STRATEGIC MARKETING:

ASSIGNMENT NO: 1
NAME: FIZA AKHTER
CLASS ID: 102497
CLASS: MBA-4
DATE: 14-09-2019
SUBMITTED TO: PERVEZ GHAZI SHEIKH
QUESTION:1 Why Sustainable Competitive Advantage important & what are the two
major objectives of SCA?
ANSWER:
IMPORTANCE OF SUSTAINABLE COMPETITIVE
ADVANTAGE:
Sustainable Competitive Advantage is the key to positive long-term financial
performance.
To a large extent, the ambition of business strategy is to reach a Sustainable
Competitive Advantage.
Creating a Sustainable Competitive Advantage may be the most important goal of any
organization and may be the most important single attribute on which each firm must
place its most focus.
The SCA strategy should be substantial enough to make a difference. Marginal
difference or superior may not be noticed or valued adequately by the markets.
The SCA must be sustainable or enduring. The SCA factors should be such that its
importance does not evaporate or fade away with time, or it cannot easily copied by
competitors.
Competitive advantage exists when a particular company consistently outperforms
other companies in the same industry. A company is considered to be outperforming
other if profits higher than the competitions profits. The competitive advantage is
thought to be stronger when it lasts for a longer period of time. Those companies
who are able for many years are thought to have a sustainable competitive
advantage.
A true competitive advantage is long term.
A one-time price cut is not sustainable , but a commitment to One-Course-At-A-Time
is:

Hard –to-find High market place Difficult for

substitute. demand competitors to
acquire or imitate

Sustainable Competitive
Advantage
 OBJECTIVES OF SUSTAINABLE COMPETITIVE
ADVANTAGE:
The two main components of profit are that customers both value the goods and
services and will pay for them and that a company can keep production costs related
to goods and services low, so that there is a high profit.
Sustainable Competitive advantage is the key to a successful strategy.
Strategy related to SCA is focused on the two major objectives:
1. Creating SCAs for the firm
2. Neutralizing SCAs of competitors.

QUESTION:2 What is Resource Based Theory & What are the major characteristics of
Strategic Resourced?

ANSWER: RESOURCE BASED THEORY:

Resource – based theory suggests that resources that are valuable, rare, difficult to
imitate, and nonsubstitutable best position a firm for long-term success. These
strategic resources can provide the foundation to develop from capabilities that can
lead to superior performance over time.
Resource – based theory contends that the possession of strategic resources provides
an organization with a golden opportunity to develop competitive advantages over its
rivals. These competitive advantages in turn can help the organization enjoy strong
profits, especially over time.
Apple has many strategic resources, including their proprietary software and
hardware platforms, which have evolved from numerous innovations and
improvements over literally decades; the Apple store; many aspects of the overall
buying experience including price; and a culture of innovation. It didn’t hurt to have
Steve Jobs, a charismatic, innovative thinker, as their CEO for many years. Many
computer companies have struggled to make money with razor-thin profit margins.
Apple, using a different business model focused on their strategic resources, has
succeeded with years of record profits. At one time, based on stocks, Apple was the
most valuable company in the world.
Strategic resources that are valuable or rare are valuable simply due to the relatively
high cost of acquiring them (e.g., an airplane) or scarcity (e.g., diamonds).
 MAJOR CHARACTERISTICS OF STRATEGIC
RESOURCED:

There are five major characteristics of strategic resourced.

1. It’s hard to copy.
Uniqueness is at the heart of value creation because it limits competition. If you have
a resource that can’t be copied or can’t easily copied, then it’s going to give you an
advantage over your competitors. This advantage is sustainable until your
competitors can copy it, if ever. That’s what makes it a strategic resource. Think of
everything Apple has accomplished over the last 10 years or so, iPhones, iPads,
Macbook Pros, etc. There are plenty of touch screen phones and tablets, still,
none have the responsiveness and intuitiveness that Apple has managed to engineer.
From another point of view, processes and programs can be copied but people can’t.
If you manage to get great people on your team, or make those people great, it can
be impossible to copy and ends up being a strategic resource.

2. It depreciates slowly.
How long does it last? The longer your resource lasts, the more strategic it is. The F-15
has been around since 1972. I’d say we got our money’s worth. When thinking of
your people, do they stick around? If you count your people as one of your strategic
resources, but you keep losing them, you’re seriously just losing overall. Keep them
around and make them High Performance, and watch your strategic advantage stay
up.

3. Your organization controls its value.

The organization doesn’t always control its resources. If your employees leave and
give away your resources, those resources are not strategic. This is a common
occurrence in high technology fields and also in organizations with donors.

4. It can’t be easily substituted

We don’t have Coke, will Pepsi do? For most people, sure. Some things are easily
substituted, some are not. Pizza is easily substituted. Chicago style pizza is not. It
doesn’t matter if there are hundreds of pizzerias in your town, there may only be a
handful with Chicago style pizza. These are strategic resources that can’t be easily
substituted.
.

5. It’s more effective than competitors’ similar resources.

Are your resources more effective than your competitors’ resources? If you’re an
organization, then your greatest resource is your people. Are your people more
effective than your competitors’ people? You may be able to hire a great project
manager or a great developer, but competent people alone don’t make up the
company. You must build a great team with a great culture from the ground up.