Bentley University, Corporate Strategy Executive Analysis Report

This report provides an executive analysis of corporate strategy, focusing on the resource-based view and competitive advantage. It examines the importance of strategies for sustaining a competitive market position, emphasizing the need for research into sources of competitive advantage. The report discusses the relationship between traditional strength-weakness-opportunities-threats analysis and Porter's five forces model, highlighting the significance of resource heterogeneity and immobility in achieving sustainable competitive advantage. It explores the concepts of red and blue oceans, the competitive landscape, and the factors that contribute to a firm's ability to maintain a competitive edge. The analysis includes a case study of a firm employing a value-creating strategy, and discusses the role of management in achieving sustained competitive advantage, particularly within closed markets. The report also analyzes the potential of firms by analyzing four attributes which are: valuable, rare, imperfectly imitable, and no substitute should be present at that point.

Running head: EXECUTIVE ANALYSIS
EXECUTIVE ANALYSIS
Name of the Student:
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Table of Contents
1.1 Article synopsis.........................................................................................................................
1.2 Article’s case study....................................................................................................................
1.3 Competition with the mobile and homogenous resources.........................................................
1.4 Resource and competitive advantage.........................................................................................

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1.1 Article synopsis
It is important to find out strategies to sustain into the competitive market by ever
organization. However, proper research needs to be done for finding the sources that helps in
sustaining competitive advantage. In a broad sense the most attractive and beneficial research
done was upon the relationship between the traditional strength-weakness and opportunities-
threats analysis.
Porter’s five model describes that some attributes of any industry will help them to get
more opportunities and less threats. At first the analysis was considering for only two types of
assumptions where one was environmental models of the competitive advantage and the other
model was resource heterogeneity that develops in industry. These two assumptions
successfully eliminate the resource’s immobility and heterogeneity nature as it will increase
the competitive advantage of the firm. However, the resource based firm’s substitutes those
two assumptions into another two assumptions where the first one states that firms operating
in similar industry can be heterogeneous as per the strategic resources the company possess.
The second substitute model states that those strategies may not be mobile in nature and
hence there is a chance that heterogeneity can stay for longer period of time. Those firms
which are resource-based considers those two assumptions for their analysis of the sources
for sustaining into market with competitive advantage. Here the article will justify whether

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there is a possible relation between the firm’s resources and the sources of competitive
advantage or not using the resource-based model and comparing with other business
disciplines.
1.2 Article’s case study
In this article a firm is considered which has a competitive advantage when it was
implementing a strategy called value creating strategy which was at that time not
implemented by any of their competitor. However, there are some debate regarding the
definition of what and how competitive advantage is considered. As per Panzar and Willlig
during 1982 if any firm is having current competitors as well as potential competitors and
they can compete with the future situation then it is competitive advantage for the firm. As
per Jacobsen during 1988 and Porter during 1985, the competitive advantage of a firm is
determined with its ability to sustain in the market for a longer period of calendar time. As
per Rumelt during 1982 and 1984 the sustain probability of any form related to competitive
advantage is totally dependent upon the retention even after efforts of duplicate competitive
advantage. It is also believed that inability of the competitors to duplicate the competitive
advantage also increase the chance of sustained competitive advantage. Competitive
advantage for every firm should be changed on a yearly basis. There are many changes
happening very frequently in the industry which will make the competitive advantage of the
firm less competitive. However, duplicating the competitive advantage by competitors will
not nullify the benefits related to competitive advantage. Hence, it is believed that the
competitive advantage will not last forever and it needs to change and modify on a time to
time basis by the management.

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1.3 Competition with the mobile and homogenous resources
It is discussed earlier that in the sustainability of the competitive advantage the impact
of heterogeneity and immobility of the resources has a very important role. This depends
upon the nature of competition when the resources are mobile and perfectly heterogeneous. It
is believed that those industries under which the operating firms are working with
homogenous and mobile resources, it is next to impossible to gain sustainable competitive
advantage based upon resources. Hence, it is only possible to get sustainable competitive
advantage when the firm has resource immobility and heterogeneity in the industry.
When the resource is perfectly mobile and homogeneous then there will be possibly
no way to gain sustainable competitive advantage because if any firm tries to get any extra
strategy or implement any extra resource then there is probability that other firms operating in
the same industry will also adopt and implement the same strategy and resources because all
the other firms are identical and hence they are possessing the similar resources. Hence, there
is no probability that the firm will enjoy the sustainable competitive advantage operating in
such an industry with identical firms.
However, there is a chance that the firm can get a first-mover advantage even
operating in that industry also. Even if other firms are identical, the firm can utilize the
resources to tart a strategy and acquire the targeted customers utilizing the goodwill. Even if
other firms copies the strategy, the first mover advantage can still be utilized. This is also a
part of sustained competitive advantage. Hence, it cannot be said completely that those firms
which are operating in the identical firm’s industry can still gain the sustained competitive
advantage in the form of first mover advantage and attract maximum consumers during that
time.

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If the industry consists barrier to entry of new firms then even being in the
homogenous and mobile industry, the firm can be able to gain the sustained competitive
advantage. However, restriction in entry is only possible at that time when the industry is
working with immobile and heterogeneous resources otherwise the restriction is not possible.
It is because if the resource is perfectly mobile in nature then other new firms can easily
absorb the quality of that resource and enter the industry without any hassle. Hence, this
article has focused into the opportunities and threats of a firm operating in a perfectly
homogeneous and mobile resources industry.
1.4 Resource and competitive advantage
It is important to notice the potentiality of the firm by analyzing four attributes which
are following:
 It must be valuable and it must have the ability to exploit opportunities and eliminate
threats in the industry:
 The resource must be rare among the current competitive situation
 The resource must also be imperfectly imitable
 Also no substitute should be present at that point
When the resources have capability of sustained competitive advantage then it is
considered as valuable. This resource will help the firm to become efficient and effective.
The environmental model of strengths-weaknesses-opportunities-threats must be able to help
the firm to maximize their opportunities and minimize their threats as much as possible. This
is also called as resource-based model which tells that firms must possess some additional
characters also to get the sustained competitive advantage. It is important to implement a
different strategic character which cannot be copied other firms with similar resource
availability. However, it is noted that firms in a non-competitive firm can survive for more

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time because there they do not have to find strategies frequently and think about competitive
advantage every possible time. Firms with imperfectly imitable resource will have a chance
of getting strategic innovative ideas more often. The resource can be imperfectly imitable if
the firm have ability of obtaining a unique historical condition based resource. A lot of
researchers also found that the economic model of organizational phenomena contradicts the
organizational models which are based upon organization behavior and organizational theory.
However, this concept is also contradicting by the resource-based model of sustained
competitive advantage. According to them this model states that this sources of sustained
competitive advantage are some kind of firm’s resources which are rare, valuable, non-
substitutable and imperfectly imitable in nature. Theses resources also includes a lot of
individual, social, and organizational phenomena inside those firms which are continuously
doing research upon organizational theory and organizational behavior to sustain into the
competitive market. The researchers also believes that these nature of the firms also helps
them to get suggestion over the competitive advantage and get idea and strategy regarding the
market. Hence, the resource-based model related to the sustained competitive advantage is
more beneficial than the organizational and economic way of studying the sustained
competitive advantage.
Ultimately it is found that sustained competitive advantage of the resource only
focuses into rare, valuable, non-substitutable and imitable resources of the firm. The role of
management is equivalent to nothing at this stage. However, managers are important in the
model and application of the model in to the organizational system. Managers are helpful in
understanding and describing the economic potentiality of the firm in the industry under
which they are operating. After a lot of analysis it can be concluded by the researchers that
the sustained competitive advantage can be the management team but for that the firm needs
to be operating in a closed market where entry and exit is restricting. Other firms will not be

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able to copy the strategies and resources of another firms and other new firms will not be able
to lessen the chances of getting a first mover advantage. In an open market there is always a
threat of getting exploited when the resources will be copied by other existing or new firms.
This kind of advantages can be found in imperfectly imitable, rare and non-substitutable
resources controlled by a firm in a closed market.

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