MGCR 331 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Network Effect, Surefire, Supply Chain

• School: McGill University
• Department: Management Core
• Course: MGCR 331
• Professor: Sean Sutherland

Document Summary

Objectives : understand how firms ogranize to bring products to the market and apply the value chain. Achieving sustainable competitive advantage is more difficult when competition involves technology. Firms suffer agressive, margin eroding competition when they define themselves according to operational effectiveness rather than strategic positioing. Operational effectiveness : performing the same tasks better than rivals perform them, the danger is the sameness because the competitors can buy the same stuff as your rivals, hire students from the same course. Oe is critical but no sufficient enough to yield sustainable dominance. The fast follower problem exists when savvy rivals watch a pioneer"s efforts, learn from their succes and missteps, then enter the market quickly with a comparable or superior product at a lower cost before the first mover can dominate. Startegic positioning consist in performing different tasks than rivals, or the same tasks in a different way. Geographical adv: supply chain - retail store.