EVALUATING A COMPANY’S RESOURCES, CAPABILITIES, AND COMPETITIVENESS In order to compete effectively, a strategic manager must have a solid understanding of his or her firm’s strengths and weaknesses as well as the opportunities and threats that emerge within the organization’s external environment. For this assignment, you will consider these fundamentals within the context of subscription-based streaming video providers.

Please read the attached document and thoroughly respond to the prompt in continuous prose form (i.e. paragraphs, not bullet points, notes, etc.). Remember to proofread, check your spelling, and use proper grammar. Your writing should be formal in nature, which means no slang or contractions, all verbs and their subjects must agree, and the text must adhere to all grammar rules. Poor execution will definitely negatively impact your assignment grade (see Student Writing Handout). Your work should reflect your knowledge (including research) of the weekly topic, meaning that it will be both thorough and comprehensive. Skimpy responses are not acceptable. Your response should be, at minimum, 800 words (single-spaced, 12-point Times New Roman, 1-inch margins) in length. Your full name, the CRN number, and the assignment number must appear in the header of every page of your submission. In order to compete effectively, a strategic manager must have a solid understanding of his or her firm’s strengths and weaknesses as well as the opportunities and threats that emerge within the organization’s external environment. For this assignment, you will consider these fundamentals within the context of subscription-based streaming video providers. 1. Identify two core competencies that WarnerMedia Entertainment has been able to leverage in its recently-launched HBO Max streaming service and explain, element by element, how well each competency satisfies the four distinct elements of VRIN. (24 points) 2. Based on your research, identify two areas of weakness that HBO Max presently exhibits and advise WarnerMedia Entertainment as to how the firm can best address these issues. Your proposed solutions must be original and cannot include ideas that the company has already publicly announced. (20 points) 3. HBO Max faces competition from many opposing services, including Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, and Disney+. Select two rivals from this list that you believe most threaten HBO Max and detail how HBO Max compares and contrasts, in terms of strategy (not simply features and pricing), to these two rivals. (28 points) 4. The streaming content landscape continues to evolve, with several new entrants’ entering the market earlier this year. Prominent among these newcomers are Peacock and Quibi. Choose one of these two services and devise four creative strategies that the company offering your chosen service can employ to differentiate its streaming service from that of HBO Max. Each strategy should be original and innovative, meaning that you may not simply propose copying features that others have already devised (e.g. do not merely suggest “NBCUniversal should organize Peacock’s content into distinct brand-based categories” or “Quibi should allow subscribers to create multiple user profiles”). Include in your response brief explanations of how each strategy can help the firm capitalize on particular market opportunities in order to gain a competitive advantage in the market. (28 points)