Chapter 5: Business-Level Strategy: Creating and Sustaining Competitive Advantages

A narrow market focus is to a differentiation-based strategy as a

broadly-defined target market is to a cost leadership strategy.

The most probable time to pursue a harvest strategy is in a situation of

decline in the market life cycle.

Primary value chain activities that involve the effective layout of receiving dock operations (inbound logistics) and support value chain activities that include expertise in process engineering (technology development) characterize what generic strategy?

overall cost leadership

The emphasis on product design is very high, the intensity of competition is low, and the market growth rate is low in the ______ stage of the industry life cycle.

introduction

In the _______ stage of the industry life cycle, there are numerous segments, competition is very intense, and the emphasis on process design is high.

maturity

The total profits in an industry at all points along the industry's value chain is called the

profit pool.

Businesses without a competitive advantage are not likely to earn more than "normal" profits in the long run. Normal profits are

profits one would expect to earn on investments that have a similar level of risk.

Which of the following is false regarding how a differentiation strategy can help a firm to improve its competitive position vis à vis Porter's five forces?

supplier power is increased because suppliers will be able to charge higher prices for their inputs

As markets mature

there is increasing emphasis on efficiency.