Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Studying this chapter should provide you with the strategic management
knowledge needed to:
1. Explain why firms need to study and understand their internal organization.
2. Define value and discuss its importance.
3. Describe the differences between tangible and intangible resources.
4. Define capabilities and discuss their development.
5. Describe four criteria used to determine whether resources and capabilities are core
competencies.
6. Explain how firms analyze their value chain for the purpose of determining where they
are able to create value when using their resources, capabilities, and core
competencies.
7. Define outsourcing and discuss reasons for its use.
8. Discuss the importance of identifying internal strengths and weaknesses.
9. Discuss the importance of avoiding core rigidities.
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Competitive Advantage
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Competitive Advantage (cont’d)
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Analyzing the External Environment
Opportunities
and threats
Unique resources,
capabilities, and
competencies
(required for sustainable
competitive advantage)
• Global Economy
– Traditional sources of advantages can be overcome
by competitors’ international strategies and by the
flow of resources throughout the global economy.
• Global Mind-Set
– The ability to study an internal environment in ways
that are not dependent on the assumptions of a single
country, culture, or context.
• Analysis Outcome
– Understanding how to leverage the firm’s bundle of
heterogeneous resources and capabilities.
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Components of an Internal Analysis
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Creating Value
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The Challenge of Analyzing
the Internal Organization
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The Challenge of Analyzing
the Internal Organization (cont’d)
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Conditions Affecting Managerial Decisions
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Resources, Capabilities, and Core
Competencies
• Resources:
Competitive – are the source of a
Advantage firm’s capabilities.
– are broad in scope.
Core – cover a spectrum of
Competencies individual, social and
organizational
Capabilities phenomena.
– alone, do not yield a
Resources competitive
• Tangible
• Intangible
advantage.
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Resources
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Tangible Resources
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Intangible Resources
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Resources, Capabilities and Core
Competencies
Capabilities:
Competitive • represent the capacity to
Advantage deploy resources that have
been purposely integrated
to achieve a desired end
Core state.
Competencies
• emerge over time through
complex interactions among
Capabilities
tangible and intangible
resources.
Resources
• Tangible
• Intangible
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Resources, Capabilities and Core
Competencies
Capabilities (cont’d):
• often are based on
Competitive developing, carrying and
Advantage exchanging information and
knowledge through the
firm’s human capital.
Core • composed of the unique
Competencies skills and knowledge of a
firm’s employees.
Capabilities • include functional expertise
of employees.
Resources • often developed in specific
• Tangible functional areas or as part
• Intangible of a functional area.
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Example of Firms’ Capabilities
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Resources, Capabilities and Core
Competencies
The four criteria for
determining strategic
Competitive
capabilities:
Advantage
• value
• rarity
Core • costly-to-imitate
Competencies
• non-substitutability
Capabilities
Resources
• Tangible
• Intangible
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Resources, Capabilities and Core
Competencies
Core Competencies
Resources
• Tangible
• Intangible
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Building Core Competencies
The four criteria of sustainable
Sustainable competitive advantages:
Competitive • valuable capabilities
Advantage
• rare capabilities
• costly to imitate
Four Criteria of • non-substitutable
Sustainable
Advantages
• Valuable
• Rare
• Costly to imitate
• Nonsubstitutable
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The Four Criteria of Sustainable Advantage
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Building Sustainable Competitive Advantage
• Valuable capabilities:
Sustainable – help a firm neutralize
Competitive threats or exploit
Advantage opportunities.
• Rare capabilities
Four Criteria of – are not possessed by
Sustainable many others.
Advantages
• Valuable
• Rare
• Costly to imitate
• Non-substitutable
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Building Sustainable Competitive Advantage
• Costly-to-Imitate
Sustainable Capabilities
Competitive – Historical
Advantage • A unique and a valuable
organizational culture or
brand name
Four Criteria of
Sustainable – Ambiguous cause
Advantages • The causes and uses of a
competence are unclear
– Social complexity
• Valuable • Interpersonal
• Rare relationships, trust, and
• Costly to imitate friendship among
• Non-substitutable managers, suppliers, and
customers
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Building Sustainable Competitive Advantage
• Non-substitutable
Sustainable Capabilities
Competitive – No strategic equivalent
Advantage
• firm-specific
knowledge
Four Criteria of • organizational culture
Sustainable
Advantages
• superior execution of
the chosen business
model
• Valuable
• Rare
• Costly to imitate
• Non-substitutable
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Outcomes from Combinations
of the Four Criteria
Competitive Performance
Consequences Implications
No No No No Competitive Below Average
Disadvantage Returns
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Criteria for Sustainable Advantage
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Value Chain Analysis
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Value Chain Analysis (cont’d)
• Primary Activities:
– are involved with:
• a product’s physical creation.
• a product’s sale and distribution to buyers.
• the product’s service after the sale.
• Support Activities:
– provide the assistance necessary for the primary
activities to take place.
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Value Chain Analysis (cont’d)
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A Model of the Value Chain
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Creating Value through Value Chain Activities
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Creating Value through Support
Functions
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The Value-Creating Potential
of Primary Activities
• Inbound Logistics
– Activities used to receive, store, and disseminate
inputs to a product.
• Operations
– Activities necessary to convert the inputs provided by
inbound logistics into final product form.
• Outbound Logistics
– Activities involved with collecting, storing, and
physically distributing the product to customers.
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The Value-Creating Potential
of Primary Activities (cont’d)
• Procurement
– Activities completed to purchase the inputs needed to
produce a firm’s products.
• Technological Development
– Activities completed to improve a firm’s product and
the processes used to manufacture it.
• Human Resource Management
– Activities involved with recruiting, hiring, training,
developing, and compensating all personnel.
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The Value-Creating Potential of
Primary Activities: Support (cont’d)
• Firm Infrastructure
– Activities that support the work of the entire value
chain (general management, planning, finance,
accounting, legal, government relations, etc.).
• Effectively and consistently identify external opportunities
and threats
• Identify resources and capabilities
• Support core competencies
• Each activity should be examined relative to
competitor’s abilities and rated as superior,
equivalent or inferior.
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Outsourcing
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Outsourcing Decisions
A firm may outsource all
or only part of one or
more primary and/or
support activities.
Technological Development
Human Resource Mgmt.
Service
Support Activities
Firm Infrastructure
Marketing and Sales
Procurement
Outbound Logistics
Operations
Inbound Logistics
Primary Activities
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Strategic Rationales for Outsourcing
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Strategic Rationales for Outsourcing (cont’d)
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Outsourcing Issues
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Outsourcing Issues (cont’d)
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Competencies, Strengths, Weaknesses, and
Strategic Decisions
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