Criticise this statement in 2 paragraph, True or false? Explain how resource-bas

Question

Criticise this statement in 2 paragraph, True or false?

Explain how resource-based competitive advantage drives globalization strategies for Fortune 500 firms.

     Resource-based competitive advantage drives globalization strategies for Fortune 500 firms because they first seek to capitalize on internal assets and maximize the firm’s performance. They use resources the firm already possesses. Firms have been able to build their purchasing and supply chain management capabilities internally, away from the strategic factor markets, and have been able to use those capabilities to gain competitive advantages. In addition, these attributes likely create value, are more rare among competitors, are more costly to imitate, and have no close substitutes (Barney, 2012). Walmart is a good example of how its supply chain management, and the perfection of it has indeed become a source of competitive advantage. Toyota’s purchasing system, a system that has helped Toyota implement a lean manufacturing approach, has many others in the industry still attempting to compete with it (Lyer, Seshadri, Vasher, 2009). These companies have been successful at using internal resource-based strategies to maximize performances and have set the standard.

Why are application of project management principles critical to effective business operations?

     Business operations are very complex. The principles, skills, and attitudes implemented as part of project management discipline are very relevant to any business operation. Project managers certainly possess critical skills to effective business operations. Those skills include being able to integrate different disciplines into delivering an organized solution (integration management); controlling the delivery to a defined scope (scope management); ensuring timely delivery of items (time management); ensuring funds are spent in a planned manner (cost management); managing a team in an efficient and effective way (human resources management); ensuring correct level of communication across appropriate team members (communication management); anticipation of problems and solutions to address them (risk management); dealing with vendors and suppliers in the most cost-effective way (procurement management); and managing customer expectations (stakeholder management). The only difference between a project and a normal business activity is that a project is time constrained. They have definite start and end dates and are thus, temporary, rather than on-going (Marom, 2013).

References

Barney, J. B. (2012). Purchasing, supply chain management and sustained competitive advantage: The relevance of resource-based theory. Journal of Supply Chain Management, 48(2), 3-6. Retrieved from Proquest database

Lyer, A., S. Seshadri, and R. Vasher. (2009). Toyota Supply Chain Management: A Strategic Approach to the Principles of Toyota's Renowned System, McGraw Hill Education, New York.

Marom, S. (2013). Project management principles every business person should use. Retrieved from http://quantmleap.com/blog/2013/10/project-management-principles-every-business-person-should-use-2/

Explanation / Answer

Part A) The most significant asset that an organisation possess is its resources. Everything else is secondary. Fortune 500 firms have been quick to realise this and have successfully utilised its resources for building competitive advantage over their competitors. They have been so good on capitalising on their internal assets that the standards set by these firms, over a period of time, have become the industry benchmarks. In addition to the examples used in the given case of Walmart and Toyota, on how successfully and strategically these two companies have built their supply chain management that they really do not have a match or substitute in the industry, another organisation that we can look at is “Amazon”.

Ever since its inception, Amazon has built a resource based competitive advantage for itself by dedicatedly working on having streamlined supply chain management in place. The turn around time (TAT) of Amazon, from receiving the order to fulfilling them with the highest level of accuracy, has become the industry benchmark, and customers have start expecting similar or higher service standards from other e-commerce players, which they haven’t able to match. Besides, Amazon boasts of being the most “customer-centric” organisation and it has been possible only because of its strong and dedicated philosophy of satisfying the customer. When a firm builds their internal processes by utilising the resources that they already possess, it brings down the costs and improves the focus of the organisation. These organisations then, stop looking outside for growth and instead invests time, money and energy on improving their internal systems and growth happens as a by-product for the them.

Therefore, it is true and wise to say for a firm looking to drive its global growth story, it should build strategies on its internal assets and capabilities. It should set service and product quality standards so high that the industry begins using them as benchmark for themselves.

Part B) The given statement is partially true and partially false. It is fair to say that business operations are complex and it certainly requires the right attitude and appropriate skills in successfully running a business. It is also right to say that project managers possesses diversified skill sets which makes it possible for them to successfully accomplish a project. The project managers are required to perform multi-dimensional tasks and it is very common for a project manager to be interacting with different teams of the organisation and performing different roles in different time of the day. Some of the skills highlighted in the give case that a project manager must possess are:

Having the above skill set is only one part of the solution. Putting them to the right use and ensuring that the requirements of the project are match with the right skill set is another part of the solution. A project manager should be efficient in delegating tasks. The project manager should be able to breakdown the solution to the problem statement into measurable chunks/tasks. These tasks should then be assigned to the project members on the basis of their skills, experience, past exposure, availability, knowledge, etc. The project manager should also be able to collate the deliverables received from the multiple teams and package it into a workable solution for the client.

Also, it is wrong to say that a normal business activity does not have a definite start and end time that a project has. Each business process, each business task is a micro-project in itself. If it is not completed in the time it is required to be finished, it impacts and brings down the overall system efficiency.

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