The Meta Case Study (Strategizing)

Strategy and Performance Management

Andy Weeger

Neu-Ulm University of Applied Sciences

August 11, 2025

Learning objectives

After today’s session, you will be able to:

• apply competition frameworks to a real-world tech case;
• analyse deliberate and emergent strategy formation in practice;
• identify and assess resource-based advantages and capability building;
• evaluate organisational design choices in a scaling global company;
• and discuss ethical challenges in strategic decision-making.

Pre-class preparation

You listened to the full Meta: The Complete History & Strategy episode

You prepared:

1. One key strategic decision
2. The lecture theme it best illustrates
3. One question for discussion

Roadmap for today

1. Warm-up
2. Competition & positioning
3. Strategy formation
4. Resources & capabilities
5. Break
6. Organization & structure
7. Ethics and values
8. Wrap-up

Time	Activity	Notes
10:05 – 10:15	Warm-up: Surprising Insights	Individual → group → class share. Activates prior knowledge & connects to earlier chapters.
10:15 – 10:45	Competition & Positioning	Individual (5 min) → group discussion (10 min) → consolidate (5 min) → 2 group presentations (10 min total) + Q&A.
10:45 – 11:15	Strategy Formation	Same flow.
11:15 – 11:45	Resources & Capabilities	Same flow, focus on bundles + dynamic capabilities.
11:45 – 12:00	Break	15 minutes.
12:00 – 12:30	Organization & Structure	Same flow.
12:30 – 13:00	Ethics & Values	Same flow.
13:00 – 13:15	Cross-Chapter Reflection & Wrap-Up	Discuss most challenged/enriched chapter concepts; summarise takeaways.

Warm-up

What stood out?

• Select the most surprising or counterintuitive thing you learned from the Meta episode
• Think of how it connects to topics from previous classes
• Be ready to share your findings

Time: 5 min individual th • 10 min class share

Competition & positioning

Competition drives progress.

Map one major competitive move to a framework from the chapter.

1. Think individually, identify a major competetive move and relate it to the concepts discussed in class
2. Discuss in your group of four: Compare and challenge each other’s mappings.
3. Consolidate your best example and prepare a brief presentation.

Time: 5 min individual • 5 min group • 5 min class share

Strategy formation

Strategy can be planned or discovered.

Identify deliberate and emergent strategies in Meta’s history.

1. Think individually: Select one deliberate strategy and one emergent strategy from the case.
   
2. Discuss in your group of four: Evaluate how each played out.
   
3. Consolidate your examples and prepare a short presentation.

Time: 5 min individual • 10 min group • 5 min consolidate • 10 min presentations/Q&A

Timing: 30 min.
Ask: Was the Metaverse pivot truly deliberate, or reactive to market pressures?
Compare to the mobile pivot—was that foresight or necessity?
Draw links to “formation” concepts from your slides.

Resources & capabilities

Advantage comes from bundles of resources
— and the ability to renew them.

Use VRIO and dynamic capabilities to analyse Meta’s resource bundle.

1. Think individually: Select two or more resources that, in combination, create Meta’s competitive advantage.
   
2. Apply the VRIO framework to the bundle, not just individual elements.
   
3. Discuss in your group of four: Analyse how Meta has renewed, reconfigured, or extended these resources over time.
   
4. Consolidate your findings and prepare a short presentation.

Time: 5 min individual • 10 min group • 5 min consolidate • 10 min presentations/Q&A

Timing: 30 min.
Emphasise the combination of resources:
- Global user base & network effects
- Advertising platform & targeting algorithms
- Data assets & AI infrastructure
- Engineering talent & product culture
- Brand & platform ecosystem
Prompts: Could these resources lose value if conditions change?
Which dynamic capabilities are most critical for the future?

Break

Organization & structure

Structure shapes how strategy is executed.

Analyse how Meta’s organisation supported or hindered strategy.

1. Think individually: Pick one structural choice and assess how it supported or hindered strategy.
   
2. Discuss in your group of four: Compare analyses and explore alternative designs.
   
3. Consolidate your example and prepare a short presentation.

Time: 5 min individual • 10 min group • 5 min consolidate • 10 min presentations/Q&A

Timing: 30 min. Ask: How does centralisation affect speed vs. adaptability?
Discuss trade-offs of creating separate units for innovation vs. integrating into core.
Relate to mechanistic vs. organic structures, ambidexterity.

Ethics & values

Long-term success depends on trust.

Apply an ethics framework to one of Meta’s dilemmas.

1. Think individually: Choose one ethical dilemma from Meta’s history.
   
2. Identify a possible a course of action and relate it to our CSR discussions.
   
3. Discuss in your group of four: Evaluate feasibility and potential trade-offs.
   
4. Consolidate your recommendation and prepare a short presentation.

Time: 5 min individual • 10 min group • 5 min consolidate • 10 min presentations/Q&A

Timing: 30 min.
Encourage applying stakeholder mapping, utilitarian vs. deontological reasoning.
Probe: How would different ethical approaches change strategic decisions?
Ask: Did ethical lapses undermine competitive or resource advantages?

Closing reflection

Integration of perspectives deepens understanding.

Which chapter’s concepts were most challenged or enriched by the Meta case?

1. Think individually: Identify one challenged or enriched concept.
   
2. Discuss in your group of four: Compare and prioritise your insights.
   
3. Share your most valuable takeaway with the class.

Time: 5 min individual • 5 min group • 5 min class share

Timing: 15 min.
Capture a few answers verbally or on a shared doc.
Purpose: consolidate cross-chapter integration, prime for next topics.

Appendix

Timestamp guide

Approx. Time	Topic / Event	Relevant Chapters
00:00 – 00:45	Origin story: Harvard launch, early growth	Competition, Formation
00:45 – 01:30	Expansion beyond colleges, News Feed launch	Competition, Resources
01:30 – 02:15	Mobile shift, Instagram acquisition	Competition, Resources
02:15 – 02:45	WhatsApp acquisition, messaging dominance	Competition, Resources
02:45 – 03:15	Monetisation: Ads, app install economy	Resources, Formation
03:15 – 03:45	AI integration in feed ranking	Resources, Organization
03:45 – 04:30	Cambridge Analytica & privacy crises	Ethics, Organization
04:30 – 05:15	Metaverse pivot, Reality Labs	Formation, Resources, Organization
05:15 – 05:45	AI infrastructure, LLaMA models	Resources, Organization
05:45 – 06:15	Current positioning, future challenges	Competition, Ethics