After reading the Levi’s Case from our textbook, respond to the following prompts in one to five sentences:
Based on the information in the case (and as of the case’s date, Early 2000’s)
- What is Levi’s strategy?
- Where is Levi’s on spectrums of differentiation and cost leadership? What are other important elements of Levi’s strategy? Would these change under CCTC’s proposal?
- How is Levi’s able to differentiate?
- Which source(s) of differentiation are relevant (see Chapter 5 and Table 5.2 of textbook for sources)?
- Which of Levi’s capabilities/resources are most important for maintaining a differentiation advantage?
- Evaluate the external environment and its strategic implications at two levels:
- Broader industry: apparel manufacturers
- Specific industry: jeans manufacturers
- How attractive is its industry what are the key industry forces and success factors?
- Do any major manufactures of jeans (with substantial market share) have broader product offerings (e.g. jeans < 50% of total revenue)
- Should Levi widen their offering offerings (if so to where) based on the analysis of its competitors (both those who are focused and diversified)
- Analyze CCTC’s proposal & its impact on Levi’s participation in the value chain?
- What does the value chain look like for Levi’s with & without the CCTC offer?
- How else could Levi’s adjust its participation in the value chain?
- Evaluate potential outcomes – Do Levi’s resources/capabilities support implementing CCTC’s offer; what are the strategic and financial upside and downside and how certain are the outcomes (e.g. impact of external environment change, reliability of the cost savings estimates, etc.)
