Evaluating the Internal Environment

Key Questions in Situation Analysis

• Question 1: How well is the company’s strategy working?

• Question 2: What are the company’s resource strengths and weaknesses and its external opportunities and threats?

• Question 3: Are the company’s prices and costs competitive?

• Question 4: Is the company competitively stronger or weaker than key rivals?

• Question 5: What strategic issues and problems merit front-burner managerial attention?

Competitive Advantage

• Firms achieve strategic competitiveness and earn above-average returns when their core competencies are effectivelyAcquiredBundledLeveraged

• Over time, the benefits of any value-creating strategy can be duplicated by competitors

Competitive Advantage (cont’d)

• Sustainability of a competitive advantage is a function ofThe rate of core competence obsolescence due

to environmental changesThe availability of substitutes for the core

competenceThe difficulty competitors have in duplicating or

imitating the core competence

Generic Building Blocks of Competitive Advantage

Outcomes from External and Internal Environmental Analyses

Examine opportunities and threats

Examine unique resources, capabilities, and competencies(sustainable competitive advantage)

The Context of Internal Analysis

• Effective analysis of a firm’s internal environment (learning what the firm can do ) requires:Fostering an organizational setting in which

experimentation and learning are expected and promoted

Using a global mind-set

Thinking of the firm as a bundle of heterogeneous resources and capabilities that can be used to create an exclusive market position

Creating Value

• By exploiting their core competencies or competitive advantages, firms create value

• Value is measured by

A product’s performance characteristics

The product’s attributes for which customers are willing to pay

• Firms create value by innovatively bundling and leveraging their resources and capabilities

Creating Competitive Advantage

• Core competencies, in combination with product-market positions, are the firm’s most important sources of competitive advantage

• Core competencies of a firm, in addition to its analysis of its general, industry, and competitor environments, should drive its selection of strategies

The Challenge of Internal Analysis

• Strategic decisions in terms of the firm’s resources, capabilities, and core competencies

Are non-routine

Have ethical implications

Significantly influence the firm’s ability to earn above-average returns

The Challenge of Internal Analysis (cont’d)

• To develop and use core competencies, managers must haveCourageSelf-confidence IntegrityThe capacity to deal with uncertainty

and complexityA willingness to hold people (and

themselves) accountable for their work

Conditions Affecting Managerial Decisions about Resources, Capabilities and Core Competencies

Resources, Capabilities and Core Competencies

• ResourcesAre the source of a

firm’s capabilitiesAre broad in scopeCover a spectrum of

individual, social and organizational phenomena

Alone, do not yield a competitive advantage

Resources, Capabilities and Core Competencies

• ResourcesAre a firm’s assets,

including people and the value of its brand name

Represent inputs into a firm’s production process, such as: Capital equipment Skills of employees Brand names Financial resources Talented managers

Resources, Capabilities and Core Competencies

• ResourcesTangible resources

Financial resources Physical resources Technological resources Organizational resources

Intangible resources Human resources innovation resources Reputation resources

Tangible Resources

Financial Resources •The firm’s borrowing capacity•The firm’s ability to generate internal funds

Organizational Resources •The firm’s formal reporting structure and its formal planning, controlling,and coordinating systems

Physical Resources •Sophistication and location of a firm’s plant and equipment

•Access to raw materials

Technological Resources •Stock of technology, such as patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets

Intangible ResourcesHuman Resources • Knowledge

• Trust• Managerial capabilities• Organizational routines

Innovation Resources • Ideas

• Scientific capabilities • Capacity to innovate

Reputational Resources • Reputation with customers

• Brand name • Perceptions of product quality,

durability, and reliability • Reputation with suppliers • For efficient, effective, supportive, and

mutually beneficial interactions and relationships

Resources, Capabilities and Core Competencies

• Capabilities Are the firm’s capacity to deploy

resources that have been purposely integrated to achieve a desired end state

Emerge over time through complex interactions among tangible and intangible resources

Often are based on developing, carrying and exchanging information and knowledge through the firm’s human capital

Resources, Capabilities and Core Competencies

• CapabilitiesThe foundation of many

capabilities lies in: The unique skills and

knowledge of a firm’s employees

The functional expertise of those employees

Capabilities are often developed in specific functional areas or as part of a functional area

Copyright © 2004 South-Western. All rights reserved. 3–20

Examples of Firms’ Capabilities

EXAMPLES OF CAPABILITIES Capability Result

Logistics -- distributing vast amounts of goods quickly and efficiently to remote locations

An extraordinarily frugal system for delivering the lowest cost structure in the mutual fund industry, using both techno-logical leadership and economies of scale

Generating new ideas then turning those ideas into new, profitable products

200,000-percent return to share-holders during first 30 years since IPO1

25,000-percent return to share-holders during the 30-plus year tenure of CEO John Connelly.2

As for ongoing expenses, share-holders in Vanguard equity funds pay, on average, just $30 per $10,000, vs. a $159 industry average. With bond funds, the bite is just $17 per $10,000

30 percent of revenue from products introduced within the past four years

Company

Performance implicationTest Competitive implication

Valuable? Does the resource or capability allow the firm to meet a market demand or protect the firm from market uncertainties?

If so, it satisfies the value require-ment. Valuable resources are needed just to compete in the indus-try, but value by itself does not convey an advantage

Valuable resources and capabilities convey the potential to achieve “normal profits” (i.e., profits which cover the cost of all inputs including the cost of capital)

Rare? Assuming the resource or capability is valuable, is it scarce relative to demand? Or, is it widely possessed by most competitors?

Valuable resources which are also rare convey a competitive advant-age, but its relative permanence is not assured. The advantage is likely only temporary

A temporary competitive advantage conveys the potential to achieve above normal profits, at least until the competitive advantage is nullified by other firms

Inimitable and non-substitut-able?

Assuming a valuable and rare resource, how difficult is it for com-petitors to either imitate the resource or capability or substitute for it with other resources and capabilities that accomplish similar benefits?

Valuable resources and capabilities which are difficult to imitate or substitute provide the potential for sustained competitive advantage

A sustained competitive advantage conveys the potential to achieve above normal profits for extended periods of time (until competitors eventually find ways to imitate or substitute or the environment changes in ways that nullify the value of the resources)

Exploit-able?

For each step of the preceding steps of the VRINE test, can the firm actually exploit the resources and capabilities that it owns or controls?

Resources and capabilities that satisfy the VRINE requirements but which the firm is unable to exploit actually result in significant opportu-nity costs (other firms would likely pay large sums to purchase the VRINE resources and capabilities). Alternatively, exploitability unlocks the potential competitive and perfor-mance implications of the resource or capability

Firms which control unexploited VRINE resources and capabilities generally suffer from lower levels of financial performance and depressed market valuations relative to what they would otherwise enjoy (though not as depressed as firms lacking resources and capabilities which do satisfy VRINE)

THE VRINE MODEL

Resources, Capabilities and Core Competencies

• Core CompetenciesResources and capabilities

that serve as a source of a firm’s competitive advantage: Distinguish a company

competitively and reflect its personality

Emerge over time through an organizational process of accumulating and learning how to deploy different resources and capabilities

Resources, Capabilities and Core Competencies

• Core CompetenciesActivities that a firm

performs especially well compared to competitors

Activities through which the firm adds unique value to its goods or services over a long period of time

Building Sustainable Competitive Advantage

• Four Criteria of Sustainable Competitive AdvantageValuableRareCostly to imitateNonsubstituable

The Four Criteria of Sustainable Competitive Advantage

Valuable Capabilities • Help a firm neutralize threats or exploit opportunities

Rare Capabilities • Are not possessed by many others

Costly-to-Imitate Capabilities • Historical: A unique and a valuable organizational culture or brand name

• Ambiguous cause: The causes and uses of a competence are unclear

• Social complexity: Interpersonalrelationships, trust, and friendshipamong managers, suppliers, andcustomers

Nonsubstitutable Capabilities • No strategic equivalent

Building Sustainable Competitive Advantage

• Valuable capabilitiesHelp a firm neutralize

threats or exploit opportunities

• Rare capabilitiesAre not possessed by

many others

Building Sustainable Competitive Advantage • Costly-to-Imitate

CapabilitiesHistorical

A unique and a valuable organizational culture or brand name

Ambiguous cause The causes and uses of a

competence are unclear (causal ambiguity)

Social complexity Interpersonal relationships, trust,

and friendship among managers, suppliers, and customers

Building Sustainable Competitive Advantage

• Nonsubstitutable CapabilitiesNo strategic equivalent

Performance implicationTest Competitive implication

Valuable? Does the resource or capability allow the firm to meet a market demand or protect the firm from market uncertainties?

If so, it satisfies the value require-ment. Valuable resources are needed just to compete in the indus-try, but value by itself does not convey an advantage

Valuable resources and capabilities convey the potential to achieve “normal profits” (i.e., profits which cover the cost of all inputs including the cost of capital)

Rare? Assuming the resource or capability is valuable, is it scarce relative to demand? Or, is it widely possessed by most competitors?

Valuable resources which are also rare convey a competitive advant-age, but its relative permanence is not assured. The advantage is likely only temporary

A temporary competitive advantage conveys the potential to achieve above normal profits, at least until the competitive advantage is nullified by other firms

Inimitable and non-substitut-able?

Assuming a valuable and rare resource, how difficult is it for com-petitors to either imitate the resource or capability or substitute for it with other resources and capabilities that accomplish similar benefits?

Valuable resources and capabilities which are difficult to imitate or substitute provide the potential for sustained competitive advantage

A sustained competitive advantage conveys the potential to achieve above normal profits for extended periods of time (until competitors eventually find ways to imitate or substitute or the environment changes in ways that nullify the value of the resources)

Exploit-able?

For each step of the preceding steps of the VRINE test, can the firm actually exploit the resources and capabilities that it owns or controls?

Resources and capabilities that satisfy the VRINE requirements but which the firm is unable to exploit actually result in significant opportu-nity costs (other firms would likely pay large sums to purchase the VRINE resources and capabilities). Alternatively, exploitability unlocks the potential competitive and perfor-mance implications of the resource or capability

Firms which control unexploited VRINE resources and capabilities generally suffer from lower levels of financial performance and depressed market valuations relative to what they would otherwise enjoy (though not as depressed as firms lacking resources and capabilities which do satisfy VRINE)

THE VRINE MODEL

The Company’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats

• S W O T represents the first letter inStrengths

Weaknesses

Opportunities

Threats

• For a company’s strategy to be well-conceived, it must be Matched to its resource strengths and

weaknesses Aimed at capturing its best market

opportunities and defending against external threats to its well-being

Identifying Resource Strengthsand Competitive Capabilities

• Common types of resource strengths includeSkills or specialized expertise in a competitively

important capabilityValuable physical assetsValuable human assets or intellectual capitalValuable organizational assetsValuable intangible assetsCompetitively valuable alliances or cooperative

ventures

Identifying Resource Weaknessesand Competitive Deficiencies• A weakness is something a firm lacks, does

poorly, or a condition placing it at a disadvantage in the marketplace

• Resource weaknesses relate to Inferior or unproven skills,

expertise, or intellectual capital

Deficiencies in competitively important physical, organizational, or intangible assets

Missing or competitive inferior capabilities in key areas

Identifying a Company’sMarket Opportunities

• Opportunities most relevant to a company are those offering

Good match with its financial andorganizational resource capabilities

Best prospects for growth and profitability

Most potential for competitive advantage

Identifying External Threats to Profitability and Competitiveness

• Emergence of cheaper/better technologies

• Introduction of better products by rivals

• Entry of lower-cost foreign competitors

• Onerous regulations

• Rise in interest rates

• Potential of a hostile takeover

• Unfavorable demographic shifts

• Adverse shifts in foreign exchange rates

• Political upheaval in a country

Value Chain Analysis

• Allows the firm to understand the parts of its operations that create value and those that do not

• A template that firms use to:

Understand their cost position

Identify multiple means that might be used to facilitate implementation of a chosen business-level strategy

Value Chain Analysis (cont’d)

• Primary activities involved with:

A product’s physical creation

A product’s sale and distribution to buyers

The product’s service after the sale

• Support activities

Provide the support necessary for the primary activities to take place

Value Chain Analysis (cont’d)

• Value chain

Shows how a product moves from raw-material stage to the final customer

• To be a source of competitive advantage, a resource or capability must allow the firm:

To perform an activity in a manner that is superior to the way competitors perform it, or

To perform a value-creating activity that competitors cannot complete

The Basic Value Chain

Inbound Logistics

Operations

Outbound Logistics

Marketing and Sales

Service

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The Value-Creating Potential of Primary Activities

• Inbound logistics Activities used to receive, store, and disseminate inputs to

a product (materials handling, warehousing, inventory control, etc.)

• Operations Activities necessary to convert the inputs provided by

inbound logistics into final product form (machining, packaging, assembly, etc.)

• Outbound logistics Activities involved with collecting, storing, and physically

distributing the product to customers (finished goods warehousing, order processing, etc.)

The Value-Creating Potential of Primary Activities (cont’d)

• Marketing and sales Activities completed to provide means through which

customers can purchase products and to induce them to do so (advertising, promotion, distribution channels, etc.)

• Service Activities designed to enhance or maintain a product’s

value (repair, training, adjustment, etc.)

Each activity should be examined relative to competitors’ abilities and rated as superior, equivalent or inferior

The Value-Creating Potential of Primary Activities: Support

• Procurement Activities completed to purchase the inputs needed to

produce a firm’s products (raw materials and supplies, machines, laboratory equipment, etc.)

• Technological development Activities completed to improve a firm’s product and the

processes used to manufacture it (process equipment, basic research, product design, etc)

• Human resource management Activities involved with recruiting, hiring, training,

developing, and compensating all personnel

The Value-Creating Potential of Primary Activities: Support (cont’d)

• Firm infrastructure Activities that support the work of the entire value chain

(general management, planning, finance, accounting, legal, government relations, etc.) Effectively and consistently identify external opportunities and

threats Identify resources and capabilities Support core competencies

Each activity should be examined relative to competitors’ abilities and rated as

superior, equivalent or inferior

Southwest made choices so that competitors did not copy - because copying would require them to abandon activities essential to their strategies

Technologyand design

Operations

Marketing

Southwest

• Single aircraft

• Short segment flights

• Smaller markets and secondaryairports in major markets

• No baggage transfers to others airlines

• No meals

• Single class of service

• No seat assignments

• Limited use of travel agents

• Word of mouth

Major Airlines

• Multiple types of aircrafts

• Hub and spoke system

• Meals

• Seat assignments

• Multiple classes of service

• Baggage transfer to other airlines

• Extensive use of travel agents

Selected difference between Southwest and large Airlines

Outsourcing

• The purchase of a value-creating activity from an external supplierFew organizations possess the resources and

capabilities required to achieve competitive superiority in all primary and support activities

• By forming and emphasizing fewer capabilitiesA firm can concentrate on those areas in which it

can create valueSpecialty suppliers can perform outsourced

capabilities more efficiently

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Outsourcing Decisions

A firm may A firm may outsource all or only outsource all or only part of one or more part of one or more primary and/or primary and/or support activities.support activities.

Outsourced activity

Inbound Logistics

Service

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Strategic Rationales for Outsourcing

• Improve business focusLets a company focus on broader business

issues by having outside experts handle various operational details

• Provide access to world-class capabilitiesThe specialized resources of outsourcing

providers makes world-class capabilities available to firms in a wide range of applications

Strategic Rationales for Outsourcing (cont’d)• Accelerate business re-engineering benefits

Achieves re-engineering benefits more quickly by having outsiders—who have already achieved world-class standards—take over process

• Sharing risksReduces investment requirements and makes

firm more flexible, dynamic and better able to adapt to changing opportunities

• Frees resources for other purposesRedirects efforts from non-core activities toward

those that serve customers more effectively

Outsourcing Issues

• Greatest valueOutsource only to firms possessing a core

competence in terms of performing the primary or supporting the outsourced activity

• Evaluating resources and capabilitiesDo not outsource activities in which the firm

itself can create and capture value

• Environmental threats and ongoing tasksDo not outsource primary and support activities

that are used to neutralize environmental threats or to complete necessary ongoing organizational tasks

Outsourcing Issues (cont’d)

• Nonstrategic team of resourcesDo not outsource capabilities that are critical to

the firm’s success, even though the capabilities are not actual sources of competitive advantage

• Firm’s knowledge baseDo not outsource activities that stimulate the

development of new capabilities and competencies

Cautions and Reminders

• Never take for granted that core competencies will continue to provide a source of competitive advantage

• All core competencies have the potential to become core rigidities

• Core rigidities are former core competencies that now generate inertia and stifle innovation

• Determining what the firm can do through continuous and effective analyses of its internal environment increases the likelihood of long-term competitive success

Cautions and Reminders (cont’d)

• Determining what the firm can do through continuous and effective analyses of its internal environment increase the likelihood of long-term competitive success