The Assignment is at the same time very simple to state and very difficult to execute. It is designed to allow you to use all the tools of strategy and analysis that you have learned to this point to develop a "high level strategy" statement to solve a real business problem. Your role in this simulation exercise will be to take on the position of a senior management group in a company that is involved in a major transformation of its business. You will be defining the goals and the position of the company as it moves forward. Your presentation of your analysis should be structured as a report/presentation of the current situation, your initial strategy for implementation of "the deal", your projections for where you see the company ten years from now. Underlying every piece of your presentation must be the set of answers to that annoying question, "WHY?"
The situation I want you to analyze and for which you will develop a strategy for success is this very real problem:
After a number of years of ownership and as part of its own restructuring in order to emerge from the financial crisis, General Motors Corporation decide to divest itself of the Swedish carmaker SAAB. SAAB is a company with an interesting history, grounded in the aircraft industry. However, SAAB fell on some tough years recently and as a component of GM had been struggling. GM felt it had no choice but to either sell SAAB or barring a successful divestiture, close it down.
Several companies were interested in acquiring SAAB but one by one the deals fell through, for a variety of reasons. GM had actually initiated shutdown of the division. However, in recent months, one deal that had been in the works caught new life and just a few weeks ago, GM successfully sold SAAB to Spyker Cars, a small Dutch company, makers of some fantastic and exotic sports cars, a real niche manufacturer if there ever was one. Now Spyker has the task of profitably reviving and continuing the SAAB brand.
Your task is this:
You are a senior management team assembled from the Spyker and SAAB management groups. Your task is to present to your senior management colleagues, investors, governments, unions, etc. your plan for "The Way Forward". What will SAAB/Spyker do, what will it be, what will its' products look like, who will it sell to? Will you be large or small? Will you occupy your current niche or carve out a mass market? Can you make money? Your assignment is to present answers to this question at an overview level so that those not intimately involved in the details can understand the direction you wish the new company to follow. You can submit your work as a PowerPoint presentation and include additional information in the notes section.