Each student must write a short essay about one of the topics related to Strategic Management, such as RBV, IO, Benchmarking, Balance Score Cards, types of strategies, competitive advantage, etc. The...

Running Head: STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT: COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE    1
STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT: COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE    6
STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT
COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
Table of Contents
Introduction    3
Discussion    3
Assessing Competitive Advantage    3
Competitive Advantage in Retaining Organizational Mission Statement    3
Role of Strategy in Generating Competitive Advantage    4
Strategic Management and Competitive Advantage    4
Conclusion    5
References    6
Introduction
    A business organization uses more than one type of resources to generate its functional power that ultimately translates into its profit. The use of each type of resource generates the best performance and outcome depending on the way they are used and utilized collectively in fixed proportions. In case of strategic management, various proportions of resource usages are considered for the benefit of business organizations, making strategic management an essential part of organizational success. The cu
ent essay on one-hand shows that competitive advantage gives organizations benefit in business, while on the other hand points at the importance of assessing the competitive advantage in the context for strategic management. Among the diverse types of strategic management techniques used by business organizations, competitive advantage is one of the foremost. Strategic management makes a company better to others in a similar aspect, which is regarded as the completive advantage, which is discussed in details in the cu
ent essay.
Discussion
Assessing Competitive Advantage
    Business organizations compete in the market along with other companies and try to offer their customers and clients products and services that satisfy the requirements expected from business organizations. When an organization, as stated by Amarakoon, Weerawardena and Ve
eynne (2018), offers more value than its rivals, the product or service is deemed as the best choice for the customers and the clients, making them opting for the most valued products, namely generating competitive advantage. A closer observation of customers’ buying behavior shows that pricing, quality,
and image, distribution channels are major factors that influence the degree of customers’ buying preferences and the ratio of the mentioned factors generate the competitive advantage. As Olson, Slater, Hult and Olson (2018) mentioned, product with low pricing and low quality would not generate competitive advantage, as it would be considered a low quality product.
However, a product with same quality coupled with lower pricing would be considered of generating more value and therefore, would be deemed as a competitively better product, giving the organization competitive advantage in the process. As an example, it is seen that smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi, uses state of art hardware components for its devices, a feature used by other smartphone manufacturers, however, aiming at retaining a profit percentage of merely 1 to 2% only, creating a value for money ratio that gives it a distinct image, eventually generating competitive advantage (South China Morning Post, 2018).
Competitive Advantage in Retaining Organizational Mission Statement    
    Competitive...