Exam 3: The Internal Organization: Resources, Capabilities, Core Competencies, and Competitive Advantages

__________ is the ability to analyze, understand, and manage an internal organization in ways that are not dependent on the assumptions of a single country, culture, or context.

ACME Corp.is a leading provider of radios to the commercial market.Its products all rely on printed circuit-board technology.ACME has protected its market leadership with continued advancements in this technology, which it patents.A competitor has developed a radio for this market with equal performance but that uses a software-based technology instead of circuit boards.ACME's technology leadership fails which of the following capability tests?

When comparing the resources a company has at its disposal, the capacity to innovate or a positive reputation, both of which are intangible, would be an inferior source of capabilities and core competencies than tangible resources such as copyrights, patents, and the ability to generate funds.

Which of the following is NOT an external event that reveals the danger of relying on existing core capabilities?

At Southwest Airlines, the complex interrelationship between the firm's culture and human capital adds value for customers in ways that other airlines cannot, such as jokes on flights by flight attendants and cooperation between gate personnel and pilots.

A product's value is created by some combination of:

Valuable capabilities allow the firm to:

All of the following are tangible resources EXCEPT:

Gamma, Inc., has struggled for industry dominance with Ardent, Inc., its main competitor, for years.Gamma has gathered and analyzed large amounts of competitive intelligence about Ardent.It has observed as much of the firm's internal functioning and technology as it can legally, yet Gamma cannot understand why Ardent has a competitive advantage over it.The source of Ardent's success is:

A person who has made a successful decision when no obviously correct model or rule is available or when relevant data are unreliable or incomplete has exercised:

The learning generated by making and correcting mistakes is generally unimportant to efforts to create new capabilities and core competencies.

Any core competency has the potential to lose its value-creating ability.

By themselves, resources can allow firms to create value for customers as the foundation for earning above-average returns.

A major department store chain has a strict policy of banning photographs or videos of its sales floor or back-room operations.It also does not allow academics to conduct studies of it for publication in research journals.In fact, some of its own top managers refer to the management's policies on secrecy as "verging on paranoid." These policies indicate that the top management of the firm believes the organization's core competencies are:

Several months ago, a restaurant developed a new appetizer that is a hit with customers.Many customers go to the restaurant just for the appetizer, and it was at the center of a recent highly positive review by a food critic.Preparation involves common ingredients and average culinary skills but requires a very high oven temperature, which significantly increases utility costs.Several competing restaurants have since added their own version of the appetizer to their menu.Which of the following criterion for assessing capabilities/core competencies is met?

One criterion for a resource or capability to be a source of competitive advantage is that it must allow the firm to perform a value-creating activity that competitors cannot perform.

Organizational culture is:

One reason executive judgment can be a particularly important source of competitive advantage is that judgment:

Walmart uses core competencies, such as information technology and distribution channels, to create value for its customers through its "everyday low prices."

What are the differences between tangible and intangible resources? Which category of resources is more valuable to the firm?