Running head: Competitive Advantage 1

Competitive Advantage

Venture Vultures

OGL355: Leading Organizational Innovation and Change

Bill Erwin

July 29, 2020

Arizona State University

Competitive Advantage 2

Competitive Advantage

Over the years, TED has developed and retained its credibility while

progressively capitalizing on its competitive advantage. We can make sense of their

strategies through the various points of view; I/O (Industrial Organization, RBV

(Resource-Based View), and Guerilla. In order for TED to sustain throughout their

competitive market, there needs to be a focus on which one of the viewpoints holds the

most validity. Analyzing our current market industry, will allow us to exploit the

achieved sustainable competitive advantage.

Competitive Advantage Is…

To further comprehend our analysis, we begin by understanding what competitive

advantage is. “When talking about business, competitive advantage refers the factors or

attributes that allow a given company to produce more affordable or higher quality

services or products than its competitors” (Amadeo, M., 2020). In other words, from the

perspective of a business, what is it that makes your organization preferable in

consideration to others? Putting the focus on product, why are consumers choosing to

buy from you?

The answer to these questions can highlight your target market which will allow

an organization to narrow in on who its competitors are. We need to understand who we

are competing with in order to stay ahead of the curve. The creation of clear goals,

strategies, and operations will allow a company to preserve the advantage that they carry,

whether its strategy entails: cost leadership, differentiation, or cost focus.

Competitive Advantage 3

Competitive Advantage and POV

The Resource-Based view or RBV says that a firm’s resources are the most

important in getting and keeping a competitive advantage (Coulter, 2013). Key assets or

resources are something that can give organizations a competitive advantage and by

positioning the best and appropriate resources at the most optimal time can propel

organizations to new heights. Exploiting the captail that a company retains, such as

tangible or intangle assets, produces the advatage that it holds over its competitors. This

is what makes them unique.

For TED, we believe the best competitive advantages they have as resources are

their speakers and their networking. Some of the speakers at TED are world-renown

professionals from admired companies who design beloved products; invent world-

changing devices and create groundbreaking media[ CITATION Spe \l 1033 ]. TED

videos are free but the bandwidth they use is not. TED makes their money through the

people that attend their conferences along with sponsorships, partnerships, and other

avenues [ CITATION How \l 1033 ]. The speakers aren’t paid but their accommodations

are taken care of[ CITATION Spe \l 1033 ] . TED is also supported by thousands of

volunteers who speak multiple languages which helps with translations.

Rationale

From a Resource-Based View, analyzing internally the competitive advantage that

TED exemplifies, describes its discoveries on strategic marketing towards its customers.

The development of TED’s unique resources and distinct capabilities allow them to
Competitive Advantage 4

remain competitive within their industry. From their tangible and the intangible assets

TED has the advantage, when in parallel to competition. For example, their tangible

assets that leverage over consists of their platform; The Vancouver Convention Center.

A building that holds 12,000 people and the largest building that Canada has in its

country, TED acquires this massive building to hold their main event conference.

Furthermore, the intangible assets that TED used to stay competitive is their key

factor that makes them unique. To be more specific, their human resource. The skills,

abilities, knowledge, and use of comprehensible and captivating storytelling; TEDs

human resource as a capital has set them above and beyond in the eyes of academia.

Their brand name, reputation, and designs shaped their market strategy sets them apart

from their competition.

For resources, TED likes to continually seek the next greatest mind and hopefully

introduce them to the TED community before they go mainstream. Some of the people

that have come to be speakers for TED have won or been awarded some major prizes

such as the Nobel, Pulitzer, Oscar, Grammy, and many other notable awards throughout

their life [ CITATION Spe \l 1033 ]. The goal of the TED organization is to “foster the

spread of great ideas” and what better way to invite some of the world’s best and

brightest people to give some insight or teach others around the globe [ CITATION

TED \l 1033 ].

Conclusion

Organizations must identify what really makes them stand out in order to be

successful. There are specific tools that help to determine what an organization’s

competitive advantage is. Two of these tools are the SWOT analysis and the Five Forces
Competitive Advantage 5

model. After using these tools, we recognize the competitive advantages that TED has in

comparison to its opponents. The Resource-Based View allows for the organization to

recognize the resources that are the key factors to helping TED’s overall performance.

Using this particular point of view, the RBV approach, heavily relies on resources that

are within the company, both tangible and intangible. This point of view, the Resource-

Based View, is key to helping TED to achieve sustainable competitive advantage.

Competitive Advantage 6

References

Amadeo, K. (2020, July 12). What Is Competitive Advantage?

https://www.thebalance.com/what-is-competitive-advantage-3-strategies-that-
work-3305828.

Coulter, M. (2013). Strategic Management in Action (6th ed.). New York, NY: Pearson.

How TED works. (n.d.). Retrieved from TED: https://www.ted.com/about/our-

organization/how-ted-works

Our Organization. (n.d.). Retrieved from TED.com:

https://www.ted.com/about/our-organization

Speaking at TED. (n.d.). Retrieved from TED:

https://www.ted.com/about/conferences/speaking-at-ted