Define Human Resources and Sustained Competitive Terms Flashcards

The assets, capabilities, processes, employee time, information, and knowledge that an organization uses to improve its effectiveness and efficiency and create and sustain competitive advantage.

Providing greater value for customers than competitors can.

(iTunes store-endless selection)

A competitive advantage that other companies have tried unsuccessfully to duplicate and have for the moment, stopped try to duplicate.

A resource that allows companies to improve efficiency and effectiveness.

(Sony Walkman used to be valuable until iPod came along!)

A resource that is not controlled or possessed by many competing firms.

(iPod introduced, no music player on market used existing hard drive technology in tis design)

A resource that is impossible or extremely costly or difficult for other firms to duplicate.

A resource that produces value or competitive advantage and has no equivalent substitutes or replacements.

A reluctance to change strategies or competitive practices that have been successful in the past.

(Carrefour-French retail giant; reluctant to change)

A committee within a company that analyzes the company’s own weaknesses to determine how competitors could exploit them for competitive advantage.

A discrepancy between a company’s intended strategy and the strategic actions managers take when implementing that strategy.

(Toyota; how did a company famed for its quality have so many problems in 2008)

An assessment of the strengths and weaknesses in an organizations internal environment and the opportunities and threats in its external environment.

(helps a company determine how to increase internal strengths and minimize internal weaknesses while maximizing external opportunities and minimizing external threats)

What a company can make do or perform better than its competitors

(Honda and Subaru cars are tops in quality and reliability)

The internal decision making routines, problem solving processes and organizational cultures that determine how efficiently inputs can be turned into outputs.

A group of companies within an industry against which top managers compare, evaluate, and benchmark strategic threats and opportunities.

(home depot compares asses strategic threats and opportunities by comparing their company to a strategic group consisting of other home improvement supply companies like Lowe’s and Ace Hardware.)

The central companies in a strategic group

(the more important group that firms focus on in strategic groups; for example home depot focuses more on Lowe’s)