Introduction to Competitive Advantage

Questions and Exercises

1. What is operational effectiveness?
2. What is strategic positioning?
3. Is a firm that competes based on the features of technology engaged in operational effectiveness or strategic positioning? Give an example to back up your claim.
4. What is the "resource-based" view of competitive advantage? What are the characteristics of resources that may yield sustainable competitive advantage?
5. TiVo's got a great brand. Why hasn't it profitably dominated the market for digital video recorders?
6. Examine the FreshDirect business model and list reasons for its competitive advantage. Would a similar business work in your neighborhood? Why or why not?
7. What effect did FreshDirect have on traditional grocers operating in New York City? Why?
8. Choose a technology-based company. Discuss its competitive advantage based on the resources it controls.
9. Use the resource-based view of competitive advantage to explain the collapse of many telecommunications firms in the period following the burst of the dot-com bubble.
10. Consider the examples of Barnes and Noble competing with Amazon.com, and Apple's offering iTunes. Are either (or both) of these efforts straddling? Why or why not?