This week's topic is functional strategies for competitive advantage. The chapter readings goes back to the “building blocks” of competitive advantage and shows how each drives functional alignment of its focus and strategy. Some functions, like the Controller, Legal, and Treasury, cut across all other functions and aren’t given much consideration. But the point is that each of these functions has to point toward commonly understood goals to improve efficiency, quality, customer responsiveness and innovation.

Think about a company you admire (COSTCO) and the functional strategies it uses to support its business model and value proposition. How does it use its functional areas to support its overall strategy? What other functional areas serve to support its competitive advantage? Why has it been successful? What other areas could it emphasize to become more successful? Please include specific examples to support your comments.