Convenience

Evaluating an Organization’s Strengths
Organizational strengths
are skills and capabilities that enable an organization to create
and implement its strategies. Strengths may include things like a deep pool of managerial
talent, surplus capital, a unique reputation and/or brand name, and well-established
resource
deployment
How an organization
distributes its
resources across the
areas in which it
competes
business-level
strategy
The set of strategic
alternatives from
which an
organization chooses
as it conducts
business in a
particular industry or
market
corporate-level
strategy
The set of strategic
alternatives from
which an
organization chooses
as it manages its
operations
simultaneously
across several
industries and
several markets
strategy
formulation
The set of processes
involved in creating
or determining an
organization’s
strategies; it focuses
on the content of
strategies
strategy
implementation
The methods by
which strategies are
operationalized or
executed within the
organization; it
focuses on the
processes through
which strategies are
achieved
72
Part 2:
Planning
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distribution channels.
13
Sears, for example, has a nationwide network of trained service
employees who repair its appliances. Jane Thompson, a Sears executive, created a plan to
consolidate repair and home improvement services nationwide under the well-known
Sears brand name and to promote them as a general repair operation for all appliances,
not just those purchased from Sears. Thus, the firm capitalized on existing capabilities
and the strength of its name to launch a new operation.
A
distinctive competence
, introduced earlier in this chapter, is a strength possessed by
only a small number of competing firms. Distinctive competencies are rare among a set
of competitors. When George Lucas founded Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), for exam-
ple, the new venture brought the cinematic art of special effects to new heights. Some of
ILM’s special effects can be produced by no other organization; these rare special effects
are thus ILM’s distinctive competencies. Indeed, ILM (now owned by Disney) had no
real competitor until Peter Jackson formed Weta Digital Effects to help bring
The Lord
of the Rings
to the screen. But even so, although ILM and Weta have some of the same
competences, each also has proprietary technology that gives it certain unique advan-
tages. Organizations that exploit their distinctive competencies often obtain a competi-
tive advantage and attain above-normal economic performance.
14
Indeed, a main