Chapter 9
1. List and briefly explain the four specific ways in which managers can lower
costs and/or increase differentiation to obtain a competitive advantage.
– Improving efficiency by measuring the amount of inputs need to
produce a given amount of outputs.
– Improving quality by producing goods and services that have
attributes like, style, design, and reachability.
– Improving responsiveness to customers by trying to satisfy the
customer needs and give them exactly what they want.
– Improving innovation this gives the organization something unique or
different about the product.
2. Define value chain and list the six functions of the value chain.
– Value chain: the coordinated series or sequence of functional
concepts, raw materials, component part, or professional skills into the
finished goods or services customers value and want to buy.
– Product development function, marketing function, materials
management function, production function, sales function, customer
service function.
