Part A

Based on the resource-based approach, give an example of a successful company with

its competitive advantage.
The resource-based theory explains that the best valuable, rare, hard to emulate and cannot be
replaced are not long-term success companies. These strategic resources may supply the basis
for developing sustainable abilities that may lead to better performance with time. Furthermore,
Southwest Airlines demonstrates the resource-based theory of activity. The resource-based
theory argues that the acquisition of strategic resources supplies a golden opportunity for an
organization to improve its competitive advantage over its competitors (Barney, 1991).

Chi, (1994), shares that according to resource-based theory, organizations that own “strategic
resources” have important competitive advantages over organizations that do not. Some
resources, such as cash and trucks, are not considered to be strategic resources because an
organization’s competitors can readily acquire them. Instead, a resource is strategic to the
extent that it is valuable, rare, difficult to imitate, and no substitutable. The resource-based
approach will help understanding the real drivers of the performance of the organization. The
company will be able to identify and to protect the important resources and capabilities. This
is through the development of these resources and capabilities. One of the widely used tool is
the SWOT. The SWOT will assess the strengths, weakness, opportunity, and the threats. There
are the companies that look externally. Hence the strategy will be based on the external factors
that creates an opportunity in a perceived market. The internal strength and weakness view is
ignored. The balance strategy reflects the view that RBV is important.

Also, these competitive advantages may support the organization to enjoy strong earnings,
particularly with time. Resource-based theories could be confusing because the term resource
is utilized in so many distinct methods in ordinary language. That is essential to identifying
strategic resources from any other resources (Mahoney and Pandian, 1992). Money is a vital
resource for many people. Important items such as a person's house and car are also necessary
resources. However, in the analysis of organizations, public resources such as money and cars
are not regarded as strategic resources. Of course, resources such as capital and cars are
valuable; however, they are readily available to the organization's competitors. Therefore, an
organization cannot create a lasting competitive advantage regarding public resources. It is
evident that resources are things that the organization owns or has access to even if it is
temporary. The resources are either tangible or intangible.

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Thus, competencies are the ability to do something, and it is believed that the company has
strength or high competencies if it can outperform most of the competitors. The competitive
advantage will create a customer value. In the same light the company has weakness or low
competencies which causes the company to underperform. These are factors that the customer
may consider for improvement (Lewis, and Kipley, 2012).

A strategic resource is an important, rare, hard to emulate, and irreplaceable asset. Apple owns
numerous strategic resources of strategic, including proprietary hardware and software
platforms, that have developed with developments and innovations over the decades. Multiple
factors of the overall shopping experience, including the Apple Store, cost, and innovative
society, have become. It did not harm to have Steve Jobs, their charismatic, creative idealist,
as their CEO for several years. Multiple computer firms have struggled to generate capital with
a razor-sharp earnings margin. Apple has been successful with record earnings over the years,
utilizing a distinct business model that focuses on its strategic resources (Mahoney and
Pandian, 1992).

Competitors find it difficult to emulate resources that are tough to emulate. Various resources,
including patents, brand names, and copyrights, is protect specific resources and ensure they
are not easy to imitate in competition (Mahoney and Pandian, 1992). Other resources are
tough to duplicate because they develop with time and represent their unique profile.
Southwestern culture originated from that's a very humble starting. The airline had minimal
assets and, in some cases, had to temporarily borrow traveling bags from other airline firms
and place magnets with the Southwest brand logo on top of the competitors' symbol.
Theoretically, other airlines can imitate Southwestern culture, and the story of the Southwest
"Rags to Riches" aired for several years. If the airline firm is brand new as well as with no
current culture and society, it takes more period and constant effort to make a WestJet or
Southwest. (Rothaermel, 2012).

A resource cannot be substituted when rivals cannot discover alternative methods to reap the
resource's benefits. One of the main benefits of Southwestern culture is that it allows workers
to treat clients better; this makes loyalty to the Southwest between passengers. Supervisors at
other airlines may want to attract the consumer loyalty and belief that Southwest experiences.
Still, they have yet to discover methods to encourage customer service to promote the
Southwest culture.

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Ideally, a company has a culture like WestJet or Southwest cultures. It adopts the four
characteristics depicted in Figure 4.2 (Resource-Based Theory: the basics). So, that resources
could offer a competitive benefit and a long-term competitive advantage if this is the case. It
aids the company's long-term survival and overall success in the future. Resources that lack all
four properties may be helpful in the short term; however, they are unlikely to be beneficial in
the long run. For example, a valuable and uncommon but imitable resource may provide a
short-term advantage, but competitors may eventually gain such a benefit (Rothaermel, 2012).

The resource-based concept also describes the quality of an old word. It is more than the total
of that's segments as a whole. In particular, it is essential to identify those entire strategic
resources that are often made by taking a few copies of each strategy and resource and strategy
and putting them together in a problematic way to copy. E.g., WestJet's culture is supplemented
by individual transcript approaches. The airline's particular system relies on one type of aircraft
and landing passengers (at large hubs, WestJet reduces passenger loading time with rear and
front aircraft doors). It creates a remarkable business strategy that performs without peers in
the Canadian business(Dovev, 2008).

Environmental events can sometimes transform a public resource into a strategic resource.
Take, for example, a commonplace item: water. Humans may not survive without water, and
water has inherent value. Also, water cannot be replicated (at least not on a large scale), and no
other material can replace the bio-sustainable properties of water. Despite possessing three of
the four strategic resource qualities, water in North America is still relatively inexpensive, but
this may change in the future. The population of major cities in warmer climates is shrinking
dramatically. Landowners and property owners in water-rich areas benefit when water is
scarce. The Great Lakes contain 20 percent of the world's freshwater. It's easy to envision a
time when companies profited from sending massive water-filled trucks to the west and south
of building pipelines and offering services to desert places (Lee, 2013).

Mill, et al (2002) shares that resource-based theory, the tangibility of a company's resources is
a significant concern. Physical assets, plants, property, machinery, and money are tactile
resources that are immediately visible, palpable, and scalable. On the other hand, intangible
resources are resources that are impossible to see, quantify, or touches, such as staff knowledge
and abilities, a company's reputation, and an organization's culture. When considering the two
kinds of intangible resources, resources are more likely than direct resources to meet the
requirements for strategic resources (i.e., precious, scarce, difficult to copy, and irreplaceable).

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Executives who want to achieve a long-term competitive advantage should prioritize nurturing
and developing their companies' intangible resources. (Selznick, 1949).

Another important notion in resource-based theory is capabilities, which refers to what an

organization can do depending on its resources. An organization's resources are what it owns
and its capacities can do. As a corporation takes action to build on its strategic resources,
capabilities tend to emerge or increase over time. Southwest Airlines and WestJet, for example,
have built a solid corporate culture that allows them to give exceptional customer service.
Organizations' perceptions of the potential worth of their supply resources are influenced by
their capacities. (Selznick, 1957). Consumers don't only contribute money to a company
because it has strategic assets. Instead, they want to add, manage, and otherwise utilize
resources in a way that benefits consumers and outperforms the competition.

Some companies develop dynamic abilities, a unique capability to enhance, create or update
new skills, especially in response to modification in their environment. To place it another
method, a company with an active ability can constantly adjust its capabilities to keep up with
modifications in that environment (Shaughnessy, 2013).

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Part B
Explain the importance of the vision and mission statement of a company. What are the
cascading impacts of a firm's mission send vision statement?

The necessity of creating an organization's vision and purpose is critical for strategic planning.
It assists the employee in understanding the organization's mission and the basic principles that
govern it. That is an essential aspect of the company's strategy because it establishes priorities,
distributes resources, and assures that people are working toward the same purposes and goals,
therefore laying out a path for the future.

A mission statement is significant since it defines its services and goods, customers, and
primary goal. It gives specific details on what it organizes, how it is done, and who performs
it. It is transient, unlike visual expressiveness.

As described by Steven Cowie, if a person doesn't base the ambitions on their mission
statement, they will climb the ladder of progress only to understand that they're in the incorrect
building as the person rise. (Shellye , 2020).

The vision statement concentrates on the company's aims and aspirations, explaining what the
future holds if the mission is accomplished. They're also current, and even if the company's
strategy changes, the vision frequently stays the same. A vision statement that is practical,
credible, and engaging demonstrates dedication and empowers its people.

Furthermore, a better-thought-out vision statement sets the standard for superiority and
integrates the present with the future. It informs workers and other stakeholders about its
mission and motivates them to accomplish it. Hence, both the vision and mission statement
play a vital role in the organization: (Ahmed, 2019).

Employees feel ownership and identity due to the organization's mission and vision statements.
This encourages them to work hard to succeed. It teaches you how to think like a business
owner. The mission statement establishes the organization's course, while the vision statement
establishes the objective (or destination) that may be attained by following the guidelines. It
aids in the correct arrangement of an organization's resources in achieving a prosperous future.
The mission statement gives the business a clear and compelling direction. It assures that all
decisions made via the vision statement align with the organization's goals. That guarantees
that everyone is working towards the same goal with the organization. This contributes to the
organization's efficiency and production (Lipton, 1996).

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An organization's mission statement explains the company's business, goals, and strategy for
achieving those goals. It focuses on the company's existing location and the strategic actions it
must take to accomplish its objectives. A firm's mission statement can be used to shape the
culture of the company.

Ahmed, (2019), shares that ."We provide new parents beautifully designed baby garments," for
example, would be the aim of a small firm that offers hand-crafted baby clothes. This covers
what the company does, its target market, and how they serve them. It provides personnel with
a defined objective.

The mission statement is concerned with the more strategic parts of the business, whereas the
vision statement is concerned with the company's future. The company's vision statement
identifies the direction it should take. It aids in creating an organizational plan for the firm
when used in conjunction with the mission statement (Shellye , 2020).

Mission and vision statements describe the organization's goal and make a feel of ownership
and identity ownership within workers. This encourages them to work hard to reach success. It
offers a person the proper mindset to improve a business. The mission statement supplies the
direction the organization should follow, and the vision statement gives the purpose (or
destination) to be achieved by following the guideline. It assists in correctly managing the
organization's resources to achieve a successful and promising future. The mission statement
offers practical and clear guidance to the organization in taking decisions and confirms that all
intelligent decisions made via the vision statement are correctly together with what the
organization expects to achieve. With organization, this ensures that everyone works for the
same goal. That assists to boost productivity and efficiency in the organization.

The organization's mission statement outlines its business, its purposes, and its plan to reach
those objectives. It concentrates on where the organization is currently located and the strategic
steps to achieve its goals. A company mission statement could be utilized to shape the
organization's civilization.

If a little business sells handmade baby items, for e,g, its mission may be to express, "We offer
new parents lovingly crafted baby clothes made by hand." That contains what the firm does,
their clients and how they assist them. It gives employees a clear objective.

The mission statement is focused on the more strategic factors of the business, whereas the
Vision Statement is looked at the company's future. Also, the organization's vision statement

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identifies the direction it should go. It aids in creating an organizational plan for the business
when used in conjunction with the mission statement.

A person may answer the questions about their dreams and expectations when drafting a vision
statement for their business. The consideration is the type of future do they need to see, and
how can the organization help them achieve it. They assess whether it is possible to expect to
make a difference, and how does that work. Amazon's mission is to be "the most consumer-
centric organization on the planet," with customers being able to "find and buy anything they
need to buy online." It gives employees clear instructions (Vanderelst, n.d.).

For a little business that produces handmade baby items, the vision statement may be that the
first selection of new parents may be to have their kids wear hand-crafted clothes that are
designed with their kids in mind. It indicates precisely where the organization desires to reach
in the future and how that intends to achieve that position. It also includes their main point of
sale.

An organizations' vision and mission assist guide the corporate publishing strategy. Provides
both goals and purpose, which are essential segments of a plan. They point out the audience
for the industry and what that audience considers vital. By recognizing these segments,
business managers could prepare a more proper plan that would enable the organization to
attain its mission and long-time vision in a short time.

Vision and mission statements assist businesses to track performance metrics and standards
based on the objectives they need to reach. They give workers a specific purpose to promote
productivity and efficiency.

Vision and mission statements on corporate strategy are not just for business owners and
workers. Also, they apply to external stakeholders such as partners, clients, and suppliers. The
vision and mission and vision statements may be utilized as a public relations instrument to
attract any media engagement engage particular audience parts and business associations with
like-minded organizations.(Gibson et al, 1992).

Finally, one can understand that mission and vision statements are vital for organizations.
Without mission and vision statements, organizations have no goals, and how could
organizations survive without a purpose (Ahmed, 2019).

A mission and vision statement are born out of all company’s plans and strategies and can be
described as the organization's destination and compass, respectively. Nevertheless, A

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company n may say that mission and vision statements are the foundation of organizations, and
not doing so is like going on a journey without understanding the direction or destination a
company should follow. Thus, it is evident that the mission and the vision statement gives the
company meaning and focus, coherence as well as direction. If that is not so, then the time and
money spent on formulating a strategy is in vain. Yet, each of these organizations should
understand that they need to have their differences mainly because the implications are
different. This is the reason that the mission and vision statement has turned in to a dogmatic
mantra. It is seen in the company website, but the employees or other stakeholders are not
aware of it ever being there or are not aware what it is. The company needs to understand that
the mission and vision statement will fail lies in the way the vision and the mission has been
formulated. Since they rightfully should create direction and purpose at the highest level of the
abstraction. Hence, they should not be extremely generic and vague (Hill and Jones, 2008).

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