Modern Competitive Analysis

"Organizational strategy begins with the desire of an organization to outperform the market."

"An efficient market is one in which prices reflect information instantaneously and one in which extraordinary profit opportunities are thus rapidly dissipated by the action of profit-seeking individuals in the market."

"Since entry is a prime vehicle for reducing rates of return, factors that discourage entry will be viewed as favorable from the perspective of industry incumbents."

"Strategic groups are defined as clusters of firms within an industry that have common specific assets and thus follow common strategies in setting key decision variables."

"The strongest and most enduring competitive advantages for nations are created by those factors that have the least mobility."

"Decisions about the way in which work units are structured, the degree of hierarchy, the extent of discretion, and levels of monitoring have important effects on the way in which an organization implements a planning process."

"A common question which most organizations face is whether or not to lengthen the vertical line of the firm."

"Every organization has a set of strategic decisions that involve some consideration of how many of the usual transactions that organization will internalize, or how far it should vertically integrate."

"Mergers are a very prominent part of the industrial landscape throughout the world and one of the most common routes firms use to reshape their corporate portfolios."

"The formal analysis of conflict and cooperation among intelligent and rational decision makers, game theory is an especially useful way to trace the likely reactions of organizations to the competitive moves of other firms."

"If a firm can produce a product which most closely matches the ideal points of each distinct type of consumer, its revenues will be maximized."

"A strategic pricing policy should take into account the likely responses of existing and potential competitors to a particular set of prices."

"The central strategic question facing an organization in a high-technology environment is, How rapid should the adoption and promotion of innovations be?"

"Forward-thinking managers can help to influence the path of regulation in ways that will benefit their own organizations."