<p>Title: The Pursuit of Sustainable Competitive Advantage – A Profile of the Starbucks Corporation</p><p>Authors: Benjamin Adam White & Ettore Moraschinelli</p><p>Advisor: Jean-Charles Languilaire</p><p>Date: 2009 May 29</p><p>Program: International Business and Entrepreneurship</p><p>Purpose: To study sustainable competitive advantages using Starbucks as a case study.</p><p>Methods: The qualitative method was utilized to collect the secondary data used in this type of thesis, being a case study. This approach applied to both the theories used in the analysis as well as the empirical data about Starbucks.</p><p>Conclusion: Nothing is sustainable in business including a company’s such as Starbucks competitive advantages.  It is the pursuit of the utopian idea of sustainable competitive advantages that can actually be sustained.  This approach does not guarantee success, but important components of a company’s pursuit are their leadership, innovative nature and relationship management.  Accordingly these theories do not cover all aspects or offer a full explanation of Starbucks success. Therefore, it is recommended for others to research Starbucks using different theories and perspectives in order to draw out other analyses from the empirical case</p>

Title: The Pursuit of Sustainable Competitive Advantage – A Profile of the Starbucks Corporation Authors: Benjamin Adam White &amp; Ettore Moraschinelli Advisor: Jean-Charles Languilaire Date: 2009 May 29 Program: International Business and Entrepreneurship Purpose: To study sustainable competitive advantages using Starbucks as a case study. Methods: The qualitative method was utilized to collect the secondary data used in this type of thesis, being a case study. This approach applied to both the theories used in the analysis as well as the empirical data about Starbucks. Conclusion: Nothing is sustainable in business including a company’s such as Starbucks competitive advantages.  It is the pursuit of the utopian idea of sustainable competitive advantages that can actually be sustained.  This approach does not guarantee success, but important components of a company’s pursuit are their leadership, innovative nature and relationship management.  Accordingly these theories do not cover all aspects or offer a full explanation of Starbucks success. Therefore, it is recommended for others to research Starbucks using different theories and perspectives in order to draw out other analyses from the empirical case

The era of globalization and knowledge-economy has become the trend of the world. The enterprise faces such environment must consider the way how to maintain the competitive advantage. The way of the competitive advantage can adopt global logistics which transfer some department to relative advantage country in order to improve it¡¦s productivity. In1987, the Government released the law about restricting people to contact between Taiwan and China, and the trade between Taiwan and China became more and more important. With the trend of economic community in globalization and the industrial environment that changed in Taiwan, the Taiwanese firms should think more about how to keep advantages in global competition. Internationalization is the best choice that can help Taiwanese firms promote their competitive position in the world. China is a developing market and having a lot advantages, such as rich resources and cheaper labors. In a word, China has become the major location of Taiwanese firm¡¦s foreign direct investment. Before setting up a plant,the enterprise needs to know why they try to do that? First, if they just do a trial investment, build an offshore factory is enough. Otherwise, the enterprise not only loss the capital and then will hurt the assets of headcompany. Until the branch is operated steadily; or finding another nich. Enterprise could invest more resource and change the invested way to other type such as resource plant model, contribution plant model, front plant model or leadership plant model. The purpose of this thesis is to study if the enterprise builds new plant should consider which relative plant location. These factors provide a building new plant decision-making and investment referential framework. In other word, through this way the enterprise acquired the lowest cost and improved the sustainable competitive advantage. According to scholar¡¦s research, the factor of plant location includes: cost, infrastructure, business service, labor, government, customer/market, supplier / source, competitor. If we analyze quantity and quality in these factor that discover some signification such as the labor, infrastructure, government. From the environmental factor aspect (such as plant size, industry), the enterprise emphasize labor, supplier¡¦s factor that will set up plant in Taiwan; Otherwise, the enterprise will set up plant in China when it enhances the customer and market. Finally, we give some conculsion and suggestion.

As the leading brand in the international PC industry, Acer has been encountered countless challenges on dramatically environmental change when it endeavored to create and operate its own brand. To achieve the aim of sustainable management and the strategy of organizational growth, Acer has embarked on its reengineering several times since it was established. The purpose of this study is based on the Resource-Based View to uncover what kind of key factories contributed in Acer¡¦s two time of reengineering? And what kind of unique resources and capabilities were created? This study also characterized and catalogued these unique resources and capabilities to figure out clearly that what kind of main resources and capabilities existed at the first glance. There are three stages for Acer¡¦s transformation: the first time reengineering was happened in 1992; the reengineering in 1998 was called the quasi-reengineering stage that Acer adjusted its organizational structure to relocate operational direction; the second time reengineering was happened in the end of 2000. Based on above three different stages, this study analyzes the effect of internal and external environment as well as the operational strategies on each stage to infer its resources and capabilities. Moreover, This study categorizes these resources and capabilities by the classify method of Fong- Cher Min (2000) into four groups, Tangible Asset, Intangible Asset, Human Resource and Organization Capability, and discuss how Acer used these resources and capabilities to foster them became the Sustainable Competitive Advantage to overcome the harsh IT industry environment. By the way of analyzing the case company in depth, this study found that the probability of resources or capabilities can be upgrade into the Sustainable Competitive Advantage was not only affect by the properties such as Appropriability or Inimitable, but also greatly influence by outside environment. Furthermore, the next time success of reengineering was attributed to those of resources or capabilities which have been accumulated since earlier periods. Therefore, this study suggests that a firm should continuously adjust its competences as well as accumulate reengineering experiences to cope with the unpredictable environment.

African football academies are a seriously neglected field of research but are a highly important step in the evolution of football (Scherrens, 2007). The study is motivated by the lack of research on football academy structures in particular South Africa. The primary focus of the research is on football development in South Africa, whilst it also reviews substantial literature concerning the phenomenon of elite sport development in order to explain the dynamics surrounding the football academy structure. The study identifies the relevant key components within the current football models and proposes a ‘winning’ model for South Africa. The study unpacks two theoretical frameworks, in understanding the impact of competitive advantage within a football academy. Through gaining insight into the strategic models employed within the various researched academy systems, this study outlines the important resources, competencies and capabilities within a football academy. The analysis revealed certain trends and provided the basis for the answering of the research questions. Hence the broad scope which is critical to understanding the football development phenomenon.The research aims to empower administrators and management of football clubs in South Africa with the strategic knowledge to provide a sustainable and competitive academy through player development, which can aid our national teams. The dynamic processes involved in football development enabled a winning model for a football academy in South Africa which could provide a competitive, sustainable advantage for a football academy. Copyright / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

Lack of visibility of the assets in a product supply chain compromises attempts to optimise supply chain management. Increasing the visibility of these assets presents a relatively unexplored frontier in operations and supply where organisations can create competitive advantage through the opportunities asset visibility offer. This research aims at investigating the key capabilities of asset visibility specifically those associated with returnable transport assets that travel across supply chains carrying material and products e.g. cages, boxes, trays, trolleys and pallet bins. In addition, how these capabilities may influence supply chain visibility and firm performance in a way that might lead to sustainable competitive advantage is examined. To achieve these objectives, the research develops a two-stage model that is theoretically grounded in the extended resource-based view. Philosophically, the research adopts a critical realist approach using abductive logic. Methodologically, a sequential exploratory strategy for data collection is implemented. A qualitative, indepth site-based case study supported by field expert interviews was conducted as a pilot study. The pilot study findings refined the initial conceptual model derived from literature and informed the next stage of the research. The quantitative phase focused on refining the factors constituting asset visibility capabilities and then testing the relationship between these capabilities and supply chain visibility, performance and sustainable competitive advantage. Key findings are that asset visibility capabilities are shaped through three key capabilities: (1) an asset management capability formed by both core technological aspects related to tracking and tracing technology, and non-technological ones focusing on logistic-related capability; (2) a complementary technological capability comprising of IT infrastructure for supply chain integration; and (3) a complementary nontechnological capability represented through three sub-capabilities: (a) supply chain process integration; (b) focal firm-3PL relational orientation; and (c) internal firm integration. The research findings prove a positive relationship between asset visibility capabilities and supply chain visibility. In addition, a positive relationship between these capabilities and sustainable competitive advantage through the mediated effect of supply chain visibility and firm performance, is confirmed.

<p>Nowadays, the European airline market is characterized by two major different airline business models; the full service airlines and the low cost airlines. Secondary, appeared for the first time in 1985 in form of the Irish low cost carrier Ryanair. In recent days, the European low cost market stands out through its growth potential and high competitiveness. Therefore, startup companies aiming to join the wave of success as well as insolvency of newly established airlines are part of the daily occurrence. The challenge, that established low cost airlines are faced with, is to create competitive advantages against new entrants and direct competitors under the circumstances of environmental changes. In addition to the described problem a model was developed in order to picture the situation. This paper aims to provide an answer to the specific question: How do low cost airlines use relationship marketing in order to enhance, maintain and attract new customers? The second step is to figure out how those tools affect the airlines generic strategy. The purpose of this study is to find out how low cost airlines in Europe deal with tools of relationship marketing and what are the effects those tools have on generic strategies. This thesis is based on a case study within the European low cost airlines market, with a special focus on three airlines: Ryanair, EasyJet and Air Berlin. These questions are addressed using information obtained in interviews with respondents from the airlines that were recently conducted in Brussels and Bremen by personal interviews and additionally by telephone interviews and email contact. The results show that relationship marketing tools are used in a different extent by the airlines. The authors could not find evidence that using relationship marketing tools is the single solution to compete more successfully than without. It is further argued by the authors that RM is just one aspect strengthening the generic strategy in order to gain sustainable competitive advantage.</p>

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Nowadays, the European airline market is characterized by two major different airline business models; the full service airlines and the low cost airlines. Secondary, appeared for the first time in 1985 in form of the Irish low cost carrier Ryanair. In recent days, the European low cost market stands out through its growth potential and high competitiveness. Therefore, startup companies aiming to join the wave of success as well as insolvency of newly established airlines are part of the daily occurrence. The challenge, that established low cost airlines are faced with, is to create competitive advantages against new entrants and direct competitors under the circumstances of environmental changes. In addition to the described problem a model was developed in order to picture the situation. This paper aims to provide an answer to the specific question: How do low cost airlines use relationship marketing in order to enhance, maintain and attract new customers? The second step is to figure out how those tools affect the airlines generic strategy. The purpose of this study is to find out how low cost airlines in Europe deal with tools of relationship marketing and what are the effects those tools have on generic strategies. This thesis is based on a case study within the European low cost airlines market, with a special focus on three airlines: Ryanair, EasyJet and Air Berlin. These questions are addressed using information obtained in interviews with respondents from the airlines that were recently conducted in Brussels and Bremen by personal interviews and additionally by telephone interviews and email contact. The results show that relationship marketing tools are used in a different extent by the airlines. The authors could not find evidence that using relationship marketing tools is the single solution to compete more successfully than without. It is further argued by the authors that RM is just one aspect strengthening the generic strategy in order to gain sustainable competitive advantage.

Seeing that domestic securities underwriters are not able to develop effectively sustainable competitive advantages, the research is aimed to combine the resource-based view (RBV) and the value chain concept. Questionnaires are released to carry out investigation mainly into the securities associates of local underwriters for the purpose of finding out the vital enterprise source and value activities that construct the high performances of underwriters. And it also discusses the relation between value chain activities and business models of domestic underwriters, and the relation between their business models and high performances. The research discusses the following subjects based on the above research motive: 1. What kinds of essential assets and skills should underwriters grasp to obtain higher performances than those of their competitors? 2. Discussion of the vital value activities that construct the high performances of underwriters, and attempts to build the complete value chain of local underwriters. 3. Discussion on whether local underwriters will develop different business models due to emphasis on different value activities from those of their competitors. 4. Reasoning about whether the high performances of local underwriters will vary significantly because of different business models. The result of the research¡¦s practical testimony shows: ¡§Underwriting performance¡¨, ¡§customer developing ability¡¨, ¡§support from financial holding companies¡¨, ¡§channel and distribution¡¨ and ¡§underwriting superiors¡¦ charm and leading abilities¡¨ are considered by local securities associates to be five of the most important enterprise resources that constitute the high performances of underwriters. Among them, resources such as ¡§underwriting performances¡¨ and ¡§support from financial holding companies¡¨ are of durability, immobility, high embededness and not able to be duplicated. Plus, ¡§customer developing ability¡¨ and ¡§channel and distribution¡¨ are of durability, and partial immobility as well as resource embededness. All of the above resource characteristics are deemed by resource-based view to be able to form the sustainable competitive advantages of enterprises. After the variables of each factor in the aspect of value activities are measured, 24 items¡¦ means of importance degree are more than 3.79 among them. Analyzing descriptive statistics data, we find out that more than 70% of securities associates consider the effect of these 24 value activities to be important or extremely important, which implies that local securities associates highly agree to the importance that the support activities and primary activities in the value chain comprise the high-performance base of domestic underwriters. Furthermore, a complete value chain of local securities underwriters will be set up based on the result. In the field of cluster analysis for the aspect of business models, the research adopts the minimum variance method (also called Ward¡¦s method) among hierarchical methods, and divides 20 securities underwriters into three groups based on one¡¦s strong or weak behaviors of each value activities compared with those of other rivals of the same business. After analyzing performance variables such as the number of underwriting cases (act as the lead underwriter), the total amount of underwriting, profit abilities, employees¡¦ productivity, and customer satisfaction, we find that their significance level are less than 0.05, which indicates that there are obvious differences among the performances of different groups of business models. And with Post Hoc multiple comparison, it is found that there are distinct variances among the performances of different groups of business models except for the three performances - profit abilities, employees¡¦ productivity and customer satisfaction - of group 1 and group 2.