ANSWERS (GRADED A+)
Top Corporate Performers Characteristics - ANSWER--have an
entrepreneurial/opportunistic mindset
-are market/customer-needs oriented
-make effective use of valuable competencies
-Offer new and innovative products and services
Being _________ is the biggest threat to any business - ANSWER-non-customer
centric
The firms strategic choices - ANSWER--economies of scale
-barriers to market entry
-diversification
-product differentiation
-industry concentration
-market frictions
I/O (Industry Organization) Model Assumptions - ANSWER-1. The external environment
imposes pressures and constraints that determine strategic choices.
2. Similarity in strategically relevant resources causes competitors to pursue similar
strategies.
3. Resource differences among competitors are short-lived due to resource mobility
across firms.
4. Strategic decision makers are rational and engage in profit-maximizing behaviors.
5 Forces Model of Competition - ANSWER-
Industry Profitability - ANSWER--a function of interactions among the 5 forces
Building Competitive Advantage - ANSWER-resources, capability and core competence
Core Competencies - ANSWER--rare
-valuable
-nonsubstitutable
-costly to imitate
Stakeholders - ANSWER-people who are affected by a firm's performance and who
have claims on its performance
Categories of stakeholders - ANSWER--capital market stakeholders
-product market stakeholders
, -organizational stakeholders
Capital market stakeholders - ANSWER--shareholders
-major suppliers of capital (i.e. banks)
Organizational Stakeholders - ANSWER--employees
-managers
-nonmanagers
Types of product market stakeholders - ANSWER--suppliers
-customers
-host communities
-unions
Product Market Stakeholders - ANSWER--primary customers
-suppliers
-host communities
-unions
Strategic Leaders - ANSWER--have a strong strategic orientation that relies on
thorough analysis when taking action
-are located at various level throughout the firm
-want the firm and its people to accomplish more
-are innovative thinkers who promote innovation
-can leverage relationships with external parties while simultaneously promoting
exploratory learning
-have global approach to management
Strategic competitiveness - ANSWER-achieved when a firm successfully formulates
and implements a value-creating strategy.
strategy - ANSWER-an integrated and coordinated set of commitments and actions
designed to exploit core competencies and gain a competitive advantage.
a firm has competitive advantage when - ANSWER-it implements a strategy that
creates superior value for customers and that its competitors are unable to duplicate or
find too costly to imitate.
Is competitive advantage permanent? - ANSWER-no
Above-average returns - ANSWER-returns in excess of what an investor expects to
earn from other investments with a similar amount of risk.
Risk - ANSWER-an investor's uncertainty about the economic gains or losses that will
result from a particular investment.