Corporate Strategy: Resources, Capabilities, and Competitive Advantage

This lecture explores the importance of understanding a firm's internal environment, focusing on resources, capabilities, and core competencies. It delves into the V-R-I-O framework, the value chain, and the SWOT analysis, emphasizing how these elements contribute to a firm's competitive advantage. Examples from companies like Gucci and Amazon illustrate the impact of core competencies on performance. The session also covers the dark side of core competencies, highlighting the risks of strategic myopia and core rigidities. Students engage in small group exercises to identify and analyze resources, capabilities, and core competencies of various companies.