Exam 7: B :The Sources and Dimensions of Competitive Advantage

Strategic innovation comprises the introduction of novel products or processes that embody new technology

Competitive advantage without purposeful activity by a firm-it may arise through it being favored by an external change.

Pre-emption strategies can help sustain a firm's competitive advantage through:

A contrarian strategy-doing the opposite to what the majority of other market participants are doing-is likely to generate superior returns in markets subject to systematic behavioral trends.

Which of the following product categories offers the greatest potential for differentiation?

The difference between "search goods" and "experience goods" depends upon whether customers can ascertain the product's true attributes: on inspection or only after consuming the product

Designing a differentiation strategy requires understanding every possible interaction between a firm and its customers

Most of the business models deployed in electronic commerce have no historical precedence

29,Commodity products lack the potential for differentiation: competitive strategy is limited to exploiting the sources of cost advantage.

The main strategy implication of the Boston Consulting Group's analysis of experience curves was that firms should avoid cutting prices in order to expand market share.

If a firm is more profitable than its rivals,this invariably means that it possesses a competitive advantage.

Business Process Reengineering that starts with a "clean sheet of paper" runs the risk of destroying some valuable organizational capabilities which have taken many years to build

Firms pursuing differentiation advantages will implement their strategies differently from those pursuing cost advantage.The implementation of differentiation strategy is likely to feature:

Achieving productivity gains from process innovation usually requires that new production processes are matched by other management changes-including changes in human resource management.

When an industry is subject to externally generated changes,the firms which are most likely to establish a competitive advantage are:

A firm's competitive advantage is not necessarily revealed in higher profitability;it may be reflected in:

Tangible differentiation comprises observable product features such as shape,color,size,and style;it does not include performance dimensions such of the product - for instance its reliability and durability.

Product integrity refers to the consistency of a firm's differentiation across all differentiated features - it is the balance of the overall impression left on most customers' minds

11,Between July 2012 and August 2014,Uber launched in 42 countries outside the US.The speed of this global rollout may be viewed as an attempt to pre-empt the market for ride-sharing services.

In highly concentrated industries such as passenger jet aircraft,microprocessors,construction equipment,and video game consoles,the scale economies in production are more important than scale economies in product development.