BP&S chapter 3 Questions With Complete Solutions
Why have competitors struggled to imitate Southwest Airlines'
low-cost strategy?
They cannot replicate the unique culture of the company.
What is social complexity in the context of sustainable
competitive advantage?
Capabilities that are difficult to codify and thus hard to
substitute or replicate.
Can you give an example of social complexity at Southwest
Airlines?
The culture of flight attendants cracking jokes on flights.
What are nonsubstitutable capabilities?
Capabilities that are difficult to codify and hence difficult to
substitute or replicate.
What are core competencies?
Core competencies are the activities a company performs
especially well compared to competitors, distinguishing it from
others.
What is a core competence of Apple?
Innovation.
What types of resources do core competencies combine?
, Core competencies combine tangible resources, like financial
resources and research laboratories, with intangible resources,
like engineers and organizational routines.
The challenge of analyzing the internal organisation:
•Some scholars believe that the pressure on managers to pursue
only decisions that help the firm meet anticipated quarterly
earnings makes it difficult to accurately examine the firm's
internal organisation.
•The challenge and difficulty of making effective decisions are
implied by preliminary evidence suggesting that one-half of
organisational decisions fail.
•Sometimes, mistakes are made as the firm analyzes conditions
in its internal organisation.
•Managers might think a capability is a core competence when it
is not.
•This may have been the case at Polaroid Corporation, as
decision makers continued to believe that the capabilities it used
to build its instant film cameras were highly relevant at the time
its competitors were preparing to introduce digital cameras.
•In this instance, Polaroid's decision makers may have
concluded that superior manufacturing was a core competence,
as was the firm's ability to innovate in terms of creating value-
adding features for its instant cameras.
What condition affects managers due to unpredictability in the
internal organization?
Why have competitors struggled to imitate Southwest Airlines'
low-cost strategy?
They cannot replicate the unique culture of the company.
What is social complexity in the context of sustainable
competitive advantage?
Capabilities that are difficult to codify and thus hard to
substitute or replicate.
Can you give an example of social complexity at Southwest
Airlines?
The culture of flight attendants cracking jokes on flights.
What are nonsubstitutable capabilities?
Capabilities that are difficult to codify and hence difficult to
substitute or replicate.
What are core competencies?
Core competencies are the activities a company performs
especially well compared to competitors, distinguishing it from
others.
What is a core competence of Apple?
Innovation.
What types of resources do core competencies combine?
, Core competencies combine tangible resources, like financial
resources and research laboratories, with intangible resources,
like engineers and organizational routines.
The challenge of analyzing the internal organisation:
•Some scholars believe that the pressure on managers to pursue
only decisions that help the firm meet anticipated quarterly
earnings makes it difficult to accurately examine the firm's
internal organisation.
•The challenge and difficulty of making effective decisions are
implied by preliminary evidence suggesting that one-half of
organisational decisions fail.
•Sometimes, mistakes are made as the firm analyzes conditions
in its internal organisation.
•Managers might think a capability is a core competence when it
is not.
•This may have been the case at Polaroid Corporation, as
decision makers continued to believe that the capabilities it used
to build its instant film cameras were highly relevant at the time
its competitors were preparing to introduce digital cameras.
•In this instance, Polaroid's decision makers may have
concluded that superior manufacturing was a core competence,
as was the firm's ability to innovate in terms of creating value-
adding features for its instant cameras.
What condition affects managers due to unpredictability in the
internal organization?
