Question: Analyzing Competitive Advantage
Break up into groups of three to five people. Drawing on the concepts introduced in this chapter, analyze the competitive position of your business school in the market for business education. Then answer the following questions:
1. Does your business school have a competitive advantage?
2. If so, on what is this advantage based and is this advantage sustainable?
3. If your school does not have a competitive advantage in the market for business education, identify the inhibiting factors that are holding it back.
4. How might the Internet change the way in which business education is delivered?
5. Does the Internet pose a threat to the competitive position of your school in the market for business education or is it an opportunity for your school to enhance its competitive position? (Note that it can be both.)
Article File 3
Find a company that has sustained its competitive advantage for more than 10 years. Identify the source of the competitive advantage and explain why it has lasted so long.
Strategic Management Project: Module 3
This module deals with the competitive position of your company. With the information you have at your disposal, perform the following tasks and answer the questions:
1. Identify whether your company has a competitive advantage or disadvantage in its primary industry. (Its primary industry is the one in which it has the most sales.)
2. Evaluate your company against the four generic building blocks of competitive advantage: efficiency, quality, innovation, and responsiveness to customers. How does this exercise help you understand the performance of your company relative to its competitors?
3. What are the distinctive competencies of your company?
4. What role have prior strategies played in shaping the distinctive competencies of your company? What has been the role of luck?
5. Do the strategies your company is pursuing now build on its distinctive competencies? Are they an attempt to build new competencies?
6. What are the barriers to imitating the distinctive competencies of your company?
7. Is there any evidence that your company finds it difficult to adapt to changing industry conditions? If so, why do you think this is the case?