Sustainable Competitive Advantage (SCA)

Resource Based View

based on internal resources and competencies

alternative popular view is market positioning

based on the work of Barney

Porter's Five Forces is based on positioning viewpoint (does this ignore -co-operation?)

criticised for ignoring the state of the market i.e. porter's five

Porter on SCA

‘scope’ of customers targeted (i.e. focus strategy).

distinct prices

distinct products

examples

Monsoon ‘differentiates its products’

Evans’ uses focus strategy to scope customers on larger sizes.

Primark uses ‘cost leadership’

Not everyone can be a cost leader – though they may survive due to information asymmetry

uniqueness in prices

uniqueness the final product

uniqueness the customer service

uniqueness the operations

uniqueness the brand

or a mix of these plus other factors.

capabilities and oceans

dynamic capabilities = being able to update, renew, adopt and adapt capabilities

red ocean = full of life due to all the competition

blue ocean = little competition e.g. Oral B may have unique marketing allowing them to enter area

distinctive capabilities = unique edge required to compete successfully

threshold capabilities = minimum required to operate

strategic white space = 'niche' area e.g. The Body Shop

Strategic Clock

Identify capabilities

based on customer perceptions

suggests that organisations are able to move between strategies

porter contrarily argues that you need to stick to a strategy to risk being stuck in the middle where not strategy works well

value chain + value system analysis

activity mapping

create strategic lock-in where users become reliant on the product

SWOT and TOWS

Operating Systems

Razors

Apple products using same connectors and software