Thompson, who called for a dramatic rethinking of The Times’
approach to the needs of readers and advertisers in a digital world. Can a 165-year-old newspaper
abandon the habits of a print-based world and adapt to a new online era? And, most importantly, can it
make money in doing so?
Laura Ashley Holdings plc: The Battle for Survival (Available from the Instructor Companion Website
to www.contemporarystrategyanalysis.com)
The case addresses the potential for turnaround at the iconic but failing British clothing and housewares
company, Laura Ashley. Newly installed CEO is the seventh CEO of Laura Ashley Holdings
In addition to its use in the analysis of industry and competition, CC&S is also an excellent case for
exploring the creation and sustaining of competitive advantage in a mature industry. CC&S’s superior
profitability and growth may be attributed to its judicious segment selection, its resolute pursuit of cost
efficiency, and its ability to provide its customers with superior service, plus its internationalization
strategy through which it pursues the product life cycle in packaging products across different countries.
(See also: Crown Cork & Seal in 1989 (HBS Case No. 9-793-035), which considers the strategic issues
facing new CEO William Avery in 1989 in the light of continuous change in the packaging industry.)