The document discusses factors that influence the sustainability of a competitive advantage, including the rate of change in core competencies, availability of substitutes, and ease of imitation. It also outlines the criteria for sustainable competitive advantages, namely that core competencies must be valuable, rare, costly to imitate, and non-substitutable. Finally, it examines the competitive consequences of whether a firm's resources, capabilities, and core competencies meet these criteria.

3. what firm might choose to do Opportunities and threats General Environment General Environment General Environment Sociocultural Global Technological Political/Legal Demographic Economic Industry Environment Competitor Environment

4. identify what they can do (over time) Unique resources, capabilities, and core competencies The Firm

7. Capabilities are what a firm does, and represent the firm’s capacity or ability to integrate individual firm resources to achieve a desired objective markets for capabilities are imperfect Discovering Core Competencies Capabilities

8. Core competencies are resources and capabilities that serve as a source of competitive advantage over rivals Core competencies distinguish a company competitively and make it distinctive Discovering Core Competencies Core Competencies

13. Valuable? Rare? Costly to Imitate ? Nonsubstitutable Competitive Consequences Performance Implications No No No No Competitive Disadvantage Below Average Returns Yes No No Yes/ No Competitive Parity Average Returns Yes Yes No Yes/ No Temporary Com- petitive Advantage Above Average to Average Returns Yes Yes Yes Yes Sustainable Com- petitive Advantage Above Average Returns

14. Questions? Thank You