Introduction
The business environment today is becoming increasingly complex, so much so that traditional models of strategic management are increasingly diverging towards irrelevancy.
The New Bases of Competitive advantage discusses the alternative adaptive imperative that has to be adopted by companies seeking to survive the competition.
The purpose of this paper is to summarize and illustrate the article’s main findings and to discuss the theories that it postulates.
The article states that there numerous changes that the business settings have gone through and these very changes pose advantages for companies who know how to harness them. First, today’s markets are very dynamic, and static theories now are difficult to apply. Hence to harness this as an opportunity companies should seek adaptive advantages that enable them to adapt to any situation and introduce products and services that can capture the emerging demands.
Secondly, information is available to everyone, everywhere and this has led to a disadvantage, as what was initially private information upon which companies could act and gain an advantage has now become available to all and hence has lost its critical importance. However, the opportunity that this change brings is the signal advantage where companies should sift through information to pinpoint the emerging trends and realize the signals that these are giving to formulate proactive strategies that will serve as its sign (Pantaleo and Pal)al advantage.
Third, the company and industry boundaries are blurring where stakeholders are now being considered more thoroughly in strategy making as the company increasingly loses its existence as a sole entity and has to operate in collaboration with other external stakeholders. The companies can make this change to the advantage of a system were not merely a product but an entire system around it is introduced so as to make sure that the product has backup and usability in the market.
Fourth, social and ecological concerns now factor in many of the decisions as society moves towards a more eco-friendly stance. Hence to take care of this change a company should envisage strategies that take the social aspect into perspective and garner advantages that it provides. For this, the social advantage will be gained where the company will be viewed as more socially acceptable and eco friendly.
Last the organizational cultures are changing and employee mobility has made it possible for workers of many nationalities to co-exist in a company and work together making management of human resources more complex. Hence the people advantage come into play where people, when managed effectively and motivated consistently can be a force that can counter many challenges and face many adversities successfully.
Another advantage that the changing circumstances provide is that of simulation. This has resulted as information technology has advanced and modern computing has become so progressive that real environments can be graphically simulated and results in a world where products can be tested and verified before major losses are incurred.
Reaction
My reaction to this article has been that the world has today developed to a level where mere information gathering is not an advantage. Today’s business environment is where big giants fail if they do not realize the changing environs and do not garner possibilities that can become opportunities in the longer run. Hence this state of constant change has become their survival tactic.
Conclusion
Hence the article is insightful and provides examples and illustrates how various companies have used various changes to their advantage. And it is in their favor that these firms have been quick to adapt and have made it imperative upon them to change and harness the tide before it washes them away.
Work Cited
Pantaleo, Daniel and Nirmal Pal. From Strategy to Execution Turning Accelerated Global Change into Opportunity. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2008.