Reference no: EM132390240

Respond to each week discussions with at least 250 words per week.

1. Identify an organization that could benefit from the application of the I/O Model of Above-Average Returns. Follow the five steps to justify your answer. Do not use Apple or Walmart in this exercise, nor should the organization you select be the same as another post.
"Strategic Competitiveness" Please respond to the following:

• Determine which of the two primary drivers of the competitive landscape is more influential. Explain your rationale.

• Explain which model (I / O model or resource-based model) you believe will best help a firm in the industry you researched earn above-average returns.

2. Use the internet to research a company with which you regularly do business or are a regular customer. Focus on how that company relates to their customers. Use the internet to research Apple's strategy for competing against other technology companies.

"Business-Level Strategy" Please respond to the following:

• From the week 1 e-Activity, assess your satisfaction with the company you researched and make recommendations about how that company could modify its business-level strategy to both increase your overall level of satisfaction and to attract new customers. Provide specific examples to support your response.

• Analyze the five business-level strategies to determine which strategy the company you researched most likely applies. Determine how your experience with that company might change if it switched to one of the other four strategies (your choice). Explain your rationale.

3. "Diversification" Please respond to the following:

• From the e-Activity, suggest one way the company you researched could increase its level of value-creating diversification. Provide specific examples to support your response.

• Building on the topic above, determine how diversified the company you research could become before it created a negative impact on the company's bottom line. Explain your rationale.