Question 1: Explain why the team effort is so important in the building of core competencies and capabilities within an organization.

Question 2: What are some of the key factors a firm should consider when deciding whether or not to outsource functions?

Question 3: What is your assessment of the long-term attractiveness of the industries represented in Kraft Foods' business portfolio?

Question 4: What is your assessment of the competitive strength of Kraft Foods' different business units?

The discussions will be graded for the following two criteria:

1. Frequency-Number and regularity of your discussion comments. Students are expected to log into the course and post (respond) in the discussion topics on a minimum of three separate days per week in each graded discussion, beginning no later than Wednesday.

2. Quality-Content of your contributions. Examples of quality posts include:

• Providing additional information to the discussion
• Elaborating on previous comments from others
• Presenting explanations of concepts or methods to help fellow students
• Presenting reasons for or against a topic in a persuasive fashion
• Sharing your own personal experiences that relate to the topic
• Providing a URL and explanation for an area you researched on the Internet

Full credit is awarded when both high quality and required frequency is met.