summary of chapters 5 and 6

Summary of Chapters 5 and 6 Name Institution Summary of Chapters 5 and 6 Chapter 5 Strategic management is vital in the operation of business. It helps relate a business to its environment with the aim of meeting the firm’s objective. Success in business is dependent on the ability of a company to possess a competitive advantage, which is developed by the business system (Meyer, 2014). For a business to achieve a competitive advantage, it processes of conducting business, must create superior value for the consumers. To overcome competition, a business must ensure operational excellence, product leadership, and customer intimacy. Operational excellence is possible if a business operation is both market driven and externally oriented. Product leadership can be achieved by producing high-quality products and services that meet customer needs while customer intimacy is achievable through fair prices and good relations. Successful organizations must be able to develop and supply the superior product offering. This means that they must be able to perform value-adding tasks such as production and marketing. They also should possess value creation processes that aid in the supply of product or service offering. Value creation process includes physical activities, which involve physical production, transfer of the products to buyers and selling. Moreover, an organization must be able to manage its resource. Resources must be able to create a good relation, competence and offer room for development. Sustainable competitive advantage is achievable through competitive defendability and environmental consonance. An organization must design activities that cannot be copied, substituted or eroded by its competitors. Identifying unique competitive advantage should be the sole duty for business wishing to be successful. Development is a major threat towards sustainable competitive advantage. Even though a business should be externally oriented, it should ensure that developments do not erode its competitive advantage.   Chapter 6 Business succ...