Week 2

Question 1

Define ‘resource-based view of the firm’

Answer 1

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.

Question 2

List the requirements a resource must meet to give a firm competitive advanatge

Answer 2

1. The resource must be valuable to the firm by exploiting opportunities and/or neutralizing threats in an organisation’s environment
2. The resource must be rare among the company’s current and future competition
3. The resource must not be easily imitated by other forms
4. The resource must not be easily substituted or replaced with another resource
5. The company must be organized to be able to exploit the resource.

Question 3

Provide an example of how staffing activities can create value for a firm.

Answer 3

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.

Question 4

Define ‘business strategy’

Answer 4

How a company will compete in its marketplace.

Question 5

List a businesses sources of competitive advantage

Answer 5

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

Question 6

Define ‘cost-leadership strategy’

Answer 6

Be the lowest cost producer for a particular level of product quality.

Question 7

Define ‘operational excellence’

Answer 7

Maximizing the efficiency of the manufacturing or product development process to minimize costs

Question 8

Define ‘differentiation strategy’

Answer 8

Developing a product or service that has unique characteristics valued by customers

Question 9

Define ‘product innovation’

Answer 9

Developing new products or services

Question 10

Define ‘specialization strategy’

Answer 10

Focusing on a narrow market segment or niche and pursuing either a differentiation or cost-leadership strategy within that market segment.

Question 11

Define ‘customer intimacy’

Answer 11

Delivering unique and customizable products or services that better meet customers’ needs and increase customer loyalty.

Question 12

Define ‘growth strategy’

Answer 12

A strategy to expand the company either organically or via acquisitions

Question 13

List the staffing implications of the different sources of competitive advantage

Answer 13

Operational excellence (low cost)
Product leadership (innovation)
Customer intimacy (customization)
Growth

Question 14

How does the organization life cycle affect staffing?

Answer 14

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)

Question 15

Define ‘talent philosophy’

Answer 15

A system of beliefs about how a firm’s employees should be treated.

Question 16

Define ‘human resource strategy’

Answer 16

The linkage of the entire human resource function with the company’s business strategy.

Question 17

Define ‘staffing strategy’

Answer 17

The constellation of priorities, policies, and behaviors used to manage the flow of talent into, through, and out of an organisation over time.

Question 18

Define ‘core workforce’

Answer 18

Longer-term, regular employees

Question 19

Define ‘flexible workers’

Answer 19

temporary, leased, part-time, or contract workers, or independent contractors employed for shorter periods by firms as needed.

Question 20

Define ‘internal talent focus’

Answer 20

A preference for developing employees and promoting from within to fill job opennings

Question 21

Define ‘external talent focus’

Answer 21

A preference for filling jobs with new employees hired from outside the organisation

Question 22

List some reasons why organisations prefer to hire internally

Answer 22

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.

Question 23

List some reasons why organisations prefer to hire externally

Answer 23

Lack qualified internal candidates, enhance organisational diversity,inject new ideas and perspectives into the organisation, internal promotion can be disruptive

Question 24

Define ‘proactive staffing’

Answer 24

Done before situations or issues arise

Question 25

Define ‘reactive staffing’

Answer 25

Done in response to situations or issues

Question 26

Define ‘job-oriented staffing’

Answer 26

Hiring to fill a specific job opening

Question 27

Define ‘talent-oriented staffing’

Answer 27

Recruiting and even hiring without a specific job opening

Question 28

Define ‘centralised staffing’

Answer 28

A situation in which all of an organisation’s staffing activities are channeled through one unit

Question 29

Define ‘decentralized staffing’

Answer 29

The different business units of a company each house their own staffing functions

Question 30

Define ‘combined approach’

Answer 30

A combination of centralized and decentralized staffing.

Question 31

Define ‘human capital advantage’

Answer 31

Acquiring a stock of quality talent that creates a competitive advantage

Question 32

Define ‘human process advantage’

Answer 32

Superior work processes that create a competitive advantage