Lecturer: Aharon Cohen Mohliver
Email Address: noniecohen@gmail.com
FACULTY BIO
Aharon Cohen Mohliver is an assistant professor of strategy and entrepreneurship at London Business School. Aharon received his Ph.D. in Management at Columbia Business School in New York and holds degrees in Finance and Strategy, Economics, Political Science, and Philosophy from the Hebrew University. His main research interests are on the processes underlying the spread of wrongdoing between organizations. Prof. Cohen Mohliver studies phenomenon’s such as stock option backdating, biased investment decisions of mutual funds in IPOs, CEO turnover in the wake of restatements, neglect, and abuse in care homes and the social influences on physicians in the US prescription drug epidemic. In related work, Prof. Cohen Mohliver studies strategic positioning and counterpositioning of firms along politically contested issues.
Prof. Cohen Mohliver advises various government and regulatory authorities in Israel; his work with the Securities Authority in Israel for example involves identifying ethical violations conducted by financial intermediaries in business groups and how strategic action by business groups affects the pricing of new offers in the stock market. Recently, this work was cited as a main contributor to the committee on competitiveness (Vaadat Ha’rikuziut) underlying the recommendation to separate financial and non-financial activities by business groups.
Prof. Cohen Mohliver was an advisor to the Financial Market Global Competitiveness Committee and the Committee on Market Competitiveness for the Israeli Government. Prior to joining Columbia University Prof. Cohen Mohliver served as the Economic Policy Advisor to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (Israel) during his term as head of the opposition and during the election campaigns in 2006 and 2009.
COURSE SUMMARY
This course will introduce you to the concept of a “business model”. In the first half of the course, we will learn the basic building blocks of a business model based on the “who, what how” framework. In the second half of the course, we will revisit two famous (and possibly previously learned) cases – Ryanair Vs. EasyJet and The Cola Wars, and analyze them from a business model perspective. We will conclude with a discussion of Patagonia and the use of business models to analyze corporate socially responsible strategies.
Introduction to business models
Session 1. Case: Café X
Questions:
1. If you were in Jean-Paul Guilards shoes, would you change the strategy of Café x?
2. If you decide not to change the strategy- explain why
3. If you decide the strategy should change- explain what you would change the strategy to?
Session 2 & 3. Case: Ryanair vs. EasyJet in 2014
1. What, in your view, explains the difference in the stock market performance of EasyJet vs. Ryanair?
2. What are the key differences in the business models of the two firms?, what does this imply for their growth potential?
Session 4 & 5. Case: The Cola Wars
1. Given the choice- would you prefer being a bottler or a concentrate producer?
2. Using the tools you have learned in Strategy, explain your choice.
Session 6. Course conclusion. Case: Patagonia
1. What is Patagonia's business model?
2. Evaluate the business model for internal consistency. Back your analysis with calculations from the case where possible
Email Address: noniecohen@gmail.com
FACULTY BIO
Aharon Cohen Mohliver is an assistant professor of strategy and entrepreneurship at London Business School. Aharon received his Ph.D. in Management at Columbia Business School in New York and holds degrees in Finance and Strategy, Economics, Political Science, and Philosophy from the Hebrew University. His main research interests are on the processes underlying the spread of wrongdoing between organizations. Prof. Cohen Mohliver studies phenomenon’s such as stock option backdating, biased investment decisions of mutual funds in IPOs, CEO turnover in the wake of restatements, neglect, and abuse in care homes and the social influences on physicians in the US prescription drug epidemic. In related work, Prof. Cohen Mohliver studies strategic positioning and counterpositioning of firms along politically contested issues.
Prof. Cohen Mohliver advises various government and regulatory authorities in Israel; his work with the Securities Authority in Israel for example involves identifying ethical violations conducted by financial intermediaries in business groups and how strategic action by business groups affects the pricing of new offers in the stock market. Recently, this work was cited as a main contributor to the committee on competitiveness (Vaadat Ha’rikuziut) underlying the recommendation to separate financial and non-financial activities by business groups.
Prof. Cohen Mohliver was an advisor to the Financial Market Global Competitiveness Committee and the Committee on Market Competitiveness for the Israeli Government. Prior to joining Columbia University Prof. Cohen Mohliver served as the Economic Policy Advisor to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (Israel) during his term as head of the opposition and during the election campaigns in 2006 and 2009.
COURSE SUMMARY
This course will introduce you to the concept of a “business model”. In the first half of the course, we will learn the basic building blocks of a business model based on the “who, what how” framework. In the second half of the course, we will revisit two famous (and possibly previously learned) cases – Ryanair Vs. EasyJet and The Cola Wars, and analyze them from a business model perspective. We will conclude with a discussion of Patagonia and the use of business models to analyze corporate socially responsible strategies.
Introduction to business models
Session 1. Case: Café X
Questions:
1. If you were in Jean-Paul Guilards shoes, would you change the strategy of Café x?
2. If you decide not to change the strategy- explain why
3. If you decide the strategy should change- explain what you would change the strategy to?
Session 2 & 3. Case: Ryanair vs. EasyJet in 2014
1. What, in your view, explains the difference in the stock market performance of EasyJet vs. Ryanair?
2. What are the key differences in the business models of the two firms?, what does this imply for their growth potential?
Session 4 & 5. Case: The Cola Wars
1. Given the choice- would you prefer being a bottler or a concentrate producer?
2. Using the tools you have learned in Strategy, explain your choice.
Session 6. Course conclusion. Case: Patagonia
1. What is Patagonia's business model?
2. Evaluate the business model for internal consistency. Back your analysis with calculations from the case where possible
- Teacher: Aharon Cohen Mohaliver