The TOM Challenge: TOM Winners and Losers Assignment

December 09, 2015

Read The Full Prompt

The basic thesis of the TOM course is that company performance is driven by the alignment between the company’s business model and operating model. As defined in the “Introduction to the RC TOM Course” note, a business model is defined as how the firm creates and captures value, and an operating model refers to the processes that transform a firm’s assets (e.g., capital, labor, intellectual property, equipment, etc.) into valuable actions.

Please identify one organization in the global economy that you think is highly effective (or one that is highly ineffective) at driving alignment between its operating and business models

  1. Did you choose the company as an example of effectiveness or ineffectiveness? Why?
  2. Describe the company’s business and operating models. What is interesting about them?
  3. Do the models align and support each other?  How?  What specific features of the operating model are designed to create and sustain competitive advantage?  What features of the business model leverage unique capabilities of its operating model?  What are the implications for performance?

Submitted (929)

Kiton: The Best of the Best +1
RHKent
Last modified on December 7, 2015 at 4:32 pm
Kiton prides itself on sourcing the best fabrics and making the finest clothes in the world. It's operating model is designed to ensure nothing produced is less than perfect.
How Chipotle Revolutionized Fast Food
Tyler
Last modified on December 9, 2015 at 4:05 pm
Chipotle broke all of the fast food industry's rules and created a wildly successful restaurant concept by delivering high quality food fast with an operating model rooted in a unique culture, assembly line approach and simple menu.
IKEA: For the many people, not just the few.
mshea
Last modified on December 9, 2015 at 4:24 pm
More than just low-cost procurement, manufacturing and logistics.
Oscar – Taking on Giants – Health Insurance 2.0
David
Posted on December 9, 2015 at 6:13 pm
Oscar health is a innovative healthcare insurance company focusing on the Internet era.
Can Healthcare Be Accessible, Exceptional, and Low-Cost? A Glimpse at Iora Health
Athakkar
Posted on December 9, 2015 at 10:55 pm
Iora Health paves the way in redesigning primary care delivery.
Vail Resorts: Delivering a Premier Mountain Resort Experience
Kavalerk
Posted on December 8, 2015 at 7:45 pm
Vail Resorts’ operating model helps it to deliver the Experience of a LifetimeTM
Hinckley: The iconic, semi-customized yacht
KateW
Last modified on December 9, 2015 at 10:01 pm
Hinckley is an iconic luxury brand with an intensely loyal (and wealthy) following. An illustration of that loyalty: After Hinckley lost a significant amount of business during the financial crisis, 94-year old David Rockefeller Sr. ordered a $3 million, 55-foot [...]
SpaceX – Reducing the cost of access to space
Rockets
Posted on December 9, 2015 at 9:51 pm
SpaceX uses product and process innovation to reliably deliver the lowest cost per kg of payload to orbit.
Kickstarter: Help bring creative projects to life
Shali
Last modified on December 7, 2015 at 11:19 pm
Supporting art, passion, talent, and incredible story of inspirations to life – one project at a time
Not just for gamblers: The Cosmopolitan Las Vegas
Aditya
Last modified on December 9, 2015 at 7:43 pm
The Casino business, restaurants and bars
Pottery Barn–Inspire beautiful decorating for every room
Sierra
Posted on December 9, 2015 at 10:50 pm
Pottery Barn offers unique products and free design services to "inspire beautiful decorating for every room".
Zara: A Better Fashion Business Model
ahallak
Posted on December 9, 2015 at 11:22 pm
Zara has the formula to fashion retail success: fast fashion through supply chain innovation.
Chipotle and the Fast Casual Revolution
David Hess
Posted on December 9, 2015 at 9:23 pm
How a Mexican restaurant chain is taking on the entire fast food industry...
IndiGo Airlines: On Time, Every Time
Surabhi
Last modified on December 1, 2015 at 7:54 pm
Less than a decade old, how does an airline grow to become the country's largest and only profitable air carrier?
Steve Wynn continues to Win
KS
Last modified on December 9, 2015 at 11:41 pm
Wynn Resorts combine superior design and customer service to drive the industry!
Athenahealth: Taking on the Giants and Disrupting the Health Care Space
Fioffreda
Posted on December 9, 2015 at 11:13 pm
Disrupting heath care via cloud-based provider services
Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev): The Winning Formula
Charles A. Mokuolu
Last modified on December 15, 2015 at 12:00 am
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev) has managed to differentiate itself from its competition by executing business and operating strategies that reinforce each other. AB InBev’s goal-focused and growth-oriented culture established AB InBev as the cost efficient player in the [...]
CommonBond, a new kind of student loan
hgrossman
Posted on December 6, 2015 at 11:44 am
Student loan debt is in a need of makeover. CommonBond brings technology to the student loan market to offer lower rates.
Zenefits – A Unique Business Model + Innovative Operating Model
changeme_26
Posted on December 9, 2015 at 11:40 pm
Zenefits is a new HR software system. Free to the customer, with an operating model that allows for sustainable product innovation and customer value creation.
Spirit Airlines: The airline everyone loves to hate
MargaretFinch
Posted on December 9, 2015 at 5:44 pm
How an airline that consumers claim to hate continues to outperform competitors on profit margin and revenue growth
YouTube: Struggling to Monetize Cat Videos
Anthony Terrizzi
Posted on December 3, 2015 at 9:26 pm
After ten years and over one billion active users, YouTube's ad model is still unprofitable.
GrubHub: Bringing Order to the Takeout Experience
Curtis Roby
Posted on December 9, 2015 at 4:43 pm
"Everything great about eating, combined with everything great about not talking to people"
Taco Bell: When You Don’t Have Time for Freshness
Cheesy Gordita Crunch
Last modified on December 9, 2015 at 9:43 pm
In order to better serve its customers, Taco Bell stopped cooking its meat.
TED: Changing the World, 18 Minutes at a Time
Kathy Wang
Posted on December 9, 2015 at 10:48 pm
Power posing. Underwater sea creatures. Reinventing the education system. Most of us have watched a TED Talk - but how did it grow into a global phenomenon, and is it really just one big bubble?
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