...Stockholm School of Economics Department of Management and Organization Master Thesis, 20 credits “Can strategic analysis through a market and resource based view prevent the founding of companies with an unsustainable business strategy?” Abstract The Resource-based and Market-based views (RBV and MBV) are two theoretical frameworks which try to find an optimal structure for business strategy by focusing on key strategic points to gain the maximum output or return. During the peak and later upheaval of what is often called the “dot.com bubble” – business models, valuations and strategies were questioned with regards to their anchorage to reality and building endurable businesses. Based on a wide investigation of literature and reports within the Resource-based and Market-based view combined with first-hand interviews and second hand research, we have tried to find to what extent these strategies could or would have prevented investments in IT-ventures lacking the prerequisites for long term competitive advantage. The initial indications and rationale was that the information and frameworks would provide a structured strategic analysis that, if correctly used, could have prevented the poor investments and even lessened the impact of the crash. However, our conclusions are that a strategic analysis, using the MBV and RBV frameworks, would not have been able to give a correct strategic recommendation since the analysis would have been largely based on incorrect...
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...The theory of Industries Organisation and Resource-based view (RBV) has been the most commanding influence in the strategic analysis field for many years. In my opinion, the Barney’s (1991) Resource-Based view is the important factor in gaining competitive advantage for a multinational corporation. In order for a company to have a sustained competitive advantage over a period of time, they need to gain control and fully utilize resources and capabilities that are valuable, rare, inimitable and un-substitutable to the company (Barney and Hesterly, 2012). Basically, the RBV focuses more on the strengths and the weaknesses of the company and try to use the internal resources to ensure superior performance against its competitors. Barney (1991) emphasized three type of internal resources which is the physical, human and organizational capital resources. In today’s globalization, the economy is dynamic and constantly emerging. Madhani (2009) argues that RBV focuses on different types of resources and competencies to attain strategic importance and constantly changing and updating these elements over a period of time to keep competing in the dynamic market place. Managers of the firm need to keep track of the market place and make full use of the existing internal resources to maintain a sustaining competitive advantage. Over time, organizations need to establish a process which allows them to manipulate their services, products, routines and management in parallel with the market...
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.../ Strategic Marketing and the Resource Based View of the Firm Strategic Marketing and the Resource Based View of the Firm John Fahy University of Limerick Alan Smithee Alloa Metropolitian University John Fahy is Professor of Marketing, Dept. of Management & Marketing, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland 353-61-213126 (office), 353-61-338171 (fax) John.Fahy@ul.ie. Alan Smithee is Senior Lecturer in Marketing, Alloa Metropolitian University, Alloa, Scotland. Please address all correspondence to the first author. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The resource-based view of the firm (RBV) is one of the latest strategic management concepts to be enthusiastically embraced by marketing scholars. This paper argues that the RBV holds much promise as a framework for understanding strategic marketing issues but cautions that, before it is adopted, it needs to be fully understood. Consequently, the paper charts the development of the RBV from its origins in early economic models of imperfect competition, through the work of evolutionary economists to the contributions of strategy and marketing scholars over the past two decades. This broad literature base has given rise to a great deal of ambiguity, inconsistent use of nomenclature and several overlapping classification schema. The paper seeks to draw together common themes of firm heterogeneity, barriers to duplication, sustainable competitive advantage and Ricardian rents within an overall model of resource-based competitive advantage. The...
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...analysis helps a firm: • determine if its resources and capabilities are likely sources of competitive advantage • establish strategies that will exploit any sources of competitive advantage Traditional research on firm strengths and weaknesses • Theories of distinctive competence – General managers as distinctive competencies – Institutional leadership as a distinctive competence • Ricardian economics • Penrose’s theory of firm growth Research on the skills of general managers, institutional leaders, economic rents and firm growth have been brought together to develop a rigorous model to analyze a firm’s strengths and weaknesses: the resource-based view of the firm The Theory Behind Internal Analysis The Resource-Based View • developed to answer the question: Why do some firms achieve better economic performance than others? • used to help firms achieve competitive advantage and superior economic performance • assumes that a firm’s resources and capabilities are the primary drivers of competitive advantage and economic performance The Resource-Based View Resources and Capabilities Resources: • tangible and intangible assets of a firm » tangible: factories, products ; intangible: reputation • used to conceive of and implement strategies Capabilities: • a subset of resources that enable a firm to take full advantage of other resources » marketing skill, cooperative relationships The Resource-Based View Four Categories of Resources • Financial (cash, retained earnings) •...
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...indicators. Today, Tesco’s strategic strength emanates from its hybrid position on the strategic outlook. The company offers a wide range of branded and own brand products in clean, modern and efficient supermarkets with ample parking and facilities for children and yet appears to offer lower prices (Angwin, Cummings and Smith, 2011, p. 3). The company underpins the low prices with low costs which it enjoys from its buying power. According to the resource-based approach, an organization’s competitive advantage comes from the unique capabilities of its resources which not only define, but also generate an organization’s strategic capacity (Jones & Tilley 2007, p. 124). Resource based theorists like Grant argue that management strategies purporting to maximize opportunities are constrained by imperfections of the market and the fact that not all resources necessary for securing competitive advantage can be found and bought in the markets. Consequently, a firm’s competitive advantage lies in what is unique and embedded in its resources in terms of its core distinctive capabilities (Jones & Tilley 2007, p. 124). Therefore, distinct capabilities inform, mold, shape and generate an organization’s strategic capacity. Ideally, the current Tesco’s key indicators reflect on the company’s responsible behavior in terms of treating the environment, suppliers and buyers, local communities, its customers and the company’s current and future employees positively. Additionally, Tesco refers...
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...on a Resource Calendar * Create new base calendars * Assign different base calendars to resources With calendars, you can determine when resources on a project are working and when they are not working. If you do not indicate when resources are available, you may accidentally schedule tasks when resources are not actually available. Calendars are part of determining availability of resources. In MS Project, calendars define the working and non-working time for the project and for each resource assigned to the task. As a change is made to a calendar, MS Project automatically reschedules all tasks affected by the change. Using Calendars There are two types of calendars in Project: base calendars and resource calendars. Base calendars define the working days and working hours for a project or a set of resources. Resource calendars define the working days and working hours for a specific resource. The default base calendar (also known as the project calendar) is called Standard. This standard calendar is usually set as an 8-hour day, 40-hour week, Monday through Friday, with no holidays. However, you can modify this standard calendar, but it is not recommended. MS Project also comes with two other base calendars: a 24-hour calendar and a night shift calendar. You can also create your own base calendars. You can manipulate such options as default start time and hours per day. Note: Resource calendars are updated automatically when the base calendar...
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...E-GOST TSER Contract of the European Union HPSE-CT-2002-50026 (Thematic Network) 1st workshop : April 3rd –4th, 2003 (Strasbourg) RESOURCES AND COMPETENCES PERSPECTIVES ON STRATEGY OF THE FIRM: A discussion of the central arguments F. Amesse, A. Avadikyan, P. Cohendet Introduction: In 1994, Wernerfelt received an award for the best paper of the decade in Strategic Management Review (A resource-based view of the firm, 1984). Considering the fortune of the article among practicing managers (Wernerfelt, 1995), he admitted that such a fortune had been leveraged by the 1990 article of Prahalad and Hamel in Harvard Business Review (“The Core Competence of the Corporation”). Directly addressed to people in management and strategy, this article was clearly prescriptive as to the best way to set winning strategies for the firm, especially as to diversification and the abusive use of SBUs (Strategic Business Units) in highly decentralized profit centres. “In the 1990s, top executives will be judged on their ability to identify, cultivate, and exploit the core competencies that make growth possible”. Since the 1990s, the resource based view (RBV) and the core competence approach (CCA) became very attractive for many researchers and consultants. Such interest was well supported by what seemed to be a clear and superior way of setting strategies by large Japanese groups which frequently served as a benchmark case of core competence management. The strong and pervasive trends...
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...Therefore to effectively discuss the above proposal a proper foundation should be laid, that foundation in this case is a comprehensive definition of SHRM. According to Walker 1992 SHRM is the means of aligning the management of human resources with the strategic content of the business. Many critics of the discipline propose that the subject matter offers little in empirical data to add the term strategic to the HR function, however according to Watson and Watson 1999 HR management is essentially Strategic .Firstly HR management must consider the whole organization, whereas line or functional managers focuses on departmental performance. HR management looks at long term functional on immediate or short term performance. Therefore Fombrun et al (1984) postulated that if any organization is to function effectively there are three core elements to be considered, they are the organisation’s mission and strategy, organizational structure, finally human resource management. Conceptually, a central part of SHRM is the integration of the HR function with strategic decision making. Walker 1992 speaks of strategic fit, to further extrapolate, this means developing HR strategies that are integrated with the business strategy. H R practitioners supporting this view would therefore implement practices such as employee development, reward and...
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...supporting theory including the reality of any assumptions made by its authors. Finally, the analysis will close with a conclusion based on the articles strengths and weaknesses, as well as a personal perspective considering the theory put forward. Placing of the article in the wider strategy debate Elements of Hamel and Prahalad’s article can be attributed to a number of recurring themes in various different strategy debates. The most appropriate position, however, could be that it lies in the resource-based and positioning spectrum. Essentially – and very broadly – these opposing views are organisation and environment-led respectively. There are elements in Hamel and Prahalad’s article that draw on ideas from both these approaches, although it could be interpreted that it largely adopts the resource-based view. The resource-based view looks at analyzing a firm’s internal resources and using this to devise a strategy (Wernerfelt, 1984). A fundamental aspect of the resource-based view of strategy is that an organisation is affected by its internal capabilities and it is these capabilities – and use of them – which enables a company to gain a competitive advantage (Peteraf, 1993; Johnson, Scholes and...
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...project is to produce an On-Line Web Based Exam Management System to help in the exam marks submission and the generation of the final results. The system would also be used to aid in preparing course mark reports to be presented before the examination board meeting for discussion and approval. When module tutors have all marks ready, they submit the marks for the module components to the system. Once they are in the system and after ratification by the exam board, the marks may be made available for students for viewing below Functional requirements. Web-based Application Functional Requirements: * On-line EMS System deals with all kind of student details, academic related reports, course details, curriculum, batch details and other resource related details too. * This program can facilitate us explore all the activities happening in the college, even we can get to know which teacher / faculty is assigned to which batch, the current status of a batch, attendance percentage of a batch and upcoming requirements of a batch. * Different reports and Queries can be generated based of vast options related to students, batch, course, teacher / faculty, exams, semesters, certification and even for the entire college. * Extensive information is available at your fingertips through this System. Viewing student data, managing admission and reshuffling ,managing seats, quota, board, semester, faculty, category and for examination, block allocation, subject management , scheduling...
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...I wish to put all my articles. Hershey’s customer base consists of wholesale distributors, chain grocery stores, mass merchandisers, chain drug stores, vending companies, wholesale clubs, convenience stores, dollar stores, concessionaires, department stores and natural food stores. The company has made significant changes over the past decade to strengthen its relationships with these customers. Primarily, the company has worked on improving its customer relationship management (CRM) which “enables companies to provide excellent real-time customer service through the effective use of individual account information.” (Kotler & Keller, 2009). In 1999 Hershey put in place a $112 million enterprise resource planning (ERP) and CRM system. The new technology was meant to bring the company’s business practices up to date and provide across-the-board automation that would span the process from order-taking to truck-loading. Unfortunately, due to initial problems in getting customer orders into the new system and transmitting the correct details of those orders to warehouse for shipping, Hershey got behind on their delivery and consequently lost over $100 million (Turk & Bligh, 2004). In an effort to repair damaged customer relationships stemming from the serious failures the year before, in 2000 Hershey implemented a new strategy that focused on fulfillment speed and agility. The company understood better than ever its key U.S. customers’ needs: efficient, customer-driven...
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...used. If power is used wisely it can help an organization. Used poorly, however, power can be detrimental to those involved. There are five bases of power and all are seen in the given scenario. These five bases can be divided into two main forms of power. The first form of power “is based on an individual’s position in an organization” (Robbins & Judge, 2007, p. 471), this is also known as formal power. This form of power encompasses three of our five bases of power. The first that is included is a fear based power known as coercive power. The second is based on rewards and acknowledgement and is known as reward power. The final base covered in the first group is legitimate power. Legitimate power is created by a specific title or position within an organization. The second form of power is personal power, and encompasses the remaining two bases of power. The first base of power covered under personal power is expert power. Having skills or knowledge that someone else does not is expert power. The last base of power is referent power. “Referent power develops out of admiration of another and a desire to be like that person,” (Robbins & Judge, 2007, p. 472). All individuals possess a degree of personal power. As mentioned previously, all five bases of power are represented within the given scenario. Coercive power, the first base of power, is presented by the marketing manager. He constantly reminds his employees about the yearly review to “encourage” them to work harder...
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...end of 2013 (Annual Report, 2013). The continual growth of AGRANA with current expansion into Australia and South East Asia is also very outstanding. 1. From an industry-based view, how would you characterize competition in this industry? AGRANA has seen remarkable growth in its expansion and acquisition of new entities although it kept its diversification to a minimum. It still concentrates on its major divisions of Sugar, Starch, Fruit and Bioethanol production as currently. However, AGRANA has become a conglomerate of different entities within the group. The success of integrating these different entities with diverse origins has reduced its inter-firm rivalry to a minimum. Within its component parts, AGRANA has seen and continues to enjoy great success. As an industry leader, AGRANA has also cemented its lead by having a competitive edge using its “personnel, experience and financial strength” to the advantage of the company. The bas of AGRANA now has almost been solidified in an industry where new and potential entry commands a lot of resources and financial power. AGRANA has over the years strategically positioned itself in first solidifying its market base before expanding into the global scene. Since the concentration of AGRANA production is with agricultural producers, the supply base does not have a strong cohesion to sustain an effective bargaining power. AGRANA still maintains its production units with the processing of agricultural...
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...in broad terms where and how the firm will seek to add value, the opportunities it will pursue, the breadth and attributes of the firm’s product lines, its pricing policies, distribution channels, technologies, R & D efforts, and so on.’ (Amar V., 2000 pg 265). ‘Broadly, strategies encompass the set of approaches that the company will use to achieve its objectives’ (Jobber and Lancaster, 2006 pg 49) A well defined strategy should therefore integrate decisions about; scope of the business, objectives, resource allocation, developing sustainable differential advantage and synergy. The importance of strategy in the achievement of business goals cannot therefore be over emphasized judging from the above features. Split into corporate and competitive strategies, the former determines the scale and scope of the business while the later determines the sustainability of the company in the ever dynamic and competitive business environment. Whether inward out (resource based) or outward in (market based), competitive strategy is cardinal to the continued existence if the firm. Since successful strategies are those which adapt firms to the opportunities and threats in their markets/environments and which develop their internal capabilities, it means that in order to remain relevant, firms must adopt strategies suitable and consistent with the market changes, its development and the environment at large, either responsively or proactively. The business environment has...
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...build a storage shed in the back yard. The plan has already been decided for you and the exercises are designed around the shed project. The focus should be on learning the tool, not the project itself. As you progress through the exercises there is an expectation you will learn from the process, instructions on how to perform subsequent tasks with similar functions will less detailed than the first time you experience them. Refer to earlier exercises or ask the instructor if you need more information on how to complete the exercise. Table of contents SHED Project 2 Exercise 1 – Create a project 3 Exercise 2 – Entering tasks 5 Exercise 3 – Setting constraints, durations, and predecessors 6 Exercise 4 – Enter resources 9 Exercise 5 – Base line the project & enter actual values 11 SHED Project Statement of work We need storage for our lawn tools, equipment and other small items we want to get out of the garage. The shed will be built from a kit that can be ordered from Home Depot. Requirements Walls need to be 8 ft. tall; floor space needs to be 120 sq. ft, 2’x3’ windows on each side. Need double doors on the front side to create a 7’x8’ opening, lockable. The roof will be shingled to match the house, cedar siding stained to match the house. Leave rafters open for additional storage, concrete slab floor Location: SW corner of the back yard. Estimated cost - $1,250 Estimated duration – 1 month (working Thursdays & Fridays) Staff required: ...
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