porter Essays

porter Essays porter Essay porter Essay According to Porter (1985), the sustainability of a firms competitive advantage was, firstly, dependent on the ability of a firms strategies to resist erosion by competitive activities and, secondly, the firms ability to anticipate the evolution within the industry which it competed in. By strategies, Porter refers specifically to the three generic strategies of low cost, differentiation and focus which Porter posits could be a source of competitive advantage for the firm. However, for the strategy to ucceed the firm must possess some barriers that make imitation of the strategy by competitors difficult. The evolution within the industry refers to changes or challenges within the industry structure that could render the abovementioned competitive advantage ineffective. In addition, having a competitive strategy was insufficient. It must be translated into an above-average performance in the long run a sustainable competitive advantage. Porters generic strategy matrix, which highlights cost leadership, differentiation and focus as the three basic choices for irms, has dominated corporate competitive strategy for the last 30 years (Pretorius, 2008). According to this model, a company can choose how it wants to compete, based on the match between its type of competitive advantage and the market target pursued, as the key determinants of choice (Pretorius, 2008). Porters (Porter, 1998 and Porter, 1985), generic strategy typology remains one of the most notable in the strategic management literature (Salavou, 2010). A business can maximize performance either by striving to be the low cost producer in an industry or by ifferentiating its line of products or services from those of other businesses; either of these two approaches can be accompanied by a focus of organizational efforts on a given segment of the market. Any organization that fails to make a strategic decision to opt for one of these strategies was in danger of being stuck in the middle. The organization in failing to decide, tries both to be the cost leader and differentiator and achieved neither, and in the process confused consumers.

5 Pairs of Compound Words, and How Theyre Compounded

5 Pairs of Compound Words, and How Theyre Compounded 5 Pairs of Compound Words, and How They’re Compounded 5 Pairs of Compound Words, and How They’re Compounded By Mark Nichol A while back, I wrote about compound words involving front and back, in and out, and up and down, and the bewildering variety of styles (open, hyphenated, and closed) for each group. Here are five more pairs of words to watch for when they’re used in compound phrases. 1. Light and Dark To be light-headed and to be lighthearted are not strictly analogous one is a physical sensation, and the other refers to an emotion (though it may result in a physical response) but they are both adjectives. So, why is one (and similar compounds like light-fingered and light-footed) hyphenated and the other closed? I confess I’m in the dark. But note that compounds beginning with dark are always open (â€Å"dark days† â€Å"dark horse,† â€Å"dark matter†). Most other noun compounds beginning with light (â€Å"light meter,† â€Å"light pen†) are open, but notice light-rail, which, like a few other compound nouns (mind-set, life-form), remain stubbornly hyphenated (though the meaning of light here differs; it’s akin to the definition in the previous paragraph). When the noun light is the last element of a compound, it’s always closed: candlelight, flashlight, searchlight. 2. Mind and Brain I’m going to go out of my mind. Why is one simpleminded yet single-minded? Is it because one is a presumably perpetual state that a person so designated has little or no control over, while the other is a personality trait? But compounds beginning rather than ending with mind generally obey these rules: open in noun compounds (with the previously noted exception of mind-set and the obscure mind-healer, as well as the jargony mindshare) and hyphenated in adjectival compounds such as mind-bending and mind-boggling). Brain, meanwhile, is almost always open (â€Å"brain trust,† â€Å"brain wave†); brain-dead is a rare exception. 3. Right and Wrong Compounds employing these words for practical or moral choices are generally open (â€Å"right angle,† â€Å"wrong side†), but phrasal adjectives with prepositions (right-of-way, right-to-work) are always hyphenated. 4. Right and Left Most compounds employing right or left as directions are open (noun phrases like â€Å"left wing,† adverbial phrases such as â€Å"right away†), but the phrasal adjectives left-handed and right-handed (also adverbs) are always hyphenated. 5. Smart and Dumb By now, you know not to expect logic in idiomatic phrases it’s â€Å"smart aleck† but smart-ass (or smart-mouth). Open phrasing, however, is preponderant for smart and dumb: â€Å"smart card,† â€Å"smart drug,† â€Å"dumb down,† â€Å"dumb show† (pantomime). Street-smart is hyphenated, but â€Å"street smarts† is open. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Grammar category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:10 Rules for Writing Numbers and NumeralsThe Parts of a WordHow Do You Fare?