As I am enter my mid-20s, I am starting to realize the value that cooking has. It provides a hot meal on those cold winter nights and an excellent excuse to invite friends over to dinner. Alas, I was never taught how to cook nor the skills required to prepare a wholesome meal. I knew that if I tried to make a meal by myself (having no experience,) it was likely to be a colossal disaster. So, last time I visited my family, I asked my Mom if I could prepare the dinner with her help and guidance.

Essentially, I was partaking in a strategy commonly used called Synergy, where the product of two or more efforts creates a sum that is greater than the sum of those individual efforts. I would never be able to make the Mediterranean Chicken meal to the desired quality if I didn’t team up with my Mom.
The strategy of Synergy can be seen in the marketplace and is often discussed in Board Rooms. It is the main reason why two companies would merge. If Company X feels that they can produce a better outcome with Company Y, then they might purchase Company Y to gain more market share or a more profitable operation.

One superior case study that my class recently analyzed was the Synergy that the Walt Disney Company has been utilizing in their history. Disney started making exceptional full-length animated features, but they used their Theme Parks to accentuate their product and popularize it. When you enter the Magic Kingdom, you can experience your favorite Disney movies on rides, attractions, or the characters in costume. The Theme Parks bring the movies to life and make them even more popular for the consumer.

Another example of Synergy that Disney embraced was when they purchased the Media Network Company, ABC. Now, Media Networks is the most profitable revenue stream ($23.26 Billion) for Disney. It makes more money than their Theme Parks and Resorts ($16.16 Billion) or their Studio Animations ($7.37 Billion). Disney believed that incorporating these industries under one umbrella would create a more profitable organization than if they continued producing media on an individual basis and selling it to various Media Networks.

As Disney continues to look for new ways to create Synergy (acquiring Marvel to enter the Comic Book-Superhero film industry, acquiring Lucasfilm to enter the Science-Fiction film industry, etc…) I hope to use Synergy to make more meals with experienced chefs and grow my cooking skills.

In last week’s Communication Strategy and Competition course, Professor Aron introduced an article about Burger King selling hot dogs and the impact it may have. Burger King is unique to other fast food restaurants because it uses open-flame grills to cook their meat. (Think about it – Burger King’s hamburgers have grate lines, but McDonald’s hamburgers do not.) This unique resource can be a valuable asset in helping Burger King create a competitive advantage because it is very hard to imitate flame-grilled hot dogs. Other fast food restaurants like Sonic and Dairy Queen already sell hot dogs, but they do not use grated grills. If Burger King’s hot dogs succeed, it will be interesting to see how other fast food restaurants respond to Burger King’s new advantage.

This was just one of the case studies we looked at and after reading the other case studies Professor Aron provided, I came to a realization. I had started reading the articles like an Economist! Instead of focusing on the mere content of the article, my mind started identifying the various threats that the companies were trying to eliminate and the opportunities they were pursuing. I started brainstorming the valuable resources the companies owned that made them successful organizations in their respective industries. I also started envisioning what the future would look like for these companies based on the recent decisions they were making.

It’s amazing to see how much progress and growth I’ve made in six Saturday class sessions. I love reading the case studies Professor Aron provides us because they are reinforcing the concepts we are learning in class and through our textbook. Even though all the elective options are fantastic in the MSC Winter Quarter, I’m especially thankful I chose to take Communication Strategy and Competition.