final paper

Case Assignment #3

GROUP PROJECT – MGMT 3000 –-- Summer 2021

The MGMT 3000 group project’s purpose is two-fold: (1) to immerse you into a current, significant strategic action that is increasingly common (i.e., acquisition) and (2) to challenge you to collect and evaluate data that drive strategic decisions and their outcomes. You will develop conceptual and dataset literacies that you can use to understand the motivations, terms and conditions, and how strategic decisions such as alliances are likely to play out.

Situation: In May, AT&T spun off WarnerMedia which will then merge with Discovery. The new company which will be called Warner Bros. Discovery, and which requires regulatory approval and is expected to close in 2022, is designed to compete with other streaming and content companies (e.g., Amazon, Apple TV, Disney, Netflix, Paramount, Peacock).

You work for an investment company and your team has been tasked to evaluate the strategic merits of Warner Bros. Discovery. First, your boss wants to know about the impact this merger will have as well on the overall streaming/content market. Even as the situation evolves your boss wants your team to evaluate if the announced decision is a good one or would another option have been better strategically and financially. Second, your boss wants your team to propose a set of actions that Warner Bros. Discovery should take in order to position itself for success (and if the company doesn’t take these steps then your boss will know the merger won’t likely succeed).

To make this decision, you will need to analyze the proposed company’s capabilities, understand its relative position within the industry, and examine the company’s strategy towards growth. This will require you to draw from archival data on the two companies (i.e., Warner – from AT&T, and Discovery), as well as collect news accounts of the situation. Since the situation is evolving, you are expected to keep your analyses up to date based upon the latest news.

Issues to consider

· What is the current and future situation in this industry?

· What is the proposed company’s capabilities, and can they allocate resources to this effort?

· How is the merged company positioned relative to other competitors?

· What actions are the competitors taking?

· What do you anticipate will be the financial impact (e.g., stock market reaction, profit) of the merger and why?

Deliverable: Provide a Word document not to exceed 10 double-spaced pages (name page, references, and supporting materials excluded) that specifies your arguments to the following prompts:

a) What core competencies does the merged company have?

b) How will the merger affect the company’s competitive position within industry relative to competitors?

c) What are the proposed strategic and financial benefits for the merger?

d) What actions should the company take to increase the likelihood of a successful implementation?

Resources: Use all available resources, including the data sites in the syllabus ( https://libguides.du.edu/mgmt3000 ), and others for answering the assigned questions (e.g., financial analyst reports, interviews, media reports, industry newsletters, etc.). Be especially careful to attribute original sources. All reports will be evaluated using Turnitin to ensure compliance with DCB and DU expectations regarding plagiarism.

Group requirements and expectations: See syllabus under “Group project”. This includes developing a team agreement.

Due: Last class.

Grades: A formal rubric will follow.