After completing this week’s reading and personal research I must say that I agree with

the statement but not to its entirety – “Given the realities of today’s economy and the rapid
changes occurring in business technology, all competitive advantages are short-lived. There is no
such thing as a sustainable competitive advantage that lasts over the long term.” I disagree
somewhat on the sustainable competitive advantage part. The reason being because our assigned
reading for this week states “When we refer to competitive advantages, we usually speak in
terms of real differences between firms. After all, competitive advantages stem from real
strengths possessed by the firm or in real weaknesses possessed by rival firms. However,
competitive advantages can also be based more on perception than reality (Ferrell & Hartline,
2017, p.102).”
So considering this quote we must realize what it means to live in dynamic business
technology world, organizations must implement a dynamic strategy to keep a competitive
advantage in the worldwide market. As we have all heard before change is the only thing that is
constant and this applies to the international business world also. To maintain this competitive
advantage, companies must be willing to place innovation into their organization's structure.
Continuous innovation gives a clear sustainable competitive advantage. Allow me to illustrate
how innovation would give companies this advantage. We all live in a digital world, disturbance
is going on in areas such as product innovation, supply networks, and big data (Snyder, 2013).
Let’s look at the classic example of Kodak as they were the leaders of photography until very
recently and had a huge competitive advantage. Their fall started mainly because of their success
philosophy which was that of being resistant to change which means they underestimated the
power of Digital technology. In my research I found other examples such as Nokia being the
leading manufacturer of mobile phones and suddenly disappeared from the global market (Cord,
2014).
Our textbook makes a great point when stating that “the problem lies in developing and
maintaining capabilities and competitive advantages that customers can easily understand and
that solve their specific needs. Capabilities or competitive advantages that do not translate into
specific benefits for customers are of little use to a firm (Ferrell & Hartline, 2017, p.102).” As
we can see all of these companies had some strategic planning and decent competitive
advantages in the global marketplace. The cause for their sudden fall was that they were unable
to calculate the technology, and weaknesses in their core areas. To maintain the business in
today’s modern world, we must be able to predict new technology trends and start investments in
the upcoming technologies. In addition to technology investments, the organization needs to
cultivate innovations inside the company through involving teams of employees in constant
process improvements. Organizations structure, incentive arrangement, creating leadership,
continuous learning and flexible working conditions (Keillor, 2007). What will definitely play a
major role in forming sustainable competitive advantages are: operational excellence strategy,
product leadership, customer intimacy. Our textbook states that “to be successful, firms should
be able to execute all three strategies. However, the most successful firms choose one area at
which to excel, and then actively manage customer perceptions so that customers believe that the
firm does indeed excel in that area (Ferrell & Hartline, 2017, p.104).”
 References:

Cord, D. (2014). The Decline and Fall of Nokia.

Ferrell, O.C., Hartline, M. (2017). Marketing Strategy: Text and Cases 7th edition.

Keillor, B. (2007). Marketing in the 21st century.

Snyder, P. (2013). Is This Something George Eastman Would Have done?: The Decline and fall

of Eastman Kodak Company.