Week 2 Flashcards
Define ‘resource-based view of the firm’
Proposes that a company’s resources and competencies can produce a sustained competitive advantage by creating value for customers by lowering costs, providing something of unique value, or some combination of the two.
List the requirements a resource must meet to give a firm competitive advanatge
- The resource must be valuable to the firm by exploiting opportunities and/or neutralizing threats in an organisation’s environment
- The resource must be rare among the company’s current and future competition
- The resource must not be easily imitated by other forms
- The resource must not be easily substituted or replaced with another resource
- The company must be organized to be able to exploit the resource.
Provide an example of how staffing activities can create value for a firm.
Providing applicants with realistic information about the job and organisation can help reduce employee turnover, cut overall labor cots, and improve the form’s productivity.
Define ‘business strategy’
How a company will compete in its marketplace.
List a businesses sources of competitive advantage
Innovation (develop new products, services, improve current products)
Cost (be the lowest-cost provider)
Service (provide the best customer support before, during and after sale)
Quality (provided highest quality product and service)
Branding (develop positive image)
Distribution (dominate distribution channels to block competitors)
Speed (excel at getting product/service to customers quickly)
Convenience (be easiest for customers to deal with)
First to market (introduce products and services before competitors
Define ‘cost-leadership strategy’
Be the lowest cost producer for a particular level of product quality.
Define ‘operational excellence’
Maximizing the efficiency of the manufacturing or product development process to minimize costs
Define ‘differentiation strategy’
Developing a product or service that has unique characteristics valued by customers
Define ‘product innovation’
Developing new products or services
Define ‘specialization strategy’
Focusing on a narrow market segment or niche and pursuing either a differentiation or cost-leadership strategy within that market segment.
Define ‘customer intimacy’
Delivering unique and customizable products or services that better meet customers’ needs and increase customer loyalty.
Define ‘growth strategy’
A strategy to expand the company either organically or via acquisitions
List the staffing implications of the different sources of competitive advantage
Operational excellence (low cost) Product leadership (innovation) Customer intimacy (customization) Growth
How does the organization life cycle affect staffing?
As a firm or product ages, it grows, matures, declines and dies.
Introduction stage –> growth stage –> maturity stage –> decline (should make changes to revive product)
Define ‘talent philosophy’
A system of beliefs about how a firm’s employees should be treated.
Define ‘human resource strategy’
The linkage of the entire human resource function with the company’s business strategy.
Define ‘staffing strategy’
The constellation of priorities, policies, and behaviors used to manage the flow of talent into, through, and out of an organisation over time.
Define ‘core workforce’
Longer-term, regular employees
Define ‘flexible workers’
temporary, leased, part-time, or contract workers, or independent contractors employed for shorter periods by firms as needed.
Define ‘internal talent focus’
A preference for developing employees and promoting from within to fill job opennings
Define ‘external talent focus’
A preference for filling jobs with new employees hired from outside the organisation
List some reasons why organisations prefer to hire internally
Send message that loyalty and good service can be rewarded with promotion, greater information is know about the candidates, recruitment is faster, return on the company’s investment is increased, reinforce and strengthen positive organisational culture.
List some reasons why organisations prefer to hire externally
Lack qualified internal candidates, enhance organisational diversity,inject new ideas and perspectives into the organisation, internal promotion can be disruptive
Define ‘proactive staffing’
Done before situations or issues arise
Define ‘reactive staffing’
Done in response to situations or issues
Define ‘job-oriented staffing’
Hiring to fill a specific job opening
Define ‘talent-oriented staffing’
Recruiting and even hiring without a specific job opening
Define ‘centralised staffing’
A situation in which all of an organisation’s staffing activities are channeled through one unit
Define ‘decentralized staffing’
The different business units of a company each house their own staffing functions
Define ‘combined approach’
A combination of centralized and decentralized staffing.
Define ‘human capital advantage’
Acquiring a stock of quality talent that creates a competitive advantage
Define ‘human process advantage’
Superior work processes that create a competitive advantage
