Competitive Advantage

Question 1

Positioning school

Answer 1

Porter 1997

match business strategy to external environment

Question 2

5 Forces

Answer 2

Porter 1997

threat of new entrants, rivalry, supplier power, consumer power, threat of substitutes

Question 3

Dr Pepper:

Answer 3

Porter 1997
introduced new narrow flavor, used Coke and pepsi’s bottling networks - made it the least vulnerable to competitive forces

Question 4

Pros of PFF

Answer 4

Argyris & McGahan 1993

has staying power, where fads and fashions are common

Question 5

PFF big v small business

Answer 5

Brandenburger 2002

if it is focusing on big business PFF is relevant .. But not useful if youre a small company that cant influence forces

Question 6

PFF: static

Answer 6

Pascale 1996

Porters 5 forces are too static - there is no one formula for strategy … this can be at the expense of peripheral vision

Question 7

PFF: disruption

Answer 7

Schumpeter and Christensen

PFF does not take into account disruptive technology

Question 8

black boxing

Answer 8

Foss 1996

Porters 5 forces have no internal focus, its black boxing the firm

Question 9

RBV def

Answer 9

Barney 1986

strategy choices should flow from analyzing the firm’s unique skills and capabilities not the environment

Question 10

sustained competitive advantage if your resources are:

Answer 10

Barney 1986

VRIN - Valuable, rare, inimitable, and non-substitutable

Question 11

Con PFF: Chaos theory

Answer 11

Aktouf 2008
Porters 5 forces doesn’t take into account chaos theory - even determinable systems can be superceded by luck (3m - postit notes from glue that didn’t work)

Question 12

synthesize PFF and RBV

Answer 12

Dierickx & Cool 1980

product market position and unique resources work together to determine a competitive advantage

Question 13

PFF & RBV synthesize dynamic enviro

Answer 13

Dierickx & Cool 1980
even if assets are appropriate for industry at one time, if the competitive enviroment Is rapidly changing the resources that bring a competitive advantage are likely to change

Question 14

synthesize PFF & RBV - agree with Dierickx & Cool

Answer 14

Burns & Stalker 1997

RBV must find situations where the chosen strategic assets will yield the most influence - synthesize PFF & RBV

Question 15

a core competence: 3 benefits

Answer 15

Prahalad & Hamel (1990)
(1) gives potential access to a wide variety of markets (2) makes contributions to percieved customer benefits from end prodcuts (3) is difficult to immitate

Question 16

Core Competence - what it needs to do

Answer 16

Collis & Montgomery 1995
must be distinct;
cant sleepwalk like zerox did
and must stay dynamic like M&S moving to the suburbs

Question 17

benefit of RBV is good because it encourages management to look at seemingly unproductive resources like culture

Answer 17

Barney 2001

good because it encourages management to look at seemingly unproductive resources like culture

Question 18

con.. RBV is just a feel good exercise:

Answer 18

Collis & Montgomery 1995

all firms can find good resources

Question 19

RBV: causal ambiguity

Answer 19

King and Zeithmal 2001

if rivals cant see the cause of performance it is unlikely managers can

Question 20

RBV is tautological because

Answer 20

Priem & Butler 2001
(1) valuable resources are defined in such a way that CA arise just from their posession (so the theory’s primary assertion is true by definition) & (2) statement is not paramerized in any testable way

Question 21

retort to Priem & Butler

Answer 21

Barney 2001

showed RBV can be parameterized