Chapter 3 & 4

Southwest Airlines' successful and profitable business model has been driven by several strategies: high aircraft utilization; standard fleet; charismatic leadership; low fare carrier; excellent customer service practice; attractive frequent flier program; innovative and creative marketing program; performance focused organizational culture; strategic human resources management and a lean operations.

_______ is an understanding of how cultural differences across and within nations can affect the way in

The wall of the alveolus (air sac) in the lung is composed of which type of epithelium? simple squamous epithelium Yes, this single layer of squamous cells is ideal for the diffusion of gases in the lungs.

Competitive advantage exists when a firm has strategy, product or an attribute that makes the firm capable of delivering similar benefit to that of competitors at a cheaper cost. Having competitive advantage is not enough the company should be capable of sustaining that particular competitive advantage for a longer period of time.

Edmundson (2013) explains that companies that consistently expand in a profitable manner have learned to take their strength and transform them into a competitive advantage. Edmundson (2013) list nine principals that will help companies turn their strengths into competitive advantages. The nine principals are to be quantifiable, stay objective and creditable, be true and accurate, not stated by you’re competition, contrast, use concrete facts and tangible data, emotional, focused and simple, and tell stories to make your audience relate. Edmundson (2013) continues that typically companies that have

The _____________ is a market for converting the currency of one country into that of another.

Cynthia has always performed well in her job, and has received good performance appraisals. She has been denied a promotion to a more lucrative sales position because she was told she “is not attractive enough” for the position. Cynthia is likely a victim of

"When a person 's diet lacks the chemical, his or her body experiences abnormal functioning."

The Eskimo’s predict the sudden sea squalls but studying the habits of seals. The elder Eskimo was explaining seal patterns for when a seal comes up for breathe under the water. If the seal comes out of the water to breath with its back arched up right to sky and it’s head fully out of the water exposed then the weather will be a normal. But if the seal surfaces faced down with halfway submerged under water still then this was a preview for ominous weather to come that day.

1. Coming out of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, different views of federalism were carried: (1) Alexander Hamilton believed that the national government was the superior and leading force in political affairs, since the people created it and its laws were the “supreme law of the land;” (2) Thomas Jefferson believed that “the people” were the ultimate sovereigns, and since the states was a result of agreement among the states, the states were supreme over the national gov’t.

12. List the three types of plate boundaries and describe the relative motion at each of them.

1. What is competitive advantage, and how does it relate to a company’s business model?

Competitive advantage(CA) is an advantage competitors gain by providing or offering customers or consumers greater value for their money through product and service differentiation or through lower prices. Maintaining competitive advantage is crucial to many businesses or organizations' success in order to survive in the market. Competitive advantage is characterized by superior performance which could be an attribute to outperform the competitors whether current or potential; or gaining a higher market share in a particular industry thereby ensuring market leadership; or ultimately, maximization of profit.(JOBBER 2010)

Competitive strategy is the moves and methods that the firm has taken and is taking to appeal buyers, improve its market position, and to endure competitive pressures. The strategy is about what a firm’s capability to try to knock off competitors and attain competitive advantage, which can be offensive or defensive. There are three approaches to competitive strategy, which are low-cost leadership strategy where struggling to be the overall low-cost manufacturer in the in industry. Moreover, pursuing to distinguish one’s product offering from competitors (differentiation strategy), and the last one is focus or niche strategy where aiming on thin portion of the market rather than the whole market (Porter, 1998).

Competitive advantage is explained by Mahoney and Pandian (1992) as the function of industry analysis, organizational governance and the firm’s effects in the form of resource advantages and strategies. In order for a firm to be competitive it must adapt to the volatile business environment and through strategic management decisions establish a competitive advantage that will ultimately produce superior performance relative to its competitors (Akimova 2000).