Assignment 4 This assignment covers the content in Michael Porters Competitive Advantage. In this assignment you must pick
Assignment 4
This assignment covers the content in Michael Porter’s Competitive Advantage. In this assignment you must pick an article from the Harvard Business Review website (https://hbr.org/ (Links to an external site.)) that deals with strategic management of a company. The HBR article MUST be related to the strategic management of a company. A number of these articles are listed in your syllabus.
Assignment 4 Questions:
- Describe Michael Porter’s model and its components. Pick an industry and describe how the different components of the model relate to that industry.
- Apply all components of Porter’s model to your HBR case, as a case review. Your response here must be at least two pages in length or more.
Chapter 7
Strategy and Technology
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Learning objectives
Understand the tendency toward standardization in many high-technology markets.
Describe the strategies that firms can use to establish their technology as the standard in a market.
Explain the cost structure of many high-technology firms, and articulate the strategic implications of this structure.
Explain the nature of technological paradigm shifts and their implications for enterprise strategy.
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©2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Learning objectives
Explain the cost structure of many high-technology firms, and articulate the strategic implications of this structure.
Explain the nature of technological paradigm shifts and their implications for enterprise strategy.
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Technical Standards and Format Wars
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Set of technical specifications that producers adhere to when making the product, or a component of it.
Technical standards
Battles to control the source of differentiation, and the value that such differentiation can create for the customer.
Format wars
Common set of features or design characteristics.
Dominant design
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©2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Benefits of Standards
Guarantees compatibility between products and their complements.
Reduces confusion in the minds of consumers.
Reduces production costs and risks associated with supplying complementary products.
Leads to low-cost and differentiation advantages for individual companies.
Helps raise the level of industry profitability.
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Establishment of Standards
Standards emerge in an industry when the benefits of establishing are recognized.
Technical standards are set by cooperation among businesses, through the medium of an industry association.
When the government sets standards they fall into the public domain.
Public domain: Any company can freely incorporate the knowledge and technology upon which the standard is based into its products.
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Network Effects, Positive Feedback, and Lockout
Network effects: Network of complementary products as a primary determinant of the demand for an industry’s product.
Positive feedback loops – Increase in demand for a technology that triggers an increase in demand for products that support it.
Alternative standards get locked out as consumers are unwilling to bear the switching costs.
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©2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Strategies for Winning a Format War
Make network effects work in one’s favor and against competitors.
Build the installed base for the standard as rapidly as possible.
Ensure a supply of complements.
Leverage killer applications.
Killer applications: Applications or uses of a new technology or product so compelling that customers adopt them in droves, killing competing formats.
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Strategies for Winning a Format War
Pursue aggressive pricing and marketing.
Razor and blade strategy: Pricing the product low to stimulate demand, and pricing complements high.
Cooperate with competitors.
License the format.
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Costs in High-Technology Industries
Similar cost economics.
Very high fixed costs and very low marginal costs.
Law of diminishing returns – Marginal costs rise as a company tries to expand output.
Profitability increases when a company shifts from a cost structure with increasing marginal costs to higher fixed costs with lower marginal costs.
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©2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
first mover
Firm that pioneers a particular product category or feature by being first to offer it to the market.
Creation of a revolutionary product results in a monopoly position.
First-mover advantage – Pioneering new technologies and products that lead to slowing the rate of imitation.
First-mover disadvantages: Competitive disadvantages associated with being first.
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©2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Strategic implications: crossing the chasm
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Advantages
Opportunity to exploit network effects and positive feedback loops.
Ability to establish brand loyalty and increase sales volume ahead of rivals.
Ability to create switching costs for customers and accumulate knowledge.
Disadvantages
Bear significant pioneering costs.
More prone to making mistakes.
Risk of building the wrong resources and capabilities.
Risk of investing in inferior or obsolete technology
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Strategies for Exploiting First-Mover Advantages
Develop and market the innovation.
Develop and market the innovation jointly with other companies.
Through a strategic alliance or joint venture.
License the innovation to others and allow them to develop the market.
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Factors to consider when selecting a Strategy
Complementary assets
Required to exploit a new innovation and gain a competitive advantage.
Help build brand loyalty and achieve rapid market penetration.
Height of barriers to imitation
Higher the barriers, longer it takes for rivals to imitate.
Give the innovator more time to build an enduring competitive advantage.
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Factors to consider when selecting a Strategy
Capable competitors
Companies that can move quickly to imitate the pioneering company.
Competitors’ capability depends on their research and development skills and access to complementary assets.
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Technological paradigm shift
Shifts in new technologies that:
revolutionize the structure of the industry.
dramatically alter the nature of competition.
require companies to adopt new strategies for survival.
Occur in an industry when:
established technology is approaching or is at its natural limit.
new disruptive technology has entered the marketplace and is invading the main market.
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©2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
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©2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
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STRATEGIC Implications FOR ESTABLISHED COMPANIES
Being aware of how disruptive technologies can revolutionize markets is a valuable strategic asset.
Investing in new technologies that may become disruptive technologies.
Creating an autonomous operating division solely for the disruptive technology.
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Strategic Implications for New Entrants
Do not face pressures to continue the existing out-of-date business model.
Do not have to worry about established:
customer base.
relationships with suppliers and distributors.
Can focus their energies on the opportunities offered by the new disruptive technology.
Must decide whether to partner with an established company or go solo.
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©2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
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