Capabilities

What are foundation of competitive advantage?

Andy Weeger

Neu-Ulm University of Applied Sciences

September 22, 2023

Learning outcomes

After this session, you should have a solid understanding of

• the nature and purpose of an internal audit in formulating strategies;
• major internal factors that impact competitive advantage;
• the tenets of the resource-based view and dynamic capabilities;
• as well as the construction and application of the Strengths-Weaknesses-Opportunities-Threats (SWOT) matrix.

Internal audit

Overview

Assessing a firm’s strengths and weaknesses so that strategies can be formulated that capitalize on internal strengths and overcome weaknesses.

The internal audit focuses on identifying and evaluating a firm’s strengths and weaknesses in the functional areas of business, including management, marketing, finance, accounting, production/operations, research and development (R&D), and management of IT/the digital (David and David 2016).

All organizations have strengths and weaknesses in the functional areas of business. No enterprise is equally strong or weak in all areas. Internal strengths and weaknesses, coupled with external opportunities and threats provide the basics for strategic planning. Objectives and strategies are established with the intention of capitalizing on internal strengths and overcoming weaknesses.

Key internal resources

Key internal areas/resources an internal assessment should focus on:

Tangible resources, intangible resources, organizational capabilities, competitive assets, culture & values, knowledge management, strategic flexibility, and technology.

Tangible resources:

• Financial resources: the firm’s financial strength, including cash reserves, profitability, and access to capital
• Physical assets: the firm’s physical assets such as manufacturing facilities, real estate, equipment, and inventory

Intangible resources:

• Intellectual property: assets including patents, trademarks, copyrights, and proprietary technology
• Brands and reputation: brand equity and reputation of the firm within its industry and among consumers
• Human capital: the skills, knowledge, and expertise of the firm’s employees, including leadership and talent management.

Organizational capabilities:

• Innovation and R&D: the firm’s capacity for innovation, research and development capabilities, and the ability to bring new products or services to market
• Operational efficiency: the efficiency of the firm’s operational processes, supply chain management, and cost control measures
• Marketing and sales: the firm’s marketing strategies, customer relationships, and sales capabilities

Competitive assets:

• Strategic partnerships: strategic alliances, partnerships, and collaborations that provide unique competitive advantages
• Exclusive contracts: exclusive contracts or agreements that offer preferential treatment or access to key resources
• Market position: the firm’s position within its target markets and industry, including market share and market dominance

Culture and values:

• Corporate culture: the organizational culture and values that influence decision-making, employee behavior, and innovation
• Ethical reputation: the firm’s ethical practices, corporate social responsibility, and its impact on reputation

Knowledge management:

• Knowledge repository: the firm’s ability to capture, share, and apply knowledge effectively across the organization
• Learning organization: culture of continuous learning, adaptation, and knowledge creation

Strategic flexibility:

• Adaptability: the firm’s ability to adapt to changing market conditions, competitive threats, and external disruptions
• Resource mobility: ability to reallocate resources strategically to exploit emerging opportunities or address weaknesses

Technological capabilities:

• Information systems: the quality and effectiveness of the firm’s information systems, data analytics capabilities, and technology infrastructure
• Digital capabilities: the firm’s readiness to leverage digital technologies for competitive advantage

Culture

Culture eats strategy for breakfast. Peter Drucker, Management consultant, educator and author

The most brilliant strategies can fail if they are not congruent with the prevailing culture within an organization. Successful organizations, thus, integrate culture and strategy.

The phrase conveys the idea that a company’s culture, which includes its shared values, beliefs, norms, and behaviors, can have a more substantial influence on the organization’s outcomes than its strategic plans or strategies. In other words, a well-crafted strategy may look excellent on paper, but if it doesn’t align with or is undermined by the prevailing organizational culture, it is less likely to succeed (Drucker et al. 1988).

• An organization’s culture influences how employees behave, make decisions, and interact with one another. If a strategic plan contradicts cultural norms or values, employees are likely to prioritize cultural consistency over strategic alignment.
• Culture can either enable or constrain the execution of strategic initiatives. A supportive culture aligns with the strategy, fosters commitment, and drives performance. Conversely, a culture that resists change or lacks alignment can hinder even the most well-conceived strategy.
• Leaders play a crucial role in shaping and aligning culture with strategy. Effective leaders understand the culture’s impact and work to foster a culture that supports the strategic vision.
• Successful organizations integrate culture and strategy. They develop strategies that not only consider external market dynamics but also respect and leverage the existing culture. Additionally, they may seek to evolve the culture to better support strategic goals.

Implications (David and David 2016):

• Strategies that require fewer cultural changes may be more attractive because extensive changes can take considerable time and effort
• Political maneuvering consumes valuable time, subverts organizational objectives, diverts human energy, and results in the loss of some valuable employees
• Political biases and personal preferences get unduly embedded in strategy choice decisions

Reflection

Form small groups of 3 to 4 students, discuss what you have learned about the resource-based view (RBV) from reading Peteraf (1993). Create a brief summary of the key tenets of the RBV (one slide) and derive key implications for strategic management (15 minutes).

Be prepared to present your findings in a five-minute presentation.

Resource-based view

Key assumptions

The RBV contends that internal resources are critical for achieving and sustaining competitive advantage, even more important than the environment.

Questions of value, rareness, imitability/substitutability (VRIN), and organisation must be addressed.

Understanding the sources of competitive advantages calls for an analysis of not only the company’s environment (opportunities and threats), but its own/internal strengths and weaknesses as well (Barney 1995).

This point is clearly highlighted when we consider the success achieved by companies such as WalMart, Southwest Airlines and Nucor Steel, despite unfavorable environments.

A firm’s internal attributes – its resources and capabilities – include all the financial, physical, human and organisational assets used by a firm to develop, manufacture and deliver products/services to its customers.

Resources and capabilities that cannot be readily matched by competitors are referred to as distinctive competencies. To identify a company’s distinctive competencies, resources and capabilities must be evaluated by considering four important questions:

• The question of value.
• The question of rareness.
• The question of imitability.
• The question of organisation.

Dynamic capabilities

Overview

Dynamic capabilities refer to a firm’s ability to integrate, build, and reconfigure internal and external resources to address rapidly changing environments (Teece, Pisano, and Shuen 1997).

RBV emphasizes the assessment of internal resources and capabilities to identify those that can provide a sustainable competitive advantage. Dynamic capabilities play a critical role in adapting and reconfiguring these resources over time to maintain their competitiveness.

By developing dynamic capabilities, organizations can better navigate change and respond effectively to new challenges. They are thus a source of sustainable competitive advantage, allowing firms to continuously renew and adapt their strategies. To cultivate dynamic capabilities, organizations must prioritize learning, adaptation, and the ongoing renewal of their strategic initiatives.

Core elements

Sensing,
(identifying and assessing opportunities)
seizing,
(mobilizing your resources to capture value from those opportunities)
and transforming
(continuous renewal)

Teece, Pisano, and Shuen (1997) concept of dynamic capabilities essentially says that what matters for business is corporate agility: the capacity to (1) sense and shape opportunities and threats, (2) seize opportunities, and (3) maintain competitiveness through enhancing, combining, protecting, and, when necessary, reconfiguring the business enterprise’s intangible and tangible assets.

Sensing: Dynamic capabilities begin with the ability to sense changes in the external environment, such as shifts in customer preferences or emerging market trends. This requires organizations to collect and analyze data from both external and internal sources.

Seizing: Once an opportunity is identified, dynamic capabilities involve the rapid and efficient allocation of resources to exploit that opportunity. This requires the organization to be agile and responsive, ensuring that resources are allocated swiftly to capitalize on emerging opportunities.

Reconfiguring: In dynamic environments, organizations must be able to adapt and reconfigure their internal resources, such as talent and technology. Dynamic capabilities often necessitate changes in the organization’s structure, processes, and systems to support strategic adaptation.

Example

Can you give a compelling illustration of dynamic capabilities in action?

Apple Inc. provides a compelling illustration of dynamic capabilities in action. Over the years, Apple has demonstrated its ability to sense market changes, seize opportunities, and reconfigure its resources effectively, all of which are central elements of dynamic capabilities.

• Sensing: Apple constantly monitors consumer trends, technological advancements, and shifts in the global market. They sense changes in customer preferences, such as the demand for smartphones, wearables, and digital services.
• Seizing: When Apple sensed the growing demand for smartphones, it seized the opportunity by launching the iPhone in 2007. The rapid development and launch a service ecosystem and new iPhone models showcase their ability to efficiently capture opportunities.
• Reconfiguring: The shift from traditional Mac computers to mobile devices required significant reconfiguration of their manufacturing and supply chain processes. Apple’s app ecosystem and digital services are examples of reconfigured capabilities that add value to their products.

Apple’s success can be attributed in part to its dynamic capabilities, allowing the company to sense changes in the market, seize opportunities like the smartphone revolution, and reconfigure its resources and capabilities to maintain a competitive edge. This adaptability and innovation have enabled Apple to consistently deliver products and services that resonate with consumers worldwide.

SWOT framework

Overview

SWOT matrix

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 1: SWOT matrix

The environment reveals external opportunities and threats. The resource-based view emphasizes the significance of internal resources and capabilities in achieving competitive advantage. Dynamic capabilities represent an organization’s ability to adapt and reconfigure its resource base over time.

When combined, these concepts offer a comprehensive framework for strategic management. By combining these perspectives, the Strengths-Weaknesses-Opportunities-Threats (SWOT) framework offers a starting point to develop and think through a strategy, particularly four types of strategies:

• SO strategies (strengths-opportunities): using a firm’s internal strengths to take advantage of external opportunities
• WO strategies (weaknesses-opportunities): improving internal weaknesses by taking advantage of external opportunities
• ST strategies (strengths-threats): using a firm’s strengths to avoid or reduce the impact of external threats
• WT strategies (weaknesses-threats): defensive tactics directed at reducing internal weakness and avoiding external threats

Process

Steps in using the SWOT framework:

1. Perform an external audit to identify opportunities and threats
2. Perform an internal audit to identify strengths and weaknesses
3. Allocate internal and external factors in the matrix
4. Review whether allocation to (one) box is correct
5. Structure the points in each box (i.e. group under headline, structure in sub-levels)
6. Review potential relevance (and disregard as appropriate)
7. Test whether statement is true and quantify where possible
8. Review, prioritize
9. Develop strategies based on the analysis:
   How to leverage strengths to exploit opportunities?
   How to address weaknesses to mitigate threats?

Exercise

Form small groups and identify real-life examples for each strategy type (SO, WO, ST, WT). Show how the strategies match with the related internal and external factors.

Review and consolidation

The following questions are designed to review and consolidate what you have learned and are a good starting point for preparing for the exam.

• Why do you think the SWOT Matrix is the most widely used of all strategy matrices?
• What other strategy matrices do you know? Name and explain one and compare it to the SWOT matrix.
• Identify a strategy for the HNU that would exemplify the matching concept evidenced in SWOT analysis.
• Think of limitations of the SWOT matrix and related analysis. Name three limitations and relate them to the concept of dynamic capabilities.
• Perform a SWOT analysis for Spotify.
• Do you agree or disagree with the resource-based view (RBV) theorists that internal resources are more important for a firm than external factors in achieving and sustaining competitive advantage? Explain your and their position.
• What makes a resource valuable to a company?
• Explain the concept of resource heterogeneity. Why is it considered a crucial factor in determining competitive advantage according to the RBV?
• How does resource immobility relate to the sustainability of competitive advantage?
• How do dynamic capabilities enable firms to adapt and innovate over time?
• What is the relationship between a firm’s resources, competitive advantage, and value creation for customers?
• How does the RBV contribute to our understanding of why some firms consistently outperform others in the marketplace?

Widespread use of SWOT

The SWOT Matrix lends itself to discussion among managers. It is conceptually simple with no numbers and includes key internal and external factors that provide the basis for alternative strategies. Brainstorming sessions are common in business and the SWOT is a nice framework for such an activity.

Limitations of SWOT

Although the most widely utilized of all strategic planning tools, the SWOT analysis does have some limitations. First, SWOT does not show how to achieve a competitive advantage, so it must not be an end in itself. Second, SWOT is a static assessment (or snapshot) in time. Third, SWOT analysis may lead the firm to overemphasize a single internal or external factor in formulating strategies.

Homework

Read Mintzberg (1978) and make notes on following questions:

• Why and how does Mintzberg challenge the prevailing view of strategic planning (i.e., strategy formulation) as the primary approach to strategy formation?
• How does Mintzberg propose to think of strategy formation instead?
• Which patterns of strategy formation has Mintzberg identified? Can you provide examples of organizations that might employ each of these patterns?
• Why and how can the aggressive, proactive strategy-maker as well as contingency planning be risky for organizations, particular in turbulent environments?
• What practical implications can you draw from Mintzberg’s insights for organizations’ strategic management practices?

Q&A

Literature

Barney, Jay B. 1995. “Looking Inside for Competitive Advantage.” Academy of Management Perspectives 9 (4): 49–61.

David, F. R., and F. R. David. 2016. Strategic Management: A Competitive Advantage Approach, Concepts and Cases, Global Edition. Psychology Express. Pearson Education.

Drucker, Peter Ferdinand et al. 1988. “The Coming of the New Organization.”

Mintzberg, Henry. 1978. “Patterns in Strategy Formation.” Management Science 24 (9): 934–48.

Peteraf, Margaret A. 1993. “The Cornerstones of Competitive Advantage: A Resource-Based View.” Strategic Management Journal 14 (3): 179–91.

Teece, David J, Gary Pisano, and Amy Shuen. 1997. “Dynamic Capabilities and Strategic Management.” Strategic Management Journal 18 (7): 509–33.