Case Tips
Bally Total Fitness
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External and internal analysis
Stick to case facts & time periods•Cite case facts with “(Case)” or page number if available.
Bally Total Fitness Question
Recommend an action that Bally Total Fitness should take to address their two biggest external threats. You may find it useful to describe Bally's strategy.
Economic Climate
Technical Change
Legal/Political Conditions
Demographic Trends
Cultural Trends
Specific International Events
Focal Firm
Things to Chew Over
Why is Bally Total Fitness successful? How would you describe their strategy?
Classify “threats” from the case into different concept buckets
E.g. rivalry, substitute products, suppliers, cultural trends, demographic trends
As you read assess all the threats, and then select the two most significant
Ok to show why some potentially relevant threats aren’t that big.
See discussion of implications of external concepts to connect threats to your recommendation.
Still stuck? A structure to start you off.
Paragraph 1
State your recommended action & biggest threats.
Briefly describe Bally’s strategy (based on facts from the case): what is their theory of gaining/sustaining advantage?
Paragraph 2
Threat #1
Describe use the facts of the case and concepts to argue that this threat is important.
Describe how the threat contradicts Bally’s strategy? (which would then make them less likely to gain and sustain a competitive advantage)
Explain how your recommendation would help.
Paragraph 3
Threat #2