SUMMARY for strategic management course - Strategic Management: Competitiveness and Globalization, Concepts and Cases, ISBN: 9780324655599 Strategic Management (6012B0430Y)
All for this textbook (4)
Written for
Universiteit van Amsterdam (UvA)
Business Administration
Strategic Management (6012B0430Y)
All documents for this subject (9)
Seller
Follow
koenverhoeff
Content preview
Strategic Management
Week 1
,Key insights
Lecture 1: External analysis
Strategy:
Dictionary definition: a detailed plan for achieving success in situations such as war,
politics, industry, or support, or the skill of planning for such situations.
Porter’s definition: Strategy is the creation of a unique and valuable position, involving a
different set of activities.
Volberda: A strategy is an integrated and coordinated set of commitments, (decisions),
and actions, designed to exploit and develop core competencies and gain a competitive
advantage.
Competitive advantage:
A firm has a competitive advantage when it implements a strategy competitors are unable
to duplicate or find too costly to try to imitate it.
Operational effectiveness:
Performing activities better — that is, faster, or with fewer inputs and defects — than rivals.
Is often confused with strategy, but strategy involves choosing to perform different
activities than rivals or the same activities in different ways. It's about establishing a
unique position in the marketplace, creating a distinct value proposition for customers.
Value proposition:
A company’s promise to customers on the unique value they can expect to receive if they
choose to purchase their products or services. It's about how a company's products or
services create value for customers (used in marketing).
Strategic positioning:
Attempts to achieve sustainable competitive advantage by preserving what is distinctive
about a company. Performing different activities from rivals, or performing similar
activities in different ways.
Strategic positioning, which includes variety-based, needs-based, and access-based
positioning, is not mutually exclusive because in many cases, a holistic approach to market
segmentation involves considering variety, needs, and access simultaneously. This
comprehensive view enables a more tailored and effective market strategy.
Variety-Based Positioning (focuses on a type product/service):
Focuses on the specific types of products or services that a business offers. It's about
specializing in a selected range of offerings rather than offering a little bit of everything.
Idea: Greater expertise, higher quality, and stronger brand recognition in that specific area.
,Needs-Based Positioning (customers):
Serving most or all needs of a particular group of customers (segment).
Access-Based Positioning:
Is about reaching customers who are accessible in different ways, like through location,
convenience, or a distinctive mode of delivery.
In today’s highly competitive and dynamic markets, strategic positioning is NOT enough in
itself in the long term, unless a unique combination of activities is created! These can be
imitated by rivals in the long-term.
• Trade-offs naturally emerge.
• Strategy is about combining activities.
• Activity fit is important! (how different operations or activities within a business are
aligned and coordinated to support the company's overall strategy).
• Activities are reminders of the strategy.
• Strategy without activities is just a statement!
Managers should configure activities in such ways that they are integrally related and
can’t be imitated without significant trade-offs.
Two underlying models:
I/O (Industrial organisation) model:
Focuses on understanding the competitive forces (Porter's 5 forces) within an industry
and how these forces affect the competitive environment and, consequently, the
strategies that firms should adopt.
Assumptions: Relatively homogeneous resources. Resources are mobile (easily traded /
acquired / moved), rational decision-making, firm strategies are similar in nature.
With the RBV, a core idea is that for resources to provide a sustained competitive
advantage, they should be valuable, rare, inimitable, and non-substitutable (VRIN). The
The benefits of buying summaries with Stuvia:
Guaranteed quality through customer reviews
Stuvia customers have reviewed more than 700,000 summaries. This how you know that you are buying the best documents.
Quick and easy check-out
You can quickly pay through credit card or Stuvia-credit for the summaries. There is no membership needed.
Focus on what matters
Your fellow students write the study notes themselves, which is why the documents are always reliable and up-to-date. This ensures you quickly get to the core!
Frequently asked questions
What do I get when I buy this document?
You get a PDF, available immediately after your purchase. The purchased document is accessible anytime, anywhere and indefinitely through your profile.
Satisfaction guarantee: how does it work?
Our satisfaction guarantee ensures that you always find a study document that suits you well. You fill out a form, and our customer service team takes care of the rest.
Who am I buying these notes from?
Stuvia is a marketplace, so you are not buying this document from us, but from seller koenverhoeff. Stuvia facilitates payment to the seller.
Will I be stuck with a subscription?
No, you only buy these notes for $7.16. You're not tied to anything after your purchase.