Competitive Advantage

This paper is about your focal company. The broader strategy question that you need to explore is; why some firms perform better (Competitive Advantage) than others (Competitive Disadvantage) given similar opportunities and constraints in the environment or vice versa. While your research is about your focal firm however you need to compare it to its bench mark and industry average performance (quantitative as well as qualitative aspects of performance). Quantitative aspects include comparative financial performance and analysis. The qualitative part explains the bottom line performance linking it to different aspects of firm’s functioning including, leadership, human and social capital, R&D, marketing/sales, after sales, operations, organizational culture and values to name a few (subjects covered in prior classes). In other words, the question that you need to explore is: Whether your focal firm has a competitive advantage or disadvantage over its competitor/industry and why? You can write your research either from a private analyst position or from a senior manager of the focal company point of view who has been assigned a task to report and present to the company’s board. You will add title page, table of contents, executive summary, introduction, analysis, conclusions, and recommendation sections to form your unified report. You will read through the unified report to ensure each part is connected to the next part and tells a story. Spell check, grammar and readability is your responsibility. The report can be between 10-12 pages excluding Appendices and references. Double space, 12 pt. font.

• TITLE PAGE (1 page) The title page should identify who wrote the paper and what the paper is about. Include in the title of paper, your name, class, and year.
• TABLE OF CONTENTS (Table of content is essential)
• EXECUTIVE SUMMARY (1-2 paragraphs) An Executive Summary is a synopsis (Abstract) of the 1 or 2 most important points of your paper. It is a brief, 1-2 paragraphs (statement of the issue being researched, what you did, what you found, and what actions should be taken). You must select only the most important issues for the executive summary under the assumption that the executive might read no other part of your report. It must have recommendations in it, not just a general description of what was done.
• INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW (1-2 pages). The introduction tells the reader what you doing in the paper and how you are going to do it. It overviews what the reader will find in the rest of the paper. Your introduction should also give a cursory analysis of the industry in which your firm operates, its products/services, its size relative to industry/economy, and the benchmark (competitor), and its revenues etc.
• BODY OF THE TEXT (7-8 pages). The body of the paper presents the purpose of your research, the details of the issue/s being researched, your hypotheses (if appropriate), what you did, and what you found in your research. (Be concise. A long paper is not more impressive than a brief one.)

1. Use lots of headings to give structure to your report. A good paper has a clear outline. Simply make the outline explicit in your report. That way the reader can easily find the sections he/she particularly wants to read.

 

1. Graphs, Charts, and Figures. Graphics (not just clip art) help the reader visualize what you are trying to say in words. A good picture is worth a thousand words. Put pictures, graphs, tables as Appendices at the back of the paper.

 

1. Get to the point. We tend to fall in love with every paragraph, sentence and word of our own writing. But writing generally is improved with careful pruning. A short, tight paper is better than a verbose, sprawling one.

 

1. Good Description. Give specific examples of the general principles you are trying to describe in your report use personal or organizational experiences or examples wherever possible. Make the paper your own.

 

1. Do not assume that your reader knows what you mean when you use terms like “standardization of work process” or “casual ambiguity” or “liquidity ratios”. Define key theoretical terms that you use in your report.

 

• CONCLUSIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS (1-2 Pages) Make specific recommendations for action. Give the reasons for your recommendation and/or state how your recommendation will solve the problems you have identified.

 

• INTEGRITY Your paper must reflect your own work. When thoughts of others are used they must be cited and identified as such. Plagiarism involves taking the work of others as your own.

1. The major strategy research question is, “why your firm has a Competitive Advantage (CA) or Competitive Disadvantage (CD)? In other words: What determines your firm performance (CA or CD)? You measure CA/CD through four category of ratios explained in the class. Some firms/industries may have slightly different measures or ratios to measure those particular firms.
2. Have a balance between quantitative (financials and other statistics) and qualitative information (including leadership, functional areas, organizational culture, branding, reputation, CSR etc.)
3. Also have a balance of references between academic citations (for example, Harvard Business Review, California Management Review, MIT Sloan, etc.) and trade publications (including newspapers, Fortune, Business & Strategy, Business Week, etc.), and other sources from Google or Google Scholar, Yahoo Finance, etc.
4. Having all this information (what, where, when) and putting it in your paper is good. What makes the paper great is your analysis and reflection on the collected information and providing methodical logical arguments of (why and how). Such papers make the reader excited to read further as it provides a differentiated view point that is fresh, bold, and unique – 21^st century manager’s point of view.