The Discipline : The Art And Practice Of The Learning Organization

A company or an organization can create competitive advantage only when it is able to distinguish itself from the rivals by implementing value creating strategy over a longer period of time. It is said to have sustainable competitive advantage when other rival firms are unable to duplicate the value creating strategy of firm which has led to achievement of

The concept of a learning organization knows its roots back to Garratt in 1987, which later on in the late 90’s was revived by Peter Senge. Senge (1990) focuses on the organization acting as a unit where innovative ideas are generated and common goals are reached. Collective commitment of the team is fundamental. Furthermore, according to Senge (1990), the organization must go through 5 domains in order to reach the productivity of a learning organization: systems thinking, personal mastery, mental models, building shared vision and team learning.

Personal Mastery – It begins "by getting the opportunity to be centered around enduring learning," and is the significant establishment of a learning affiliation. Singular Mastery incorporates being more viable, focusing on transforming into the best individual, and trying a sentiment obligation and enthusiasm in our jobs to support the affirmation of potential.

In order to create individual competitive advantage each firm has to develop distinctive competencies, decide on one of the generic strategies and create superior value for its customers. The model of competitive advantage of firms was first established in 1985 by M.E. Porter in his study/book “Competitive Advantage:

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)

The article selected was Managing Change Successfully by Eileen O. Brownell, President, Training Solutions. The article addresses the need to adapt to change, not only in the business world but also in one’s personal life. The world is full of change and will continue through time, requiring constant flexibility, adaptability, creativity, and optimum customer service (Brownell, 2000). Businesses need to identify with the changes and make plans for the future of the business around the change. To successfully manage change, employers must focus on the following ten steps to manage change within the organization to ensure success recommended by the author. According to Brownell, 2000.

In order to achieve a competitive advantage, an organization must have resources, competencies, and capabilities. Resources are what an organization utilizes to create value in the organization. Resources are imperative to the organizations value and are tangible and intangible. Tangible resources are financial, physical, and labor. “Robert Kaplan and David Norton point out that unlike financial and physical resources, intangible resources are hard for competitors to imitate, making them a powerful source of sustainable competitive advantage.” (Ginter, Duncan and Swayne 138) Competitive advantage comes from the organizations resources. The competitive advantage the organization has is its ability to provide quality services than services

This theory was published for the first time in 1985 inside one of the Porter’s greatest work: “Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance.” In fact, the Porter’s Value Chain is a good tool through which evaluate the organization’s ability in achieving the competitive advantage and if achieved, this tool is useful to measure the quantity of this advantage. A business should focus on one of the primary activities in order to create an advantage in that. Moreover, the value chain can be used also to evaluate and determine which strategy is the best for a company to gain the competitive advantage.

Once a company is capable of producing goods at lower costs than the market price within the industry, the company earns profits and it has a competitive advantage. This advantage gives a company an edge over its rivals and an ability to generate greater value for the firm and its shareholders. A company can also achieve a competitive advantage if their core competence is

There are five disciplines that are central to learning organizations that can significantly improve a business. First it is essential that a business has systems thinking ability that will allow them to see how the parts of the system fit into the operation as a whole. It is hard to see the organization as a dynamic process if you fail to understand the interrelation between all the parts (Kourdi, 2009). Personal mastery is the second discipline essential to business learning. Each employee brings their work ethic, ideas, skill sets and objectivity to the organization. As their contribution is developed it adds to the learning and experience of the organization.

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).

In order to achieve competitive advantage, a firm must perform one or more value-creating activity that is more superior compared to other competitors. Superior value is created through lower costs or superior benefits to the buyers.

What is a competitive advantage for the company? How can the management use it? Make SWOT analysis for the company.

If   a   company   wants   to   be   successfull   in   their   business   it   has   to   be   able   to   create   competitive   advantage  over  it  competitor  in  a  same  business  area.  (De  Wit  &  Meyer,  2010).  What  approach   or   strategy   should   the   company   take   into   account   in   order   to   create   competitive   advantage   in   their  business  environment  is  the  core  issue  for  the  managers.