Discussion Business Strategy

Part 1

After completing the readings, write your initial discussion post. What is the definition of “competitive advantage?” What are the four critical questions to achieve a competitive advantage?

Using each of the three readings (citing and referencing each one), compare and contrast common themes and viewpoints each one has about sustainable competitive advantage.

Using an organization where you have worked, what might some of their sustainable competitive advantages be? Are they using those advantages well or not?

Additional reading resource provided below

https://eds.p.ebscohost.com/eds/ebookviewer/ebook?sid=925f6763-1ec4-4267-bbc9-258c63d698eb%40redis&ppid=pp_viii&vid=0&format=EB

Required Resource

Howarth, R. (2014) Elevate: The three disciplines of advanced strategic thinking. Wiley.

Additional Resources for Discussion Research:

• Aldrich, H. , Jones, T. and McEvoy, D. (1984) Ethnic advantage and minority business development, in: R. Ward and R. Jenkins (Eds) Ethnic Communities in Business , pp. 189210. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Rahim, F.B.T. and Zainuddin, Y.B. (2019), “The impact of technological innovation capabilities on competitive advantage and firm performance in the automotive industry in Malaysia”, in Ghani, S.A.C., Abdullah A.A., Sani M.S.M, Hamzah W.A.W. (Ed.), Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Automotive Innovation Green EnergyVehicle, Vol. 2059, AIP Publishing, KuantanMalaysia, pp. 20030-1-20030-12, doi: 10.1063/1.5085973.
• Salavou, H.E. (2015), “Competitive strategies and their shift to the future”, European Business Review, Vol. 27 No. 1, pp. 80-99, doi: 10.1108/EBR-04-2013-0073.
• Strandvik, T., Holmlund, M. and Lähteenmäki, I. (2018), “One of these days, things are going to change!’ how do you make sense of market disruption?”, Business Horizons, Vol. 61 No. 3, pp. 477-486, doi: 10

Part 2

Select two companies in the same industry (example: Target and Walmart; Ford and Chrysler; Verizon and T-Mobile ; Apple & Samsung). Provide a brief summary of each company’s vision and mission.

Using sources to support your thoughts, describe what you feel are the differences in strategy/focus each company uses, the unique value each tries to communicate to customers (marketing), and how successful you feel each company has been at implementing and communicating their strategic advantage