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Threats and opportunities from site

opinion Essay
531 words
531 words
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Threats to sustainability

Imitation or substitution
Market entry
Powerful buyers and suppliers
Unpredictable changes in external environment
Factors beyond a firm's control (bad luck)
Limitations of the RBV
Presented as static concept - however, many firms need to be able to cope with turbulent environments
Suggests that managers may have limited ability to create sustained competitive advantages (empirical support by "perpetually failing firms" - firms that consistently earn normal or below-normal returns
Difficult to test empirically - data problem (at the level of the unit of analysis, Le., resources and capabilities)
What is the appropriate level of analysis? How deeply does one have to look?
Principles of capabilities-based competition

Goal : Build difficult-to-imitate organizational capabilities that distinguish a company from its competitors

Principles :

o The building blocks of strategy are business processes o The transformation of processes into valuable strategic capabilities is a key to success o Capabilities are created by making strategic investments in support infrastructure o CEO must be responsible, because competing on capabilities involves cross-functionality

Some lessons learned from the capabilities perspective

A capability begins and ends with the customer (or supplier)
The longer and more complex the string of business processes, the harder it is to transform into a capability or to duplicate or imitate
Outsourcing can be dangerous
A strategy for growth : Transfer essential business processes to New geographic areas (e.g., Wal-Mart) or to New businesses (e.g., Honda)
There is a difference between capabilities and core competencies

Core competencies

Coordinate diverse production skills and integrate multiple streams of technology
Are communication, involvement, and a deep commitment to working across organizational boundaries
Do not diminish with use, but are enhanced as they are applied and shared
Are the glue that binds existing businesses
Are difficult to imitate, especially if they are a complex harmonization of individual technologies and production skills
Are corporate resources and may be reallocated by corporate management
Tests to identify core competence :

Does it provide access to a wide variety of markets ?
Does it make a significant contribution to the perceived customer benefits of the end product?
Is it difficult for competitors to imitate?
Dynamic capabilities

Definition : Ability to integrate, build and reconfigure internal and external processes and competencies to address a rapidly changing environment; ability to maintain and adapt the capabilities that are the basis of competitive advantage

Hypothesis : Competitive advantage of a firm lies with its processes
Roles of organizational and managerial processes :

In this essay, the author

  • Explains that the longer and more complex the string of business processes, the harder it is to transform into a capability or to duplicate or imitate
  • Explains that a strategy for growth is to transfer essential business processes to new geographic areas (e.g., wal-mart) or to new businesses.
  • Opines that they are difficult to imitate, especially if it is a complex harmonization of individual technologies and production skills.
  • Describes how the end product makes a significant contribution to perceived customer benefits.
  • Explains the ability to integrate, build and reconfigure internal and external processes and competencies to address a rapidly changing environment, and maintain and adapt the capabilities that are the basis of competitive advantage.
  • Opines that the more important the path dependencies, the greater the returns to adoption.
  • Explains that strategy involves choosing among and committing to long-term paths of competence development; strategic change is difficult and costly.
  • Argues that managers may have limited ability to create sustained competitive advantages (empirical support by 'quot;perpetually failing firms' - firms that consistently earn normal or below-normal returns).
  • Explains that competitive advantage is a function of how assets can be deployed and re-deployed in changing markets.
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