BMGT 301 UPDATED ACTUAL QUESTIONS
AND CORRECT ANSWERS COMPLETE
STUDY GUIDE
●● Strategic positioning
Answer: performing different tasks than your rivals, or performing the
same tasks in a different way
●● Competitive advantage
Answer: The ability for a firm to outperform its competitors in financial
measures
●● Sustainable competitive advantage
Answer: 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
Answer: 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
,Answer: Factories, products, raw materials
●● Intangible Resources
Answer: Reputation, technology (patents, copyrights)
●● Capabilities
Answer: a subset of resources that enable a firm to take full advantage of
other resources
●● Imitation-resistant value chain
Answer: a strategic way of doing business that is difficult for
competitors to replicate
●● VRIS
Answer: Valuable, rare, hard to imitate, hard to substitute
●● Switching Costs
Answer: the cost a consumer incurs when moving from one product to
another
●● Differentiation
Answer: Be the first one there (first mover advantage versus fast
follower), product differentiation
, ●● Vertical differentiation
Answer: build a better product; products differ in quality (Civic vs.
Acura)
●● Horizontal differentiation
Answer: Position yourself in "product space" away from your
competitors; used to appeal to distinct group of customers (red vs. blue
cars)
●● Value chain
Answer: the set of activities through which a product or service is
created and delivered to customers
●● Primary activities of the value chain
Answer: Inbound logistics, operations, outbound logistics, marketing &
sales, service
●● Supporting activities of the value chain
Answer: Firm infrastructure, human resource management, technology
development, procurement
●● Porter's Competitive Forces Model
AND CORRECT ANSWERS COMPLETE
STUDY GUIDE
●● Strategic positioning
Answer: performing different tasks than your rivals, or performing the
same tasks in a different way
●● Competitive advantage
Answer: The ability for a firm to outperform its competitors in financial
measures
●● Sustainable competitive advantage
Answer: 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
Answer: 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
,Answer: Factories, products, raw materials
●● Intangible Resources
Answer: Reputation, technology (patents, copyrights)
●● Capabilities
Answer: a subset of resources that enable a firm to take full advantage of
other resources
●● Imitation-resistant value chain
Answer: a strategic way of doing business that is difficult for
competitors to replicate
●● VRIS
Answer: Valuable, rare, hard to imitate, hard to substitute
●● Switching Costs
Answer: the cost a consumer incurs when moving from one product to
another
●● Differentiation
Answer: Be the first one there (first mover advantage versus fast
follower), product differentiation
, ●● Vertical differentiation
Answer: build a better product; products differ in quality (Civic vs.
Acura)
●● Horizontal differentiation
Answer: Position yourself in "product space" away from your
competitors; used to appeal to distinct group of customers (red vs. blue
cars)
●● Value chain
Answer: the set of activities through which a product or service is
created and delivered to customers
●● Primary activities of the value chain
Answer: Inbound logistics, operations, outbound logistics, marketing &
sales, service
●● Supporting activities of the value chain
Answer: Firm infrastructure, human resource management, technology
development, procurement
●● Porter's Competitive Forces Model
