Exam 9: Competitive Dynamics

This type of company responds--often very slowly--to conditions in the competitive environment and is an unstable form of organization.

_______________ is a process through which a company compares its own processes and structure to that of other organizations, especially targeting direct competitors for the comparison.

A benign environment has slowly growing or declining revenues, frequent price wars, and a focus on cost containment.

Short-term competitive moves and countermoves are known as

A more detailed method used to predict competitor moves requires that one examine closely things like management behavior patterns, positions and "claims" to market spaces, and financial situations.

Styles of tactical responses that are relatively passive include acquiescence and compromise.

One might glean valuable information about competitors while attending industry conferences or listening to the speeches given by competitors' senior managers.

This competitive response to a strategic threat is general adopted when the threat has spread widely. Threatened companies turn to very aggressive moves such as legal action, giving away the benefits offered by the new competitor for free, or engaging in a process of continuous improvement to existing products.

Richard D'Aveni's concept of hypercompetition suggests that the only real source of competitive advantage is

Manipulative and defiant tactical response styles are considered to be

A strategic alliance is a joint venture or partnership formed with other companies (sometimes competitors) to develop a new technology, process, or other type of strategically important resource.

From the opening vignette for the chapter we see that game console manufacturers have increased the frequency with which they introduce new consoles. In the last seven years eight new or updated consoles have been brought to market.