The competitive power of a company resource depends on

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CHAPTER 4

Evaluating a Company’s Resources, Capabilities, and Competitiveness

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Learning Objectives THIS CHAPTER WILL HELP YOU UNDERSTAND:

LO 1 How to take stock of how well a company’s strategy is working.

LO 2 Why a company’s resources and capabilities are centrally important in giving the company a competitive edge over rivals.

LO 3 How to assess the company’s strengths and weaknesses in light of market opportunities and external threats.

LO 4 How a company’s value chain activities can affect the company’s cost structure and customer value proposition.

LO 5 How a comprehensive evaluation of a company’s competitive situation can assist managers in making critical decisions about their next strategic moves.

Crucial, of course, is having a difference that matters in the industry.

Cynthia Montgomery—Professor and author

If you don’t have a competitive advantage, don’t compete

Jack Welch—Former CEO of General Electric

Organizations succeed in a competitive marketplace over the long run because they can do certain things their customers value better than can their competitors.

Robert Hayes, Gary Pisano, and David Upton—-Professors and consultants

Chapter 3 described how to use the tools of industry and competitor analysis to assess a company’s external environment and lay the groundwork for matching a company’s strategy to its external situation. This chapter discusses techniques for evaluating a company’s internal situation, including its collection of resources and capabilities and the activities it performs along its value chain. Internal analysis enables managers to determine whether their strategy is likely to give the company a significant competitive edge over rival firms. Combined with external analysis, it facilitates an understanding of how to reposition a firm to take advantage of new opportunities and to cope with emerging competitive threats. The analytic spotlight will be trained on six questions:

1. How well is the company’s present strategy working? 2. What are the company’s most important resources and capabilities, and will they give the company a

lasting competitive advantage over rival companies? 3. What are the company’s strengths and weaknesses in relation to the market opportunities and

external threats? 4. How do a company’s value chain activities impact its cost structure and customer value proposition? 5. Is the company competitively stronger or weaker than key rivals? 6. What strategic issues and problems merit front-burner managerial attention?

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In probing for answers to these questions, five analytic tools—resource and capability analysis, SWOT analysis, value chain analysis, benchmarking, and competitive strength assessment—will be used. All five are valuable techniques for revealing a company’s competitiveness and for helping company managers match their strategy to the company’s particular circumstances.

QUESTION 1: HOW WELL IS THE COMPANY’S PRESENT STRATEGY WORKING?

LO 1 How to take stock of how well a company’s strategy is working.

In evaluating how well a company’s present strategy is working, the best way to start is with a clear view of what the strategy entails. Figure 4.1 shows the key components of a single-business company’s strategy. The first thing to examine is the company’s competitive approach. What moves has the company made recently to attract customers and improve its market position—for instance, has it cut prices, improved the design of its product, added new features, stepped up advertising, entered a new geographic market, or merged with a competitor? Is it striving for a competitive advantage based on low costs or a better product offering? Is it concentrating on serving a broad spectrum of customers or a narrow market niche? The company’s functional strategies in R&D, production, marketing, finance, human resources, information technology, and so on further characterize company strategy, as do any efforts to establish alliances with other enterprises.

FIGURE 4.1 Identifying the Components of a Single-Business Company’s Strategy

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The three best indicators of how well a company’s strategy is working are (1) whether the company is achieving its stated financial and strategic objectives, (2) whether its financial performance is above the industry average, and (3) whether it is gaining customers and gaining market share. Persistent shortfalls in meeting company performance targets and weak marketplace performance relative to rivals are reliable warning signs that the company has a weak strategy, suffers from poor strategy execution, or both. Specific indicators of how well a company’s strategy is working include:

• Trends in the company’s sales and earnings growth. • Trends in the company’s stock price. • The company’s overall financial strength. • The company’s customer retention rate. • The rate at which new customers are acquired. • Evidence of improvement in internal processes such as defect rate, order fulfillment,

delivery times, days of inventory, and employee productivity.

Sluggish financial performance and second-rate market accomplishments almost always signal weak strategy, weak execution, or both.

The stronger a company’s current overall performance, the more likely it has a well-conceived, well- executed strategy. The weaker a company’s financial performance and market standing, the more its current strategy must be questioned and the more likely the need for radical changes. Table 4.1 provides

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a compilation of the financial ratios most commonly used to evaluate a company’s financial performance and balance sheet strength.

TABLE 4.1 Key Financial Ratios: How to Calculate Them and What They Mean

Ratio How Calculated What It Shows

Profitability