1.

Chipolte is a fast-food, Mexican cuisine restaurant that bases its value-creating activities
on streamlined operations. Discuss this value-chain primary activity and how Chipolte
uses it to its advantage?
Chipotle has become the largest Mexican quick-service restaurant chain in the
world. The company has these four pillars of great throughput, expediters, linebackers,
mise en place, and aces in their places. The company achieves increased productivity
through its four pillars.

2. There are two levels of relationships among value-chain activities. Discuss the
differences and provide an example of each.
The primary activities relate directly to the physical creation, sale, maintenance
and support of a product or service which include inbound logistics, operations
outbound logistics, service, and marketing and sales. Support activities generally play a
role in each primary activity. These are procurement, firm infrastructure, technology
development, and human resources.

3. Explain the difference between tangible and intangible resources. Provide an example of
each.
Tangible resources are physical things which can be easily bought in the market,
example would be land and buildings. Intangible resources, on the other hand, are those
that has no physical presence but can be owned by the company, examples are
trademarks and brand reputation.

4. Discuss the four criteria that the resources of a firm must possess to maintain a
sustainable advantage. Give an example of one of these criteria.
The four criteria are first, valuable – are they valuable enough to provide
operational excellence and improve efficiency. Second, rare – to provide a firm with a
competitive advantage. Third, imitable – can they be duplicated and created by other
firms. If yes, then the firm does not possess a distinctive advantage. Fourth and last,
nonsubstitutable – resources must not be substituted by other resources, otherwise, it
does not provide a sustainable competitive advantage.

5. A firm's financial position should not be analyzed in isolation. Important reference

points are needed. Discuss how historical comparisons, comparisons with industry
norms, and comparisons with key competitors can be used to make financial analysis
more meaningful.
Yes, a firm’s financial position should not be analysed in isolation. It will be an
incorrect analysis of the company’s financial health and position and may lead to
misleading the balancer sheet.
6. Explain this statement: A primary benefit of the balanced scorecard is that it
complements financial indicators with operational measures of customer satisfaction,
internal processes, and the innovation and improvement activities of the organization.
They are all related. Balanced scorecard provides a framework for the whole
organization in terms of guiding performance. It provides important correlation
between strategy implementation and control.