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Intangible assets that have become much more important to a firm’s competitive advantage include

Chips & Motherboards, a leading hard drive manufacturer, recently filed for bankruptcy. While most of Chips & Motherboards’ competitors were shifting away from physical data storage devices toward online cloud storage services, Chips & Motherboards invested most of its retained earnings in the effort to improve its hard drives. Once the hard-drive market drastically declined, Chips & Motherboards was unable to capitalize on the new technology. Which of the following does this scenario best illustrate?

Finish Line Athletics Inc. is a chain of gyms. It offers a fitness package that allows its members to use the gym facilities for 15 months by paying only for a year. Included in the package are two free yoga classes and a gym kit. These add-ons by themselves are not very valuable, but as a package they can enhance the perceived value of the service offerings. In this case, Finish Line’s primary value driver is

Industrial Drills, a company that manufactures industrial tools, incurs higher costs because of its refusal to outsource its manufacturing to countries where labor costs are lower. This reflects Industrial Drills’________ responsibility.

Through a strategy’s________, a firm puts its guiding policy into practice by employing a set of coherent actions.

Leading guitar string producer Highly Strung has enjoyed a competitive advantage based on its proprietary coating that gives its strings a clearer sound and longer life span than uncoated strings. One of Highly Strung’s competitors, however, has recently developed a similar coating using less expensive ingredients; this allows it to charge a lower price than Highly Strung for similar-quality strings. Highly Strung’s competitive advantage is in danger due to

Five Star Inc. is a knife manufacturer known for its high-quality steel chef’s knives, and it follows a differentiation strategy. In this scenario, Five Star Inc. should ideally compare its strategic position with a

LuxWear Inc., an apparel company, recently moved locations to be closer to their main manufacturer in South Carolina. The move required the firm to upgrade its legacy ordering system with its manufactures ordering system, which should facilitate its supply chain to gain future efficiencies and reap future savings. However, the new system costs $75,000 and will require a significant amount of time to train employees. This best represents a significant increase in the company’s

Which of the following will most likely be considered as an airline’s core competency?

Makita, DuPont, Builder’s Square, and Nut’s & Bolts are all hardware stores that compete against each other through everyday low pricing and discounts on bulk purchases. All four stores cater to the needs of highly price-sensitive customers. Thus, together these stores form a________ group.