Minimum of 400 words in the body Minimum of 2 sources from the literature in addition to course texts  Gamble, J., Peteraf, M., & Thompson, A. (2019). Essentials of strategic management: The Quest            for Competitive Advantage . (6th ed.), New York, NY: McGraw Hill Higher Education Keller, T., & Alsdorf, K. L. (2012). Every good endeavor: Connecting your work to God's work .            New York, N.Y: Dutton, Penguin Random House. Krogerus, M., & Tschäppeler, R. (2018). The decision book: 50 models for strategic thinking.,             (Revised ed.), New York, NY: W. Norton & Company, Inc. Rumelt, R. (2011)., Good strategy/bad strategy: The difference and why it matters ., New York,            NY: Crown Busines Content must include:  Summary of the author’s Main Thread – no less than 125 words · What you agreed with, did not agree with and why – no less than 125 word APA FORMAT A MUST FOR THE REPLY PLEASE This week's discussion focuses on the core theme of evaluating a company's internal environment. For a company to have success, an understanding of its current internal threats as well as opportunities for external threats is important. By evaluating these threats, companies can better improve in areas of weakness, which is vital for a company to move forward. Process: Evaluating the Internal Environment Two factors need to be considered when looking into a company’s strategy. Gamble, Peteraf, and Thompson (2019)assessing if a company has gained financially and looking at their stance in the competitive market are two indicators that show if a company is progressing. Due to this, companies need to ensure that they have an accurate assessment of their internal assets and liabilities that may negatively impact the business's success.  According to Gamble, Peteraf, and Thompson (2019), a VRIN test can be used to help sustain competitive success in their market. Businesses differ depending on what these resources are and how they are combined. Resources include but are not limited to processes, capabilities, assets, attributes, information, and knowledge. Together, they allow businesses to execute their relevant activities. Gamble, Peteraf, and Thompson (2019)describes that not all resources of a business are equally and strategically relevant. Only certain resources are capable of being input to a value-creating strategy, which puts the organization in a position of competitive advantage.   An organization's resources should have four attributes to provide the potential for a competitive advantage. These attributes form the VRIN characteristics, which can be discovered by focusing on four essential qualities that make up the VRIN acronym: value, rareness, imitability, and non-substitutable. The value and rareness qualities help determine if resource availability help create a competitive edge, whereas the imitability and non-substitutable qualities determine how much attention needs to be placed on sustaining a competi.

1. Minimum of 400 words in the body Minimum of 2 sources from
the literature in addition to course texts
Gamble, J., Peteraf, M., & Thompson, A. (2019).
Essentials of strategic management: The Quest
for Competitive Advantage
. (6th ed.), New York, NY: McGraw Hill Higher Education
Keller, T., & Alsdorf, K. L. (2012).
Every good endeavor: Connecting your work to God's work
.
New York, N.Y: Dutton, Penguin Random House.
Krogerus, M., & Tschäppeler, R. (2018).
The decision book: 50 models for strategic thinking.,
(Revised ed.), New York, NY: W. Norton & Company,
Inc.
Rumelt, R. (2011).,
Good strategy/bad strategy: The difference and why it matters
., New York,
NY: Crown Busines
Content must include:
Summary of the author’s Main Thread – no less than 125 words
· What you agreed with, did not agree with and why – no less
than 125 word

2. APA FORMAT A MUST FOR THE REPLY PLEASE
This week's discussion focuses on the core theme of evaluating
a company's internal environment. For a company to have
success, an understanding of its current internal threats as well
as opportunities for external threats is important. By evaluating
these threats, companies can better improve in areas of
weakness, which is vital for a company to move forward.
Process: Evaluating the Internal Environment
Two factors need to be considered when looking into a
company’s strategy. Gamble, Peteraf, and Thompson
(2019)assessing if a company has gained financially and looking
at their stance in the competitive market are two indicators that
show if a company is progressing. Due to this, companies need
to ensure that they have an accurate assessment of their internal
assets and liabilities that may negatively impact the business's
success. According to Gamble, Peteraf, and Thompson
(2019), a VRIN test can be used to help sustain competitive
success in their market. Businesses differ depending on what
these resources are and how they are combined. Resources
include but are not limited to processes, capabilities, assets,
attributes, information, and knowledge. Together, they allow
businesses to execute their relevant activities. Gamble, Peteraf,
and Thompson (2019)describes that not all resources of a
business are equally and strategically relevant. Only certain
resources are capable of being input to a value-creating
strategy, which puts the organization in a position of
competitive advantage.
An organization's resources should have four attributes to
provide the potential for a competitive advantage. These
attributes form the VRIN characteristics, which can be

3. discovered by focusing on four essential qualities that make up
the VRIN acronym: value, rareness, imitability, and non-
substitutable. The value and rareness qualities help determine if
resource availability help create a competitive edge, whereas
the imitability and non-substitutable qualities determine how
much attention needs to be placed on sustaining a competitive
edge. Some companies internally may utilize an effective
strategy, but other factors may require a slightly different
approach. According to Gamble et al. (2019), “dynamic
capability is the ability to modify, deepen, or reconfigure the
company’s existing resources and capabilities in response to its
changing environment or market opportunities” (p. 69).
Strategic thinking: Discussion of a key source of power and
weaknesses
Various internal factors greatly influence the overall success of
a company. While it is practically impossible to control forces
outside the business like world economic conditions and capital
availability, management must guide and inspire internal
operations to ensure a competitive position in the marketplace.
The steady stream of action going from within also includes
adaptability and innovation, which are crucial to gaining market
share and staying profitable in fluctuating economic climates.
When utilizing strategic thinking in evaluating the internal
environment of an organization, businesses must remember a
few advantages and disadvantages. Some organizations utilize
internal auditors to find areas where the company may have
weaknesses to improve. These auditors can be both beneficial
and harmful to an organization's goals. According to Kim, Song,
and Zhang (2011), "…firms with more severe, company-level
internal control weaknesses pay significantly higher loan rates
than those with less severe, account-level internal control
weaknesses" (p. 1159).
The usual belief is that internal audit is only required in larger,

4. more complex entities and that the cost/benefit of an internal
audit function would is not for smaller firms (Rumelt, 2011).
However, this can be a very short-sighted conclusion, especially
when one considers the high volume of transactions and the
regulatory compliance issues facing entities in the insurance
industry. The management of these entities needs to take a
closer look at three important factors concerning risk
management and internal controls before dismissing the need
for internal audit: management's responsibility for internal
control, the role of internal audit in fulfilling that responsibility
and the benefits of internal audit.
An advantage of having an internal auditor us their exposure to
all the major issues a company has due to their ability to see the
company’s processes daily. Rumelt (2011) tells us that to create
an advantage, one has to understand the advantage. A business
has to place extra efforts into resources that are currently
creating an advantage from them in the marketplace while
putting those other advantages that are not currently beneficial
aside temporarily. By doing so, a business can utilize and
evolve its advantages to create business success.
Decision Model
A decision model that would benefit a business evaluating its
internal environment would be the Swiss cheese model.
According to Krogerus and Tschäppeler (2018), “everyone
makes mistakes. Some people learn from them, while others
repeat them” (p. 88). The Swiss cheese model hypothesizes that
in any system there are many levels of defense, such as
checking of drugs before administration, a preoperative
checklist or marking a surgical site before an operation. Each of
these levels of defense has little holes in it which are caused by
poor design, senior management decision-making, procedures,
lack of training, limited resources, and so forth. If latent
conditions become aligned over successive levels of defense

5. they create a window of opportunity for an incident to occur.
They also increase the likelihood of making active
errors. According to Ucbasaran, Shepherd, Lockett, and Lyon
(2012), "…they review research that explains how entrepreneurs
make sense of and learn from failure. Finally, the authors
present research on the outcomes of business failure, including
recovery as well as cognitive and behavioral outcomes" (p.
198). Using the lessons from a failed business strategy can help
teach business managers valuable lessons. When leaders make
these mistakes, they must change their way of thinking so the
same mistakes don't occur repeatedly.
Conclusion
In business, evaluating a company's internal environment is
crucial for developing a beneficial business strategy. Businesses
who are aware of their weaknesses, as well as their strengths,
are more likely to be successful in the long run. Business
leaders who follow a Christian worldview must remember to
incorporate the word of Lord in all their business decisions.
Keller (2012) reminds us that as leaders we should remember to
stay focus on our mission and to not be influenced by alternate
worldviews full of idols. Leaders who continue to place their
faith in the Lord will always continue to be showered with
blessings both in business and in their personal lives.
References
Gamble, J., Peteraf, M., & Thompson, A. (2019), Essentials of
strategic management, (6th ed.) New York, NY: McGraw - Hill
Higher Education
Kim, J., Song, B. Y., & Zhang, L. (2011). Internal control
weakness and bank loan contracting: Evidence from SOX
section 404 disclosures. The Accounting Review,86(4), 1157-
1188. doi:10.2308/accr-10036

6. Keller, T. (2012), Every good endeavor, New York, NY:
Riverhead Books, Penguin Group.
Krogerus, M., & Tschäppeler, R. (2018), The decision book: 50
models for strategic thinking. (Revised ed.), New York, NY: W.
Norton & Company, Inc.
Rumelt, R. (2011), Good strategy/bad strategy: The difference
and why it matters., New York, NY: Crown Business
Ucbasaran, D., Shepherd, D. A., Lockett, A., & Lyon, S. J.
(2012). Life after business failure. Journal of
Management,39(1), 163-202. doi:10.1177/0149206312457823
Annotated Bibliography
Kim, J., Song, B. Y., & Zhang, L. (2011). Internal control
weakness and bank loan contracting: Evidence from SOX
section 404 disclosures. The Accounting Review,86(4), 1157-
1188. doi:10.2308/accr-10036
This source gives insight into the internal control weaknesses of
bank loan contracting. This internal environment evaluation of
the banking industry showed how loan rates are
manipulated. These loan contracts are sought out by businesses
because businesses sometimes need quick capital to supplement
their business endeavors. Company-level internal weaknesses
have been proven to increase the loan rate amount for a business
applying for the loan. At the accounting-level internal
weaknesses have been found to lower the loan rate. From this, it
shows that a companywide internal weakness will become
detrimental to the loan rate.
This publication is a derivative of the Accounting Review. This
publication comes backed by the American Accounting

7. Association. The source publication is a journal for publishing
articles related to accounting and explaining the research
methods utilized. All submission to this journal has to be
reviewed by independent reviewers before the submission is
published. This helps ensure all research literature added to this
journal are top-quality research methodologies and practice.
The authors are graduates of Concordia University and the City
University of Hong Kong. These authors all have experience in
financial reporting quality, corporate governance, auditing, and
bank loan contracting. These authors have utilized their
experience and sought out to study the internal control
weaknesses of the banking industry. These authors have
numerous publications dealing with their field which means
they are experienced veterans of conducting quality research.
This publication will be tied to the discussion question by
showing how the internal environment can have weaknesses and
strengths. In this source when a bank has a company-level
internal control weakness, it makes it more difficult to sell loan
contracts because of the higher loan rate. However, when a bank
has accounting-level internal control weaknesses, it can help the
bank sell more loan contracts because of the lower loan rate.
This will help a business become more competitive in their
fields but understanding their weaknesses and making those
weaknesses into strengths.
Ucbasaran, D., Shepherd, D. A., Lockett, A., & Lyon, S. J.
(2012). Life after business failure. Journal of
Management,39(1), 163-202. doi:10.1177/0149206312457823
This source evaluates the lessons that can be obtained from
failures in business. In any business venture, sometimes
managers and leaders will fail at some tasks. It is up to
management to ensure that the business learns from the error
and does not repeat the same mistake in the future. The

8. literature also examines the financial, social, political, and
other costs that correspond with the consequences of business
failures. In business failures, recovering from those mistakes
with the recovery of behavioral and cognitive outcomes is vital.
Given the number of mistakes a business can make, a business
needs to be able to capitalize on its mistake and make an
organization stronger.
This publication comes from the Journal of Management. This
journal aims to publish peer-reviewed scholarly articles that
will have an impact on leadership. This journal touches on
topics such as strategies, policies, human resource management,
organizational strategies, and other business-related topics. This
journal is also a member of the Committee on Publication
Ethics, which promotes the quality and integrity of the research
literature.
The authors of this source are from Indiana University and the
University of Warwick. These professors had multiple
leadership positions in business companies, which aided them in
the research process. Most of the author’s main resource
interests are business relationships, services, management
services, and strategic leadership. This article falls well within
the realm of expertise that the authors all possess.
Utilizing the Swiss cheese model, it tells businesses that
everyone will make mistakes. An important aspect of the Swiss
cheese model is that some professionals will learn from their
mistakes while others do not. This source will help support the
Swiss cheese model because professionals have to learn from
their business failures to succeed in the future. Lastly, when a
professional learns from their mistakes, it will show some areas
of improvement that will help an organization prosper.