BMGT 301 FINAL EXAM VERIFIED STUDY GUIDE
Operational Effectiveness - Answers - performing the same tasks better than rivals
perform them
Strategic positioning - Answers - performing different tasks than your rivals, or
performing the same tasks in a different way
Competitive advantage - Answers - The ability for a firm to outperform its competitors in
financial measures
Sustainable competitive advantage - Answers - A factor or set of factors can lead to
sustainable advantage if VRIS (valuable, rare, cannot imitate, and hard to substitute)
Resource Based View of Competitive Advantage - Answers - the strategic thinking,
approach suggesting that if a firm is to maintain sustainable competitive advantage, it
must control an exploitable resource, or set of resources, that have four critical
characteristics (VRIS)
Tangible Resources - Answers - Factories, products, raw materials
Intangible Resources - Answers - Reputation, technology (patents, copyrights)
Capabilities - Answers - a subset of resources that enable a firm to take full advantage
of other resources
Imitation-resistant value chain - Answers - a strategic way of doing business that is
difficult for competitors to replicate
VRIS - Answers - Valuable, rare, hard to imitate, hard to substitute
Switching Costs - Answers - the cost a consumer incurs when moving from one product
to another
Differentiation - Answers - Be the first one there (first mover advantage versus fast
follower), product differentiation
Vertical differentiation - Answers - build a better product; products differ in quality (Civic
vs. Acura)
Horizontal differentiation - Answers - Position yourself in "product space" away from
your competitors; used to appeal to distinct group of customers (red vs. blue cars)
, Value chain - Answers - the set of activities through which a product or service is
created and delivered to customers
Primary activities of the value chain - Answers - Inbound logistics, operations, outbound
logistics, marketing & sales, service
Supporting activities of the value chain - Answers - Firm infrastructure, human resource
management, technology development, procurement
Porter's Competitive Forces Model - Answers - The intensity or rivalry among existing
competitors, threat of new entrants, bargaining power of customers, threat of
substitutes, bargaining power of suppliers
Netflix - Answers - atoms to bits, strong customer service, strong customer satisfaction
Long tail - Answers - refers to the large number of products available through
conventional retail stores, an extremely large selection of content or products, firms can
make money by offering a near limitless selection
Collaborative filtering - Answers - a classification of software that monitors trends
among customers and uses this data to personalize an individual's customer experience
(cinematch)
Churn rate - Answers - the rate at which customers leave a product or service
Windowing - Answers - an industry practice whereby content (usually a motion picture)
is available to a given distribution channel for a specified time period usually under a
different revenue model (usually ticket sale, license fee, etc.)
Crowdsourcing - Answers - the act of taking a job traditionally performed by a
designated agent (usually an employee) and outsourcing it to an undefined generally
large group of people in the form of an open call
Straddling - Answers - when a firm attempts to match the benefits of a successful
position while maintaining its existing position
Pure Play Firm - Answers - refers to a firm that exists exclusively online
From Atoms to Bits - Answers - the idea that make media products are sold in
containers (atoms) has moved to bits (the ones and zeros that make up a video file,
music, books)
Fixed Costs - Answers - costs that do not vary according to production volume
Marginal costs - Answers - the costs associated with each addition unit produced
Operational Effectiveness - Answers - performing the same tasks better than rivals
perform them
Strategic positioning - Answers - performing different tasks than your rivals, or
performing the same tasks in a different way
Competitive advantage - Answers - The ability for a firm to outperform its competitors in
financial measures
Sustainable competitive advantage - Answers - A factor or set of factors can lead to
sustainable advantage if VRIS (valuable, rare, cannot imitate, and hard to substitute)
Resource Based View of Competitive Advantage - Answers - the strategic thinking,
approach suggesting that if a firm is to maintain sustainable competitive advantage, it
must control an exploitable resource, or set of resources, that have four critical
characteristics (VRIS)
Tangible Resources - Answers - Factories, products, raw materials
Intangible Resources - Answers - Reputation, technology (patents, copyrights)
Capabilities - Answers - a subset of resources that enable a firm to take full advantage
of other resources
Imitation-resistant value chain - Answers - a strategic way of doing business that is
difficult for competitors to replicate
VRIS - Answers - Valuable, rare, hard to imitate, hard to substitute
Switching Costs - Answers - the cost a consumer incurs when moving from one product
to another
Differentiation - Answers - Be the first one there (first mover advantage versus fast
follower), product differentiation
Vertical differentiation - Answers - build a better product; products differ in quality (Civic
vs. Acura)
Horizontal differentiation - Answers - Position yourself in "product space" away from
your competitors; used to appeal to distinct group of customers (red vs. blue cars)
, Value chain - Answers - the set of activities through which a product or service is
created and delivered to customers
Primary activities of the value chain - Answers - Inbound logistics, operations, outbound
logistics, marketing & sales, service
Supporting activities of the value chain - Answers - Firm infrastructure, human resource
management, technology development, procurement
Porter's Competitive Forces Model - Answers - The intensity or rivalry among existing
competitors, threat of new entrants, bargaining power of customers, threat of
substitutes, bargaining power of suppliers
Netflix - Answers - atoms to bits, strong customer service, strong customer satisfaction
Long tail - Answers - refers to the large number of products available through
conventional retail stores, an extremely large selection of content or products, firms can
make money by offering a near limitless selection
Collaborative filtering - Answers - a classification of software that monitors trends
among customers and uses this data to personalize an individual's customer experience
(cinematch)
Churn rate - Answers - the rate at which customers leave a product or service
Windowing - Answers - an industry practice whereby content (usually a motion picture)
is available to a given distribution channel for a specified time period usually under a
different revenue model (usually ticket sale, license fee, etc.)
Crowdsourcing - Answers - the act of taking a job traditionally performed by a
designated agent (usually an employee) and outsourcing it to an undefined generally
large group of people in the form of an open call
Straddling - Answers - when a firm attempts to match the benefits of a successful
position while maintaining its existing position
Pure Play Firm - Answers - refers to a firm that exists exclusively online
From Atoms to Bits - Answers - the idea that make media products are sold in
containers (atoms) has moved to bits (the ones and zeros that make up a video file,
music, books)
Fixed Costs - Answers - costs that do not vary according to production volume
Marginal costs - Answers - the costs associated with each addition unit produced
