Computers In Management - Chapter 3 - Strategy And Technology

Front 1

Sustainable competitive advantage

Back 1

Financial performance that consistently outperforms industry averages.

Front 2

Operation effectiveness

Back 2

Performing the same tasks better than rivals perform them.

Front 3

Fast follower problem

Back 3

Exists when savvy rivals watch a pioneer's efforts, learn from their successes and missteps, then enter the market quickly with a comparable or superior product at a lower cost before the first mover can dominate.

Front 4

Strategic positioning

Back 4

Performing different tasks than rivals, or the same tasks in a different way.

Front 5

Straddling

Back 5

When a firm attempts to match the benefits of a successful position while maintaining its existing position.

Front 6

resource-based view of competitive advantage

Back 6

The strategic thinking approach suggesting that if a firm is to maintain sustainable competitive advantage, it must control an exploitable resource, or set of resources, that have four critical characteristics. These resources must be 1) valuable 2) rare 3) imperfectly imitable 4) non-substitutable.

Front 7

dense wave division multiplexing (DWDM)

Back 7

A technology that increases the transmission capacity (and hence speed) of fiber optic cable. Transmissions using fiber are accomplished by transmitting light inside "glass" cables. In this, the light inside fiber is split into different wavelengths in a way similar to how a prism splits light into different colors.

Front 8

imitation-resistant value chain

Back 8

A way of doing business that competitors struggle to replicate and that frequently involves technology in a key enabling role.

Front 9

brand

Back 9

The symbolic embodiment of all the information connected with a product or service.

Front 10

viral marketing

Back 10

Leveraging consumers to promote a product or service.

Front 11

Scale advantages

Back 11

Advantages related to size

Front 12

Economies of scale

Back 12

When costs can be spread across increasing units of production or in serving multiple costumers. Businesses that have favorable economies of scale (like many internet firms) are sometimes referred to as being highly scalable.

Front 13

Switching costs

Back 13

The cost a consumer incurs when moving from one product to another. It can involve actual money spent (e.g. buying a new product) as well as investment in time, any data loss, and so forth.

Front 14

Network effects

Back 14

Also known as Metcalfe's Law, or network externalities. When the value of a product or service increases as its number of users expands.

Front 15

Distribution channels

Back 15

The path through which products or services get to customers.

Front 16

Affiliates

Back 16

Third parties that promote a product or service, typically in exchange for a cut of any sales.

Front 17

Porter's Five Forces

Back 17

Also known as Industry and Competitive Analysis. A framework considering the interplay between 1) the intensity of rivalry among existing competitors 2) the threat of new entrants 3) the threat of substitute goods or services 4)the bargaining power of buyers 5) the bargaining power of suppliers.

Front 18

Price transparency

Back 18

The degree to which complete information is available.

Front 19

Information asymmetry

Back 19

A decision situation where one party has more or better information than its counterparty.

Front 20

Value chain

Back 20

The "set of activities through which a product or service is created and delivered to cussstomers."