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Strategic Management: Competitiveness and Globalization - Concepts and Cases, 14e 14th Edition Michael A. Hitt 2024 scribd download

Globalization

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14e

Strategic Management
Competitiveness & Globalization

Concepts and Cases

Hitt • Ireland
Hoskisson • Harrison
Strategic Management
Competitiveness & Globalization
Concepts and Cases
14e

Michael A. Hitt
Texas A&M University

R. Duane Ireland
Texas A&M University

Robert E. Hoskisson
Rice University

Jeffrey S. Harrison
University of Richmond

Australia ● Brazil ● Canada ● Mexico ● Singapore ● United Kingdom ● United States

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Globalization: Concepts and Cases, WCN: 02-300
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To Frankie: You are my partner in life. I love you and look forward to our
future together.
—Michael

To Mary Ann: We have reached that place we want to go and we will now
walk in the sun. I love you.
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Brief Contents

Preface, xiv
About the Authors, xviii

Part 1: Strategic Management Inputs 2


1. Strategic Management and Strategic Competitiveness, 2
2. The External Environment: Opportunities, Threats, Industry Competition,
and Competitor Analysis, 30
3. The Internal Organization: Resources, Capabilities, Core Competencies,
and Competitive Advantages, 60

Part 2: Strategic Actions: Strategy Formulation 86


4. Business-Level Strategy, 86
5. Competitive Rivalry and Competitive Dynamics, 112
6. Corporate-Level Strategy, 138
7. Merger and Acquisition Strategies and Restructuring, 164
8. International Strategy, 190
9. Cooperative Strategy, 222

Part 3: Strategic Actions: Strategy Implementation 248


10. Corporate Governance, 248
11. Organizational Structure and Controls, 278
12. Strategic Leadership, 312
13. Strategic Entrepreneurship, 340

Part 4: Case Studies C-1


Glossary, G-1

Name Index, I-1

Company Index, I-24

Subject Index, I-27

iv

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Contents

Preface xiv
About the Authors xviii

Part 1: Strategic Management Inputs 2


1: Strategic Management and Strategic Competitiveness 2
Opening Case: Hertz Has a Wild Ride 3
1-1 An Overview of Strategy and Strategic Competitiveness 4
1-2 The Competitive Landscape 7
1-2a The Global Economy 7
Strategic Focus: Global Supply Chains and the Risks of Interconnectedness 9
1-2b Technology and Technological Changes 10
1-2c Social Responsibility 11
1-3 The I/O Model of Above-Average Returns 12
1-4 The Resource-Based Model of Above-Average Returns 14
1-5 The Stakeholder Model of Above-Average Returns 15
Strategic Focus: Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporate Social Performance, and ESG 18
1-5a Managing for Stakeholders 18
1-6 Vision, Mission, and Values 19
1-6a Vision 19
1-6b Mission 20
1-6c Values 20
1-7 Strategic Leaders 21
1-8 The Strategic Management Process 22
Summary 23 ●
Key Terms 23 ●
Review Questions 24 ●
Mini-Case 24 ●
Notes 26

2: The External Environment: Opportunities, Threats, Industry


Competition, and Competitor Analysis 30
Opening Case: Tupperware Struggles to Change with the Times 31
2-1 Understanding the Firm’s External Environment 32
2-2 The General and Industry Environments 33
2-3 External Environmental Analysis 34
2-3a Scanning 35
2-3b Monitoring 35
2-3c Forecasting 35
2-3d Assessing 36
2-4 Seven Segments of the General Environment 36
2-4a The Demographic Segment 36
2-4b The Economic Segment 38
2-4c The Political/Legal Segment 39

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Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
vi Contents

2-4d The Sociocultural Segment 39


2-4e The Technological Segment 40
2-4f The Global Segment 41
2-4g The Sustainable Physical Environment Segment 42
Strategic Focus: Shaw Industries Responds to Environmental Forces by Running Cleaner in the Carpet
Manufacturing Industry 43
2-5 Industry Environment Analysis: The Five Competitive Forces 43
2-5a Threat of New Entrants 44
2-5b Bargaining Power of Suppliers 46
2-5c Bargaining Power of Buyers 46
2-5d Threat of Substitute Products 47
2-5e Intensity of Rivalry among Competitors 47
2-5f Interpreting Industry Analyses 49
2-6 Strategic Groups and Their Influence 49
2-7 Competitor Analysis 50
Strategic Focus: General and Competitive Forces Driving Evolution of the Global Automobile Industry 51
2-7a Ethical Considerations 53
Summary 53 ●
Key Terms 54 ●
Review Questions 54 ●
Mini-Case 54 ●
Notes 55

3: The Internal Organization: Resources, Capabilities, Core Competencies,


and Competitive Advantages 60
Opening Case: How the COVID-19 Pandemic Demonstrated the Value of Achieving a Core
Competence in Big Data Analytics in the Pharmaceutical Industry 61
3-1 Understanding the Firm’s Internal Environment 62
3-1a Why Understand the Internal Organization 63
3-2 Creating Value and Its Importance 64
3-3 Resources, Tangible and Intangible 65
Strategic Focus: Will Harley-Davidson’s Core Competencies Continue to Provide Competitive Advantage? 67
3-4 Capabilities and Core Competencies 69
3-4a Core Competencies 69
3-4b Building Core Competencies 70
3-5 The Four Criteria of Sustainable Competitive Advantage 70
Strategic Focus: Patagonia’s Core Competence As a “Green” Company 71
3-6 Value Chain Analysis 74
3-7 Reasons for Outsourcing 76
3-8 Competencies, Strengths, Weaknesses, and Strategic Decisions 77
Summary 77 ●
Key Terms 78 ●
Review Questions 79 ●
Mini-Case 79 ●
Notes 80

Part 2: Strategic Actions: Strategy Formulation 86


4: Business-Level Strategy 86
Opening Case: Omnichannel Retailing in the Digital Age 87
4-1 Understanding Business-Level Strategies 88
4-2 Customers: Their Relationship with Business-Level Strategies 89
4-2a Who: Determining the Customers to Serve 89
4-2b What: Determining Which Customer Needs to Satisfy 90
4-2c How: Determining Core Competencies Necessary to Satisfy Customer Needs 91

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Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
Contents vii

4-3 Business Models and Their Relationship with Business-Level Strategies 91


4-3a Franchise Business Model 92
4-3b Subscription Business Model 92
4-3c Digital Platform Business Model 93
Strategic Focus: Piclo Flex, Hybrid Business Models, and the Sharing Economy 94
4-3d Types of Business-Level Strategies 94
4-4 Cost Leadership Strategy 95
4-5 Differentiation Strategy 98
Strategic Focus: Peloton’s Differentiation Strategy Is in Trouble 100
4-6 Focus Strategies 102
4.7 Integrated Cost Leadership/Differentiation Strategy 104
Summary 106 ●
Key Terms 107 ●
Review Questions 107 ●
Mini-Case 108 ●
Notes 109

5: Competitive Rivalry and Competitive Dynamics 112


Opening Case: Kroger and Competitive Dynamics in the Grocery Industry 113
5-1 Defining and Understanding Competitors 114
5-1a A Basic Understanding of Competitive Rivalry 114
5-2 Strategic and Tactical Actions and Responses 116
5-2a Non-market Strategies 116
Strategic Focus: Videogame Heavyweights Battle It Out—The Metaverse Is the Next Battleground 117
5-2b A Model of Competitive Rivalry 118
5-3 Competitor Analysis 119
5-3a Market Commonality 119
5-3b Resource Similarity 120
5-4 Drivers of Competitive Behavior 121
5-5 Actions That Drive Competitive Rivalry 122
5-5a First-Mover Benefits 122
5-5b Organizational Size 124
5-5c Quality 124
Strategic Focus: Competitive Rivalry Among Large-Scale Battery Manufacturers: Who Will Establish
the Most Attractive Market Position? 125
5-6 Likelihood of Response 126
5-6a Type of Competitive Action 126
5-6b Actor’s Reputation 126
5-6c Market Dependence 127
5-7 Competitive Dynamics in Different Types of Markets 127
5-7a Slow-Cycle Markets 127
5-7b Fast-Cycle Markets 128
5-7c Standard-Cycle Markets 130
Summary 131 ●
Key Terms 132 ●
Review Questions 132 ●
Mini-Case 132 ●
Notes 133

6: Corporate-Level Strategy 138


Opening Case: Tata Group’s Corporate-Level Strategy 139
6-1 Corporate Level Strategy and Its Purpose 140
6-2 Levels of Diversification Through Corporate-Level Strategies 140
6-2a Low Levels of Diversification 141
6-2b Moderate and High Levels of Diversification 142
Strategic Focus: Campbell Soup Company and Its Related Constrained Diversification Strategy 142
6-3 Reasons for Diversification 143

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Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
viii Contents

6-4 Value-Creating Diversification: Related Constrained and Related Linked Diversification 144
6-4a Operational Relatedness: Sharing Activities 145
6-4b Corporate Relatedness: Transferring of Core Competencies 146
6-4c Market Power 147
6-4d Vertical Integration 147
6-4e Simultaneous Operational Relatedness and Corporate Relatedness 148
6-5 Value Creation through Unrelated Diversification 149
6-5a Efficient Internal Capital Market Allocation 149
Strategic Focus: Fanatics Builds a Portfolio of Related Businesses 150
6-5b Restructuring of Assets 151
6-6 Incentives Driving Value-Neutral Diversification 152
6-6a Antitrust Regulation 152
6-6b Tax Laws 153
6-6c Low Performance 153
6-6d Uncertain Future Cash Flows and Reduced Risk of Failure 154
6-7 Managerial Motives to Diversify 154
Summary 157 ●
Key Terms 157 ●
Review Questions 158 ●
Mini-Case 158 ●
Notes 159

7: Merger and Acquisition Strategies and Restructuring 164


Opening Case: Consolidation in the Financial Services Industry 165
7-1 Merger and Acquisition Strategies 166
7-1a Mergers, Acquisitions, and Takeovers: What Are the Differences? 167
7-2 Reasons for Acquisitions 167
7-2a Increased Market Power 167
Strategic Focus: Intel’s Acquisition Strategy 168
7-2b Overcoming Entry Barriers 170
7-2c Cost of New Product Development and Increased Speed to Market 171
7-2d Lower Risk Compared to Developing New Products 171
7-2e Increased Diversification 171
7-2f Reshaping the Firm’s Competitive Scope 172
7-2g Learning and Developing New Capabilities 172
7-3 Problems in Achieving Acquisition Success 173
7-3a Integration Difficulties 174
7-3b Inadequate Evaluation of Target 174
7-3c Large or Extraordinary Debt 175
7-3d Inability to Achieve Synergy 175
7-3e Too Much Diversification 176
7-3f Managers Overly Focused on Acquisitions 177
7-3g Too Large 177
7-4 Effective Acquisitions 177
7-5 Restructuring 179
Strategic Focus: Unilever’s Restructuring Accelerated Under Pressure by Activist Investor 180
7-5a Downsizing 180
7-5b Downscoping 181
7-5c Leveraged Buyouts 181
7-6 Restructuring Outcomes 181
Summary 183 ●
Key Terms 184 ●
Review Questions 184 ●
Mini-Case 184 ●
Notes 185

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Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
Contents ix

8: International Strategy 190


Opening Case: Tesla’s Aggressive European Expansion 191
8-1 Global Trends and International Strategies 192
8-1a Incentives Encouraging International Expansion 193
8-1b Global Trends 193
8-1c Increased Market Size 195
8-1d Location Advantages 195
8-1e Learning 196
8-2 Risks Discouraging International Expansion 197
8-2a Political and Legal Risks 197
8-2b Economic Risks 198
8-3 Common Management Problems for Multinational Firms 199
8-4 Considerations for International Entry 200
Strategic Focus: Israel’s Extraordinary Business Success 201
8-4a Four Primary Determinants of Attractiveness 202
8-4b Political, Legal, and Economic Systems 202
8-4c Culture 203
8-5 International Corporate-Level Strategies 203
8-5a International Corporate-Level Strategies 204
Strategic Focus: IKEA’s International Strategy 206
8-5b International Business-Level Strategies 207
8-6 Choice of Entry Mode for an International Market 207
8-6a Exporting 207
8-6b Licensing or Franchising 208
8-6c Strategic Alliances 209
8-6d Acquisitions 210
8-6e New Wholly Owned Subsidiary (Greenfield Venture) 210
8-6f Dynamics of Mode of Entry 211
8-7 Desired Strategic Competitiveness Outcomes 211
8-7a International Diversification and Performance 212
8-7b Enhanced Innovation 212
Summary 213 ●
Key Terms 214 ●
Review Questions 214 ●
Mini-Case 214 ●
Notes 215

9: Cooperative Strategy 222


Opening Case: Google’s Diversified Alliance Portfolio 223
9-1 Cooperative Strategies and Their Uses 224
9-2 Strategic Alliances as a Primary Type of Cooperative Strategy 224
9-2a Types of Major Strategic Alliances 225
9-2b Reasons Firms Develop Strategic Alliances 226
9-3 Business-Level Cooperative Strategy 228
9-3a Complementary Strategic Alliances 228
Strategic Focus: Accenture’s Rothco Unit Partners with Warner and Apple to Help Children
with Speech Disorders 229
9-3b Competition Response Strategy 231
9-3c Uncertainty-Reducing Strategy 231
9-3d Competition-Reducing Strategy 232
9-3e Assessing Business-Level Cooperative Strategies 232

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Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
x Contents

9-4 Corporate-Level Cooperative Strategy 233


9-4a Diversifying Strategic Alliance 233
9-4b Synergistic Strategic Alliance 233
9-4c Franchising 234
9-4d Assessing Corporate-Level Cooperative Strategies 234
9-5 International Cooperative Strategy 235
Strategic Focus: The Cross-Border Alliance between Ford and Mahindra Runs into Trouble 236
9-6 Network Cooperative Strategy 236
9-6a Alliance Network Types 237
9-7 Competitive Risks with Cooperative Strategies 238
9-8 Approaches for Managing Cooperative Strategies 239
Summary 240 ●
Key Terms 241 ●
Review Questions 241 ●
Mini-Case 241 ●
Notes 242

Part 3: Strategic Actions: Strategy Implementation 248


10: Corporate Governance 248
Opening Case: Can Governance Changes Help Rescue Bed Bath & Beyond? 249
10-1 Corporate Governance and Top-Level Decisions 250
10-2 Separation of Ownership and Managerial Control 251
10-3 Agency Relationships and Agency Costs 252
Strategic Focus: Product Diversification as an Example of an Agency Problem 253
10-4 Ownership Concentration 254
10-4a The Increasing Influence of Institutional Owners and Activist Investors 255
10-4b Board of Directors 256
10-4c Shareholders versus Stakeholders 256
10-4d Types of Board Members 257
10-4e Enhancing the Effectiveness of the Board of Directors 258
10-5 Executive Compensation 259
10-6 External Governance Mechanisms 260
10-6a The Market for Corporate Control 260
Strategic Focus: Elon Musk Threatens a Hostile Takeover of Twitter 261
10-6b Managerial Defense Tactics 262
10-6c Regulators 264
10-6d Creditors 264
10-7 International Corporate Governance 265
10-7a Corporate Governance in Germany 265
10-7b Corporate Governance in Japan 266
10-7c Corporate Governance in China 267
10-8 Governance Mechanisms and Responsible Behavior 267
Summary 268 ●
Key Terms 269 ●
Review Questions 270 ●
Mini-Case 270 ●
Notes 271

11: Organizational Structure and Controls 278


Opening Case: Ford Splits into Two Divisions to Put More Emphasis on Electric Vehicles 279
11-1 Organizational Structure and Controls 280
11-1a Organizational Structure 280
11-1b Organizational Controls 281
11-2 Strategic and Financial Controls 282
11-3 Relationship between Strategy and Structure 283

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Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
Contents xi

11-4 Evolutionary Patterns of Strategy and Organizational Structure 284


11-4a Simple Structure 284
11-4b Functional Structure 285
11-4c Multidivisional Structure 285
Strategic Focus: Apple’s Astonishing Success with Its Functional Structure 286
11-5 Matches between Business-Level Strategies and the Functional Structure 287
11-5a Using the Functional Structure to Implement the Cost Leadership Strategy 287
11-5b Using the Functional Structure to Implement the Differentiation Strategy 288
11-5c Using the Functional Structure to Implement the Integrated Cost Leadership/Differentiation
Strategy 289
11-6 Matches between Corporate-Level Strategies and the Multidivisional Structure 289
11-6a Using the Cooperative Form of the Multidivisional Structure to Implement the Related
Constrained Strategy 290
11-6b Using the Strategic Business Unit Form of the Multidivisional Structure to Implement
the Related Linked Strategy 291
11-6c Using the Competitive Form of the Multidivisional Structure to Implement the Unrelated
Diversification Strategy 292
11-7 Matches between International Strategies and Worldwide Structure 294
11-7a Using the Worldwide Geographic Area Structure to Implement the Multidomestic Strategy 294
11-7b Using the Worldwide Product Divisional Structure to Implement the Global Strategy 296
11-7c Using the Combination Structure to Implement the Transnational Strategy 296
11-8 Matches between Cooperative Strategies and Network Structures 298
11-8a Implementing Digital Platform Structures 299
11-8b Implementing Business-Level Cooperative Strategies 300
11-8c Implementing Corporate-Level Cooperative Strategies 300
Strategic Focus: Major Wireless Technology Players Form an Alliance to Develop 6G Technology 301
Summary 302 ●
Key Terms 303 ●
Review Questions 303 ●
Mini-Case 304 ●
Notes 305

12: Strategic Leadership 312


Opening Case: Meg Whitman: A Pioneering Strategic Leader 313
12-1 The Importance of Strategic Leadership 314
12-1a Strategic Leadership and Strategic Change 315
Strategic Focus: Howard Schultz Steps in (Again) at Starbucks 316
12-1b Leadership Personality and Style 317
12-1c Top-Level Managers and Managerial Discretion 318
12-2 Top Management Teams and Performance 319
12-2a Power Dynamics at the Top of the Organization 319
12-2b Characteristics of Top Management Teams, Firm Performance, and Strategic Change 319
12-3 Managerial Succession 321
Strategic Focus: Voluntary and Involuntary CEO Turnover 321
12-3a Internal and External Labor Markets 322
12-3b Succession Management and Executive Training 323
12-4 Key Strategic Leadership Actions 324
12-4a Determining Strategic Direction 324
12-5 Effectively Managing the Firm’s Resource Portfolio 325
12-6 Sustaining an Effective Organizational Culture 327
12-7 Emphasizing Ethical Practices 329
12-8 Establishing Balanced Organizational Controls 329
Summary 331 ●
Key Terms 332 ●
Review Questions 332 ●
Mini-Case 333 ●
Notes 333

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xii Contents

13: Strategic Entrepreneurship 340


Opening Case: Big Tech’s Ambitious Investment Programs Will Change the World (Again) 341
13-1 Strategic and Corporate Entrepreneurship 342
13-2 The Evolution of Nascent Markets 342
13-3 Entrepreneurship and Entrepreneurial Opportunities 343
13-4 Invention, Innovation, and Imitation 344
13-5 Entrepreneurs and Their Mind-set 345
13-6 International Entrepreneurship 346
13-7 Internal Innovation in Organizations 347
13-7a Incremental and Radical Innovation 348
13-7b Autonomous Strategic Behavior 348
13-7c Induced Strategic Behavior 349
Strategic Focus: Seeking Innovation through Autonomous Strategic Behavior at the Country Level 350
13-7d Implementing Internal Innovations 350
13-7e Cross-Functional Product Development Teams 351
13-7f Facilitating Integration and Innovation 352
13-7g Creating Value from Internal Innovation 352
13-8 Innovation through Cooperative Strategies 353
13-9 Innovation through Acquisitions 354
Strategic Focus: Pfizer’s Acquisitions Enhance Innovation in the Company 355
13-10 Creating Value through Strategic Entrepreneurship 355
Summary 356 ●
Key Terms 357 ●
Review Questions 358 ●
Mini-Case 358 ●
Notes 359

Part 4: Case Studies C-1


Preparing an Effective Case Analysis C-4
Case 1: The Rise and Demise of Airbus A380 C-13
Case 2: Air France–KLM: A Strategy for the European Skies C-28
Case 3: Ant Group Backed Mybank: People, Planet, Profit in Rural China C-38
Case 4: Aventiv Technologies: Answering the Call for Change? C-53
Case 5: Blue Apron: Has the Supply Chain Disrupter Been Disrupted? C-66
Case 6: Gap, Inc. C-76
Case 7: Haier: Organizing to Build a Smart Ecosystem Brand C-88
Case 8: The Hershey Company: Broken Pledge to Stop Using Child Labour C-98
Case 9: Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. C-106
Case 10: Jio and Facebook: Adding Value through an Alliance C-114
Case 11: Marriott International: Hospitality’s Uncertain Future C-125
Case 12: Meta: Facebook’s Pivot to the Metaverse – A Path to Dystopia or Blue Ocean Utopia? C-140
Case 13: Streaming the Future: Netflix’s Global Expansion C-149
Case 14: Nio: Battling Tesla with Battery as a Service C-159
Case 15: Pacari Chocolate: Building a Brand that Brings Joy from Tree to Bar C-171

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Contents xiii

Case 16: Developing a Sustainable Ecosystem Community: The Port of Antwerp C-184
Case 17: Re: Build Manufacturing—Reimagining the Conglomerate C-189
Case 18: Uber: The Turbulent Rise of “Everyone’s Private Driver” C-200
Case 19: Digital Transformation at The Washington Post: Innovating for the Next Generation C-216
Case 20: Driving Waymo’s Fully Autonomous Future C-230
Case 21: Wellington Brewery: Growth Decision in a Crowded Beer Market C-240
Case 22: WeWork: But Does the Corporate Governance Work? C-249

Glossary G-1

Name Index I-1

Company Index I-24

Subject Index I-27

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Preface

Our goal in writing each edition of this book is to present a new, up-to-date standard for explain-
ing the strategic management process. To reach this goal with the fourteenth edition of our
market-leading text, we again present you with an intellectually rich yet thoroughly practical
analysis of strategic management.
Before we began working on this new edition, we had a series of meetings in which we created
a comprehensive list of topics that needed to be added or revised significantly because of monu-
mental changes in the global business, social, technological, and political environments over the
recent past, as well as developments in the academic and practitioner literatures pertaining to
strategic management. After creating the list, we thoroughly examined these literatures, which led
us to research articles from journals published on six continents and a wide assortment of articles
published in the popular business press (e.g., Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg Businessweek, Fortune,
Financial Times, and Forbes, to name a few) and in reliable social media outlets (i.e., blogs associ-
ated with professional organizations).
The goal was to ensure that the material in the book is accurate, interesting, and reflects the
most important developments in the business world. This process resulted in the inclusion of 1,507
references to works published since the last edition went to press (485 in 2022; 567 in 2021; 305 in
2020; 153 in 2019).
Examining a wide array of sources provided many valuable examples of how companies across
the world are using (or not using) the strategic management process. Though many of the hun-
dreds of companies discussed in the book will be familiar to you, some will likely be new. One
reason for this diversity is that the book contains examples of companies from around the world
to demonstrate the globalized nature of business operations. Some of these firms are fairly large
and known by many, while others are small and known primarily to the customers they serve. To
facilitate learning, the book uses an Analysis-Strategy-Performance framework; we explain this
framework in Chapter 1 and reference it throughout the book.
Several characteristics of this fourteenth edition are designed to enhance your learning
experience:
● First, this book presents you with the most comprehensive and thorough coverage of strategic
management available in the market.
● The research used in this book includes “classics” as well as the most recent contributions
to strategic management literature. The historically significant classic research provides the
foundation for much of what we know about strategic management, while the most recent
contributions reveal insights about how to use strategic management effectively in the com-
plex, global business environment in which firms compete. Although the relevant theory and
current research are the foundation for this book, it also is strongly application oriented and
presents you with numerous examples and applications of strategic management concepts,
techniques, and tools. This edition, for example, uses more than 600 companies to illustrate
strategic management in action. Collectively, no other strategic management book presents
you with the combination of useful and insightful research and applications in diverse organi-
zations as does this text.
● Examples you will find in this edition include large U.S.-based firms such as Tesla, Meta
Platforms, BlackRock, Costco, Apple, McDonald’s, FedEx, Starbucks, Walmart, Walt Disney,
General Electric, Intel, Coca-Cola, Netflix, Tupperware, Shaw Industries, Instacart, Harley-
Davidson, Patagonia, Publix, Peloton, Kroger, Campbell Soup, Fanatics, Frontier Airlines,
Accenture, Pfizer, Google, Target, UPS, Bed Bath & Beyond, and many more.
● In addition, examples of firms based in countries other than the United States include Toshiba,
Airbus, Sony, Carrefour, Softbank, Nestlé, Piclo Flex, Tata Group, Rio Tinto Group, Unilever,
IKEA, Komatsu, Toyota, Aldi, Honda, Groupe Limagrain, Alibaba, Lenovo, Volkswagen, and
Samsung. As these lists suggest, the firms this book examines compete in a wide range of
industries and produce a diverse set of goods and services.
xiv

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Preface xv

● The ideas of many prominent scholars are included in this book, including Ron Adner,
Rajshree Agarwal, Ruth Aguilera, Gautam Ahuja, Raffi Amit, Africa Arino, Jay Barney, Paul
Beamish, Peter Buckley, Alfred Chandler, Ming-Jer Chen, Russ Coff, Brian Connelly, Rich
D’Aveni, Kathy Eisenhardt, Nicolas Foss, Edward Freeman, Gerry George, Javier Gimeno, Luis
Gomez-Mejia, Melissa Graebner, Ranjay Gulati, Don Hambrick, Joseph Harrison, Connie
Helfat, Amy Hillman, Tomas Hult, Tom Jones, Dave Ketchen, Ryan Krause, Dovev Lavie,
Haiyang, Li, Yadong Luo, Shige Makino, Costas Markides, Anita McGahan, Danny Miller, Will
Mitchell, Margie Peteraf, Michael Porter, Nandini Rajagopalan, Jeff Reuer, Joan Ricart, Richard
Rumelt, Wei Shi, David Sirmon, Ken Smith, Steve Tallman, David Teece, Rosalie Tung, Michael
Tushman, Eero Vaara, Margarethe Wiersema, Oliver Williamson, Mike Wright, Anthea Zhang,
Shaker Zahara, and Ed Zajac, among many others.
In addition to the book’s characteristics, let us highlight some specific features and revisions:
● New Opening Cases and Strategic Focus Segments Almost all of the Opening Cases and Stra-
tegic Focus segments are new! A very few were updated completely because of their continuing
relevance and importance. Many of these application-oriented features deal with companies
located outside North America. In addition, the company-specific examples included in each
chapter are either new or were checked for their continuing relevance and accuracy.
● Twenty-two New Cases are included in this edition. Offering an effective mix of organizations
headquartered or based in North America and several other countries as well, the cases deal
with contemporary and highly important strategic management topics. Many of the cases have
full financial data. These timely cases present active learners with opportunities to apply the
strategic management process and understand organizational conditions and contexts and to
make appropriate recommendations to deal with critical concerns. These cases also appear in
MindTap (see description below).
● New Mini-Cases appear at the end of each chapter. These cases describe how companies deal
with major issues the text highlights. The book includes 13 of these cases, one for each chapter,
although some of them can overlap with other chapter content. Students will like their concise-
ness, but they likewise provide rich content that can serve as a catalyst for individual or group
analysis and class discussion. A set of questions, which guide analysis and discussion, follows
each Mini-Case.
● Completely new or expanded content appears in all of the chapters to reflect the many changes
currently taking place in strategic management. Much of this content pertains to ideas found in
more than one chapter. Consequently, you will find in the book a continuing, integrated thread
for these topics, with references back to the place they were mentioned or defined initially.
Chapter 1 introduces many of the new concepts because it lays a foundation for the rest of the
book; however, most of them receive thorough treatment in a later chapter. Examples of this
content, and the chapters in which it can be found, include:
● Corporate social responsibility (CSR), sustainability, ESG, and greenwashing (Chapters 1,
2, 6, 8–13)
● Nonmarket strategies and social capital (Chapters 2, 3, 5)
● Ecosystems, platform strategies, multi-party alliances, and coopetition (Chapters 2, 5, 9)
● Deglobalization and protectionism (Chapters 1, 8)
● Digitalization, digital strategies, big data, and the metaverse (Chapters 1, 2, 4–9, 13)
● Benefit corporations and B-Corp certification (Chapters 2, 10)
● Stakeholder perspective and stakeholder-oriented strategic management (Chapters 1, 6,
10, 12)
● Global supply chains and global value chains (Chapters 1, 8)
● Cryptocurrencies and blockchain (Chapters 2, 13)
● Artificial intelligence (Chapters 1, 3)
● Digital platform organizations and structure (Chapters 4, 8, 11)
● Cross-border learning (Chapter 8)
● Inflation (Chapters 2, 8)
● Global conflict and war (Chapters 2, 8)
● Global pandemic, COVID-19 (Chapters 1–5, 8)
● Activist investors and investor “wolf-packs” (Chapters 6, 7, 10)
● Strategic human capital (Chapters 3, 4)

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Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
xvi Preface

● Restructuring to create value (Chapters 7, 10)


● Gender and racial diversity on the board and the top management team (Chapters 10, 12)
● An Exceptional Balance between current research and up-to-date applications of that research
in actual organizations located throughout the world is used in the book. The content has
not only the best research documentation but also the largest number of effective real-world
examples to help active learners understand the different types of strategies organizations use
to achieve their vision and mission and to seek to outperform rivals.

Supplements to Accompany This Text


MindTap. MindTap is the digital learning solution that helps instructors engage students and helps
students become tomorrow’s strategic leaders. All activities are designed to teach students to prob-
lem-solve and think like leaders. Through these activities and real-time course analytics, and an
accessible reader, MindTap helps you turn cookie cutter into cutting edge, apathy into engagement,
and memorizers into higher-level thinkers.
Activities are customized to the specific needs of this course and built to facilitate mastery of
chapter content. We’ve addressed case analysis from cornerstone to capstone with a functional
area diagnostic of prior knowledge, guided cases, branching activities, multimedia presentations
of real-world companies facing strategic decisions, and a collaborative environment in which
students can complete group case analysis projects together synchronously. MindTap for this four-
teenth edition includes the following features:
● Cornerstone to Capstone Diagnostic assesses students’ functional area knowledge in the key
discipline areas of Accounting, Finance, Economics, Marketing, and lower-level Management
and provides feedback and remediation so that students are up to speed and prepared for the
strategic management course material.
● Learn It Activities New “Learn It” activities take concepts from the text and distill them into
consumable summaries. Learn It activities are designed to reinforce the content in the text and
simultaneously offer low-stakes assessment and feedback.
MindTap eBook: This dynamic eBook brings the value, concepts, and applications of the
printed text to life. Using the eBook, students can easily search for content and take highlights
and notes to enable engaged learning and studying practices.
● Apply It Chapter Assignments assess students’ comprehension of the reading material and go
further in asking learners to apply and analyze the content within varying contexts.
● Apply It Case Activities pair a case from the text with assessment questions that are designed
to guide them through basic case analysis. These activities aligned with short chapter-based
cases help prepare learners for more advanced case analysis work later in the course.
● Study It: Flashcards Digital flashcards serve to help learners become familiar with course
terminology.
● Study It: StudyPods New to this version of MindTap, StudyPods are audio-based summaries
of learning objectives that aim to help learners fit studying into their busy lives. These audio
features restate the core material using accessible, everyday language to help learners take in
essential content in new and different ways.
● Study It: Practice Tests Practice tests offer learners an opportunity to assess themselves on
their knowledge of course content before engaging in higher-stakes, graded assessments like
midterms and final exams.
● “You Make the Decision” Activities These scenario-based activities are included at the part
level in MindTap and present challenging business problems that cannot be solved with one
specific, correct answer. Students are presented with a series of decisions to be made based
upon information they are given about a company. They are scored according to the quality
of their decisions.
● Case Analysis Projects Case Analysis projects are aligned with the cases written by authors
Charles Hill and Melissa Schilling and found within the appendix of the core text. These activ-
ities challenge students to think and act like tomorrow’s strategic leaders. Use our default
case analysis activity, written by seasoned strategic management instructors, or customize the
project to suit your class. These activities may be completed by a pair or group of students or
independently as instructors see fit.

Copyright 2024 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
Preface xvii

It is not our intention to suggest that all exercises should be used for every chapter. Strategic
management is taught at both undergraduate and graduate levels, and therefore, we offer a vari-
ety of pedagogically designed activities with numerous challenge levels so that instructors can
customize MindTap to best suit their teaching style and the course objectives. That said, we have
been highly intentional in designing a MindTap learning path that scaffolds learners through the
content and offers a multi-modal experience to serve learners of varying preferences and levels.
We have found that our interactive approach to teaching strategic management appeals to stu-
dents. It also greatly improves the quality of their learning experience. Our approach is more fully
discussed in the Instructor’s Resource Manual.

Teaching and Learning Aids


Instructor Website. Access important teaching resources on this companion website. For your
convenience, you can download electronic versions of the instructor supplements from the pass-
word-protected section of the site, including Instructor’s Resource Manual, Comprehensive Case
Notes, Cognero Testing, and PowerPoint® slides. To access these additional course materials and
companion resources, please visit www.cengage.com.
● Instructor’s Resource Manual. The Instructor’s Resource Manual, organized around each chap-
ter’s knowledge objectives, includes teaching ideas for each chapter and how to reinforce essen-
tial principles with extra examples. This support product includes lecture outlines and detailed
guides to integrating the MindTap activities into your course with instructions for using each
chapter’s experiential exercises, branching, and directed cases. Finally, we provide outlines and
guidance to help you customize the collaborative work environment and case analysis project
to incorporate your approach to case analysis, including creative ideas for using this feature
throughout your course for the most powerful learning experience for your class.
● Case Notes. These notes include directed assignments, financial analyses, and thorough dis-
cussion and exposition of issues in the case. Select cases also have assessment rubrics tied to
National Standards (AACSB outcomes) that can be used for grading each case. The Case Notes
provide consistent and thorough support for instructors, following the method the author
team espouses for preparing an effective case analysis.
● Cognero Test Bank. This program is easy-to-use test-creation software that is compatible with
Microsoft Windows. Instructors can add or edit questions, instructions, and answers, and select
questions by previewing them on the screen, selecting them randomly, or selecting them by
number. Instructors can also create and administer quizzes online, whether over the Internet, a
local area network (LAN), or a wide area network (WAN). Thoroughly revised and enhanced,
test bank questions are linked to each chapter’s knowledge objectives and ranked by difficulty
and question type. We provide an ample number of application questions throughout, and we
have also retained scenario-based questions as a means of adding in-depth problem-solving
questions. The questions are also tagged to National Standards (AACSB outcomes), Bloom’s
Taxonomy, and the Dierdorff/Rubin metrics.
● PowerPoints®. An updated PowerPoint presentation provides support for lectures, emphasiz-
ing key concepts, key terms, and instructive graphics.

Acknowledgments
We express our appreciation for the excellent support received from our editorial and production
team at Cengage. We especially wish to thank Mike Worls, Senior Portfolio Product Manager;
Courtney Wolstoncroft, Anterior Learning Designer; and Meaghan Tomaso, our Senior Content
Manager. We are grateful for their dedication, commitment, and outstanding contributions to the
development and publication of this book and its package of support materials.

Michael A. Hitt
R. Duane Ireland
Robert E. Hoskisson
Jeffrey S. Harrison

Copyright 2024 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
About the
Authors
Michael A. Hitt
Michael A. Hitt is a University Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Texas A&M University. Dr. Hitt
received his Ph.D. from the University of Colorado. He has co-authored or co-edited 28 books and
authored or co-authored many journal articles. A recent article listed him as one of the 10 most cited
authors in management over a 25-year period. The Times Higher Education 2010 listed him among
the top scholars in economics, finance, and management based on the number of highly cited articles
he has authored. A recent article in the Academy of Management Perspectives lists him as one of the
top two management scholars in terms of the combined impact of his work both inside (i.e., citations
in scholarly journals) and outside of academia. And, a recent article in the Academy of Management
Learning and Education lists him as the highest cited author in strategic management textbooks. He
has served on the editorial review boards of multiple journals and is a former editor of the Academy
of Management Journal, a former co-editor of the Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal and a former
editor-in-chief of Oxford Research Encyclopedia. He is a fellow in the Academy of Management, the
Strategic Management Society, and the Academy of International Business. He has received honorary
doctorates (Doctor Honoris Causa) from the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid and from Jonkoping
University. He is a former president of both the Academy of Management and the Strategic Man-
agement Society. He received awards for the best article published in the Academy of Management
Executive (1999), Academy of Management Journal (2000), Journal of Management (2006), and Family
Business Review (2012). He has received the Irwin Outstanding Educator Award, the Career Achieve-
ment Award for Distinguished Service, and the Career Award for Distinguished Educator from the
Academy of Management. He received Distinguished Alumnus Awards from Texas Tech University
and from the University of Colorado in 2018. In 2014–2022, Dr. Hitt has been listed as a Thomson
Reuters Highly Cited Researcher (a listing of the world’s most influential researchers).

R. Duane Ireland
R. Duane Ireland is a University Distinguished Professor Emeritus in Mays Business School, Texas
A&M University, where he held the Benton Cocanougher Chair in Business. Previously, he served
Mays in various leadership roles, including those of Head of the Department of Management,
executive associate dean, acting dean, and interim dean. He taught strategic management courses
at all educational levels. He has more than 200 publications, including approximately 25 books.
His research, which focuses on diversification, innovation, corporate entrepreneurship, strate-
gic entrepreneurship, and the informal economy, appears in an array of journals. He served as a
member of multiple editorial review boards and is a former editor (and a former associate editor)
of the Academy of Management Journal. He is also a former Consulting Editor for the Academy
of Management Executive. He has been a guest editor for 13 special issues of journals. He is a past
president of the Academy of Management. Dr. Ireland is a fellow of the Academy of Management,
a fellow of the Strategic Management Society, and a research fellow in the Global Consortium of
Entrepreneurship Centers. A recent article in the Academy of Management Learning and Education
lists him as among the most highly cited authors in strategic management textbooks. He received
awards for the best article published in Academy of Management Executive (1999), the Academy of
Management Journal (2000), and the Journal of Applied Management and Entrepreneurship (2010).
He received an Association of Former Students Distinguished Achievement Award for Research
from Texas A&M University (2012). In 2014, 2015, 2017 and 2018, and 2020 Thomson Reuters
identified Dr. Ireland as a Thomson Reuters Highly Cited Researcher (a listing of the world’s most
influential researchers). He received a Distinguished Service award from the Academy of Manage-
ment in 2017 and a Distinguished Service award from the strategic management division of the
Academy of Management in the same year. The Rawls College of Business, Texas Tech University
xviii

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Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
About the Authors xix

chose him as a Distinguished Alumnus in 2017. Also in 2017, he received the Lifetime Achievement
Award for Research and Scholarship from Mays Business School.

Robert E. Hoskisson
Robert E. Hoskisson is the George R. Brown Emeritus Chair of Strategic Management at the Jesse
H. Jones Graduate School of Business, Rice University. Dr. Hoskisson received his Ph.D. from the
University of California-Irvine. His research topics focus on corporate governance, acquisitions
and divestitures, corporate and international diversification, and cooperative strategy. He teaches
courses in corporate and international strategic management, cooperative strategy, and strategy
consulting. He has co-authored 34 books, including a recent book entitled “Understanding and
Managing Strategic Governance” (with Wei Shi, 2021). Dr. Hoskisson has served on several edito-
rial boards for such publications as the Strategic Management Journal (Associate Editor), Academy
of Management Journal (Consulting Editor), Journal of International Business Studies (Consulting
Editor), Journal of Management (Associate Editor), Organization Science, Journal of Management
Studies (Special Issue Guest Editor). His research has appeared in over 130 publications, including
the Strategic Management Journal, Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management
Review, Organization Science, Journal of Management, Academy of Management Perspectives, Acad-
emy of Management Executive, Journal of Management Studies, Journal of International Business
Studies, Journal of Business Venturing, Leadership Quarterly, Organization Studies, Strategic Man-
agement Review, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, California Management Review, and Jour-
nal of World Business. A recent article in the Academy of Management Learning and Education lists
him among the most highly cited authors in strategic management textbooks. He is listed in the
Thomson Reuters Highly Cited Researcher list that catalogues the world’s most influential research
scholars. Dr. Hoskisson is a fellow of the Academy of Management and a charter member of the
Academy of Management Journal’s Hall of Fame. He is also a fellow of the Strategic Management
Society and has received awards from the American Society for Competitiveness and the William
G. Dyer Alumni award from the Marriott School of Management, Brigham Young University. He
completed three years of service as a Representative-at-Large on the Board of Governors of the
Academy of Management. He also served as President of the Strategic Management Society, and
served on the Executive Committee of its Board of Directors for six years.

Jeffrey S. Harrison
Jeffrey S. Harrison is a University Distinguished Educator, University Distinguished Scholar, and
the W. David Robbins Chair of Strategic Management at the Robins School of Business, University
of Richmond. He is also a recipient of the Virginia State Council of Higher Education (SCHEV)
Outstanding Faculty Award. Prior to his current appointment he served as the Fred G. Peelen
Professor of Global Hospitality Strategy at Cornell University. His Ph.D. in Strategic Management
is from the University of Utah. Dr. Harrison’s research interests include stakeholder theory and
strategic management. His work has been published in high impact academic journals such as
Strategic Management Journal, Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review,
Journal of Management, Journal of Management Studies, Business Ethics Quarterly, and Journal of
Business Ethics. He has published thirteen books (on his own or with co-authors). Dr. Harrison
currently serves as editor of the Stakeholder Strategy Section of the Journal of Business Ethics and
on several editorial boards, including Strategic Management Journal and Business Ethics Quarterly.
He has served as an editor for special issues at several journals, including Academy of Management
Journal, Academy of Management Review, Business & Society, and Academy of Management Per-
spectives. He also served as chair of the Stakeholder Strategy Interest Group at the Strategic Man-
agement Society, a group he helped organize. He has co-organized several conferences in North
America and Europe that have attracted experts from dozens of nations. In addition, Dr. Harrison
has provided consulting and executive training services to many organizations in the U.S. and
South America on a wide range of strategic, entrepreneurial, and other business issues. His clients
have included Lockheed Martin, Siemens Westinghouse, American Express, Southdown, Volvo,
DuPont, Multiple Sclerosis Society, and many others.

Copyright 2024 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
xx

Social/
Manu­ Food/ Internet/ International Ethical Industry
Case Title facturing Service Retail High Tech Comm. Perspective Issues Information COVID-19

Airbus A380 X X X X

Air France-KLM X X X

Ant Group X X X X

Aventiv
X X X
Technologies

Blue Apron X X X

Gap X X X X X

Haier X X X

Hershey X X X

Hilton X X X

JIO/Facebook X X X

Marriott X X X X

Meta X X X X X

Netflix X X X

NIO vs. Tesla X X X X

Pacari Chocolate X X X X

Port of Antwerp X X X

Re: Build
X
Manufacturing

Uber X X X X X

Washington Post X X

Waymo X X X X

Wellington
X X X
Brewery

We Work X X

Copyright 2024 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
xxi

Ch Ch Ch Ch
Case Title Ch 1 Ch 2 Ch 3 Ch 4 Ch 5 Ch 6 Ch 7 Ch 8 Ch 9 10 11 12 13

Airbus A380 X X X

Air France-KLM X X X

Ant Group X X X X

Aventiv
X X X X
Technologies

Blue Apron X X X

Gap X X X X X X

Haier X X X X

Hershey X X X X

Hilton X X X X

JIO/Facebook X X

Marriott X X X X

Meta X X X X X

Netflix X X X X

NIO vs. Tesla X X X

Pacari Chocolate X X X X X

Port of Antwerp X X

Re: Build
X X X X
Manufacturing

Uber X X X X X

Washington Post X X X X

Waymo X X X X

Wellington
X X X
Brewery

We Work X X X

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Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
Chapter 1
Strategic Management and
Strategic Competitiveness

Learning Objectives
Studying this chapter should provide you with the strategic
management knowledge needed to:
1-1 Define strategic competitiveness, strategy, competitive advantage,
above-average returns, and the strategic management process.
1-2 Describe the competitive landscape and explain how globalization,
technological changes, and expectations of socially responsible
behavior shape it.
1-3 Use the industrial organization (I/O) model to explain how firms can
earn above-average returns.
1-4 Use the resource-based model to explain how firms can earn above-
average returns.
1-5 Use the stakeholder model to explain how firms can earn above-
average returns.
1-6 Describe vision, mission, and values, and explain why they are important.
1-7 Describe strategic leaders and what they do.
1-8 Explain the strategic management process.

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Hertz Has a Wild Ride
The Hertz Corporation, now a subsidiary of Hertz Global Holdings, Inc., began its car
rental operations under the leadership of Walter Jacobs with a dozen Ford Model
T cars in Chicago in 1918. Called Rent-a-Car, Inc., the company grew rapidly and
was purchased by John D. Hertz, owner of Yellow Truck and Coach Manufacturing
Company, in 1923. He re-named the company Hertz Drive-Ur-Self System. After three
years, the rental car brand was sold to General Motors, which sold the brand back to
John Hertz in 1953. The company’s stock began trading on the New York Stock Ex-
change in 1954. Over the years the company has been owned, in addition to General
Motors, by Radio Corporation of America, UAL Corporation (later known as Allegis),
Ford Motor Company, and a consortium of private equity firms, which ultimately took
the company public again in 2006.
In spite of, or perhaps because of, all the changes in ownership, Hertz has a
history of innovation. It was the first company to offer a rental charge card, the first
to offer one-way rentals, and the first international car rental company to expand
into China. In addition, the company partnered with auto manufacturers to develop
and rent specialty cars for its fleet, including a Ford GT350H Mustang and a modified
Chevrolet Corvette
ZH-Z coupe. Hertz
was an early inno-
vator in self-service
car rental kiosks and
hourly car rentals.
The company also
grew through devel-
oping a new brand,
Advantage Rent-A-
Car, and through the
acquisition of Dollar
Thrifty Automotive
Group, after which
Jonathan Weiss/Shutterstock.com

the Advantage brand


was sold. Hertz also
operates the Firefly
brand in interna-
tional markets. In
advertising, Hertz
was one of the first
companies to feature Hertz has a long history of being an innovator in the car
an African American in rental industry
its commercials.
The car rental industry is incredibly competitive. Enterprise Holdings is the largest
car rental company in the United States, with over 1 million cars. Internationally,
Enterprise has nearly 10,000 car rental locations in approximately 100 countries and
territories. In comparison, Hertz has approximately 1,500 airport rental locations in the
United States and 2,000 airport rental locations internationally. However, Hertz also has
approximately 2,400 off-airport locations in the United States and 6,100 off-airport loca-
tions internationally, which makes the company similar in size to Enterprise. Rounding
out the largest competitors is Avis Budget Group. These three competitors control over
90 percent of the rental car business in the United States. Competition in the industry
is largely based on advertising leading to brand preferences, competitive prices, and
loyalty programs. Online services such as Priceline.com, Expedia.com, and Kayak.com
mean that consumers have an information advantage over the car rental companies in
finding competitive rates, which keeps prices low.
In spite of the pressure to keep prices low, car rental companies still earn profits
because of their business models. Most of them buy new cars in fleets at reduced prices
directly from manufacturers. They keep the cars for only a short amount of time, which
© anilakkus / Getty Images

makes the cars very attractive to customers and reduces maintenance costs. When they
sell the cars, because the cars have low mileage and were purchased at a discount, car
rental companies are able to recoup most or all of the original purchase prices. However,
this business model makes car rental companies vulnerable to steep losses if used car
prices decline. Car rental companies are also vulnerable to shifts in tourist travel.
3

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4

Both sources of vulnerability became evident when the COVID-19 pandemic hit the global
economy. Tourism dropped to almost nothing, which especially hurt car rental companies
as well as airlines and hotels. In addition, there was a drop in demand for used cars, which
made selling its fleet difficult. Hertz cut jobs and sold a lot of its fleet in an attempt to pay
creditors and remain solvent. The company’s sales shrank 46 percent from 2019 to 2020, and
the company lost nearly $2 billion. In May 2020, the company was forced to file for Chapter 11
bankruptcy to provide some temporary relief from creditors and buy some time to restructure
its debt and its operations. At one point, Hertz shares were selling for under a dollar.
In May of 2021, a group of investors won a bidding contest in bankruptcy court for
control of the company, with a plan to modernize the company’s technology and improve
customer service. They arranged to have a new issue of Hertz stock begin trading in early
July, the day after the company exited bankruptcy. Then, in the summer of 2021, good for-
tune smiled on Hertz. With many COVID-19 travel restrictions being lifted, tourism increased
dramatically. The car rental industry was not prepared for it. Demand outstripped supply of
rental cars, and it was not unusual for vacationers to pay $275 per day for a SUV in popular
locations; $100-per-day rentals on regular cars were common. The restructuring had dra-
matically reduced Hertz’s debt burden, so they were well positioned to take advantage of
the uptick in demand.
As Hertz rebounds, innovation is taking front stage again. The company is buying
100,000 electric cars from Tesla for its fleet. It also has a partnership with Uber Technolo-
gies focused on autonomous driving and the possibility of developing robotaxi networks. The
company wants to play a large role in the modern mobility ecosystem (all the firms that carry
out interdependent activities that provide mobility to customers). In an amazing turnaround
of fortunes, Barron’s identified Hertz as one of its 10 top stocks for investment in 2022.
Sources: C. English, 2022, Hertz stock could take off this year. Here’s why, Barron’s, www.barrons.com, January 7; 2022, Financials for
Hertz Global Holdings Inc., Barrons, www.barrons.com, January 26; 2020, Hertz Global Holdings Annual Report; A. Bary, 2021, Here are
Barron’s 10 top stocks for the new year, Barrons, www.barrons.com, December 27; A. Bary, 2021, Reorganized Hertz puts investors
in driver’s seat, Barrons, www.barrons.com, June 28; K. G. Pringle, 2021, Hertz could revolutionize rental cars once again, Barrons,
www.barrons.com, November 10.

Learning Objective
1-1 An Overview of Strategy and Strategic
1-1 Define strategic
competitiveness, Competitiveness
strategy, competitive
As the Opening Case demonstrates, achieving and maintaining strategic competitiveness in a vol-
advantage, above-
average returns, and the atile global economy is indeed challenging. Intense competition among a small group of industry
strategic management leaders, dependence on tourism, and changing technologies are all strong forces in the auto rental
process. industry. A shock like the COVID-19 pandemic had an especially large negative impact on the
industry, but what is most fascinating is that lifting travel restrictions also unleashed strong posi-
Firms achieve strategic
competitiveness by
tive forces that allowed the industry, and Hertz, to recover.
successfully formulating Firms achieve strategic competitiveness by successfully formulating and implementing a value-
and implementing a value creating strategy. A strategy is an integrated and coordinated set of commitments and actions
creating strategy. designed to exploit core competencies and gain a competitive advantage. When choosing a strat-
A strategy is an integrated egy, firms make choices among competing alternatives as the pathway for deciding how they will
and coordinated set of pursue strategic competitiveness. In this sense, the chosen strategy indicates what the firm will do
commitments and actions
designed to exploit core
as well as what the firm will not do.
competencies and gain a A firm has a competitive advantage when, by implementing a chosen strategy, it creates supe-
competitive advantage. rior value for customers, and when competitors are not able to imitate the value the firm’s prod-
A firm has a competitive ucts create or find it too expensive to attempt imitation.1 An organization can be confident that
advantage when, by its strategy yields a competitive advantage after competitors’ efforts to duplicate it have ceased or
implementing a chosen failed. In addition, firms must understand that no competitive advantage is permanent. The speed
strategy, it creates superior
with which competitors are able to acquire the skills needed to duplicate the benefits of a firm’s
value for customers, and when
competitors are not able to value-creating strategy determines how long the competitive advantage will last.2 Consider, for
imitate the value the firm’s example, that although Hertz was often an innovator in the industry, competitors were able to copy
products create or find it too Hertz’s innovations with relative ease, which means that the company could only enjoy a competi-
expensive to attempt imitation.
tive advantage for a short time.

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Chapter 1: Strategic Management and Strategic Competitiveness 5

Possessing a competitive advantage, and understanding how to use it effectively in market-


place competition, is foundational to all firms’ efforts to achieve strategic competitiveness and
outperform rivals. In essence, a firm creates a competitive advantage by being as different as
possible from competitors in ways that are important to customers and in ways that competitors
cannot duplicate. Important differences are ones for which customers are willing to pay. In the
car rental industry, one of the only sustainable sources of competitive advantage is brand name.
A well-known brand such as Hertz, Enterprise, or Avis allows these companies to charge a pre-
mium for their car rentals, in spite of the information advantages that consumers have because of
access to car rental websites that list all available options and their prices. This means that some
of the smaller, less-well-known competitors have to rent their cars at a substantially lower price
than the well-known brands.
Almost no competitive advantage is sustainable permanently. In some instances, a firm’s
advantage no longer creates value for which customers are willing to pay. In other cases, com-
petitors will learn how to create more value for customers with respect to a valued competitive
dimension for which they are willing to pay. Thus, to achieve strategic competitiveness across
time, a firm must concentrate simultaneously on exploiting the competitive advantage it pos-
sesses today while contemplating decisions to make to ensure that it will possess a competitive
advantage in the future.
The success with which firms in an industry formulate and implement their value creating
strategies determines whether their performance will be above, at, or below average compared to
comparable companies. Above-average returns are returns in excess of what an investor expects Above-average returns
to earn from other investments with a similar amount of risk. Risk is an investor’s uncertainty are returns in excess of what
an investor expects to earn
about the economic gains or losses that will result from a particular investment. The most success- from other investments with
ful companies learn how to manage risk effectively; doing so reduces investors’ uncertainty about a similar amount of risk.
the outcomes of their investments.3 Firms often use accounting-based metrics, such as return on
Risk is an investor’s
assets, return on equity, and return on sales to assess their performance. Alternatively, firms can uncertainty about the
assess their performance in terms of stock market returns. In smaller, new venture firms, returns economic gains or losses that
are sometimes measured in terms of the amount and speed of growth (e.g., annual sales) rather will result from a particular
investment.
than more traditional profitability measures because new ventures require time to earn acceptable
returns for investors.4
Understanding how to exploit a competitive advantage is important for firms seeking to earn
above-average returns.5 Firms without a competitive advantage or that do not compete in an attrac-
tive industry earn, at best, average returns. Average returns are returns equal to those an investor Average returns are returns
expects to earn from other investments possessing a similar amount of risk. Over time, an inability equal to those an investor
expects to earn from other
to earn at least average returns results first in decline and, eventually, failure.6 For instance, for a investments with a similar
while Hertz was not able to generate enough returns for a company in such a high-risk industry. As amount of risk.
a result, they were unable to secure the financing needed to remain solvent. This is typical, as failure
occurs when investors withdraw their investments from firms earning less-than-average returns,
even if it is an external shock like a pandemic that is the cause of the poor performance.
The strategic management process is the full set of commitments, decisions, and actions The strategic management
firms take to achieve strategic competitiveness and earn above-average returns.7 The process process is the full set of
commitments, decisions,
involves analysis, strategy, and performance (the A-S-P model—see Figure 1.1). The firm’s first and actions required for a
step in the process is to analyze its external environment and internal organization to identify firm to achieve strategic
external opportunities and threats and to recognize its internal resources, capabilities, and core competitiveness and earn
competencies. The results of these analyses influence the selection of the firm’s strategy or strate- above-average returns.
gies. The strategy portion of the model entails strategy formulation and strategy implementation.
With the information gained from external and internal analyses, the firm develops its vision,
mission, and values, and formulates one or more strategies. To implement its strategies, the firm
takes actions to enact each one with the intent of achieving strategic competitiveness and above-
average returns (performance). Effective actions that take place in the context of integrated strategy
formulation and implementation efforts result in positive performance. Firms seek to maintain the
quality of what is a dynamic strategic management process as a means of dealing successfully with
ever-changing markets and evolving internal conditions.8 In the remaining chapters of this book,
we use the strategic management process to explain what firms do to achieve strategic competitive-
ness and earn above-average returns. We demonstrate why some firms achieve competitive success
consistently while others do not.

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Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
6 Part 1: Strategic Management Inputs

Figure 1.1 The Strategic Management Process

Chapter 2
The External
Environment
Vision
Analysis

Mission
Values

Chapter 3
The Internal
Organization

Strategy Formulation Strategy Implementation

Chapter 5
Chapter 11
Chapter 4 Competitive Chapter 6 Chapter 10
Organizational
Business-Level Rivalry and Corporate- Corporate
Structure and
Strategy

Strategy Competitive Level Strategy Governance


Controls
Dynamics

Chapter 7
Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 12 Chapter 13
Merger and
International Cooperative Strategic Strategic
Acquisition
Strategy Strategy Leadership Entrepreneurship
Strategies
Performance

Strategic
Competitiveness
Above-Average
Returns

We begin this chapter with several topics that are important to laying a foundation for the
strategic management process. First, we describe the current competitive landscape. Several
realities, including the emergence of a global economy, globalization resulting from that econ-
omy, and rapid technological changes, influence this landscape. Next, we examine three models
that firms use to gather the information and knowledge required to choose and then effectively
implement their strategies. The first model (industrial organization or I/O) suggests that the
external environment is the primary determinant of a firm’s strategic actions. According to this
model, identifying and then operating effectively in an attractive (i.e., profitable) industry or
segment of an industry are the keys to competitive success.9 The second model (resource-based)
suggests that a firm’s unique resources and capabilities are the critical link to strategic compet-
itiveness.10 The third model is based on the notion that the quality of a firm’s relationships with
internal and external constituencies (stakeholders) can lead organizations to achieve above-
average returns.
The information firms gather as they apply the three models helps firms define their purpose,
as reflected in a mission, vision, and values. After a discussion of missions, visions, and values, we
close the chapter with a brief introduction to strategic leadership and the elements of the strategic
management process.

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Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
Chapter 1: Strategic Management and Strategic Competitiveness 7

1-2 The Competitive Landscape Learning Objective


1-2 Describe the
The fundamental nature of competition in many of the world’s industries has changed. Digitalization, competitive landscape
for example, which is the process of converting something to digital form, is a competitive dimen- and explain how
sion that is affecting competition in multiple industries throughout the world. Firms committed globalization,
to becoming digital leaders may be able to distinguish themselves from competitors by producing technological changes,
innovative products that unique groups of customers value. A significant benefit of digitaliza- and expectations of
tion is that it allows firms to identify specific customer groups and then serve their personalized socially responsible
behavior shape it.
and unique needs. Also, the rising generation is “always on” through their smartphones, tablets,
gaming systems, and other media. Thus, in today’s competitive landscape, a challenge is for firms
to understand the strategic implications associated with digitalization and to integrate digitaliza-
tion effectively into their strategies.
In the current competitive landscape, conventional sources of competitive advantage such as
economies of scale and large advertising budgets may not be as effective as they once were in terms
of helping firms earn above-average returns. The large plants associated with economies of scale
have often been replaced with outsourcing to countries where labor rates are low. Advertising on
television and in magazines or other traditional outlets is less effective because of the dramatic
increase in media outlets from which consumers receive entertainment and news, a direct result of
digitalization. Consequently, managers in many industries must adopt a mind-set that values flex-
ibility, speed, innovation, integration, and the challenges flowing from constantly changing condi-
tions.11 The conditions of the competitive landscape result in a perilous business world—a world in
which the investments necessary to compete on a global scale are enormous and the consequences
of failure are severe.12 Effective use of the strategic management process reduces the likelihood of
failure for firms while competing against their rivals.
Hypercompetition is a condition in which competitors engage in intense rivalry, markets Hypercompetition is a
change quickly and often, and entry barriers are low. In these environments, firms find it difficult condition where competitors
engage in intense rivalry,
to maintain a competitive advantage.13 Rivalry in hypercompetitive environments tends to occur markets change quickly and
among global competitors who innovate regularly and successfully.14 It is a condition of rapidly often, and entry barriers are
escalating competition based on price-quality positioning, competition to create new know-how low.
and establish first-mover advantage, and competition to protect or invade established product
and/or geographic markets. In a hypercompetitive market, firms often challenge their competitors
aggressively to strengthen their market position and ultimately, their performance.15 The fast-food
industry and ecommerce are examples of hypercompetitive markets. However, many industries
and markets have some of the characteristics associated with hypercompetition due to the emer-
gence of a global economy, rapid technological changes, and the global push to make businesses
accountable for societal outcomes.
Several factors influence the nature of the current competitive landscape.

1-2a The Global Economy


A global economy is one in which goods, services, people, skills, and ideas move with limited bar- A global economy is one
riers across geographic borders. Although artificial constraints, such as tariffs, may have a limited in which goods, services,
people, skills, and ideas move
impact, the relatively free exchanges that occur in the global economy significantly expand and with limited barriers across
complicate a firm’s competitive environment.16 Firms must study the global economy carefully as a geographic borders.
foundation for learning how to position themselves to be competitive.
An understanding of the size of the economies in which a firm participates is important when
studying the global environment. In 2021 for example, the United States was the world’s largest
economy at an estimated value of approximately $23 trillion. At that time, China was the world’s
second-largest economy with a value of nearly $17 trillion, while Japan was the third largest at a
little over $5 trillion. Following Japan were Germany, the United Kingdom, India, and France.17
Thus, companies scanning the global economy for opportunities might conclude that markets in
the United States, China, and Japan yield potentially significant opportunities for them.
Protectionism involves
Of course, such an analysis also must consider entry barriers to various economies in the form actions taken by a government
of tariffs. A tariff is a tax imposed by a government on goods imported into their country. It is one to protect its economy from
of the evidences of what is called protectionism, which involves actions taken by a government to adverse influences due to
foreign trade.
protect its economy from adverse influences due to foreign trade.18 Sometimes tariffs are used as

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Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
8 Part 1: Strategic Management Inputs

a weapon against a country in an effort to gain concessions in other areas.19 For example, the U.S.
government has used high tariffs on Chinese imports in an effort, in part, to get China to do more
to prevent Chinese companies from using the intellectual property of U.S. companies illegally.20
In addition to tariffs, protectionism can involve a government’s use of tools such as trade agree-
ments and quotas on how much of a good can be imported into the country.
Also, when evaluating the attractiveness of a country for expansion, it is important to con-
sider economic growth, since with growth comes increased demand for products and services. In
2021, India, Saudi Arabia, and France grew at a faster pace than most countries, which presented
opportunities for firms entering those countries.21 Emerging economies like India tend to grow
faster than developed economies because of an increase in citizens that have disposable income
(income that can be spent on things beyond absolute necessities). Important emerging economies
include the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, and China)22 as well as a few other countries that
have been identified as having high growth potential; namely, Vietnam, Indonesia, South Africa,
Turkey, Argentina, Colombia, and Egypt.23

Globalization
Globalization is the Globalization is the increasing economic interdependence among countries and their organizations
increasing economic as reflected in the flow of products, financial capital, and knowledge across country borders.24 It is a
interdependence among
countries and their
product of a large number of firms competing against one another in an increasing number of global
organizations as reflected in economies. In globalized markets and industries, firms might obtain financial capital in one national
the flow of products, financial market and use it to buy raw materials in another. Firms might then use manufacturing equipment
capital, and knowledge across purchased in a third national market to produce and deliver products that it sells in a fourth market.
country borders.
This phenomenon is described as a global supply chain. A global supply chain is a network of firms
A global supply chain is a that spans multiple countries with the purpose of supplying goods and services.25 Because firms seek
network of firms that spans
multiple countries with the
out the best and most inexpensive supplies and products regardless of where in the world they are
purpose of supplying goods found, practically every industry participates in a global supply chain, at least to some extent.
and services. Overall, globalization has led to higher performance standards with respect to multiple compet-
itive dimensions, including quality, cost, productivity, product introduction time, and operational
efficiency. Firms must learn how to deal with the reality that in today’s competitive landscape, only
companies capable of meeting, if not exceeding, global standards typically earn above-average returns.
Although globalization offers potential benefits to firms, it is not without challenges. One manage-
ment challenge comes from workers flowing rather freely among global economies. This is important
because employees are a key source of competitive advantage.26 For example, Argentina currently has
great difficulty keeping highly skilled tech workers in the country because they are being lured away
by companies in the United States and Europe offering them significant pay increases.27
Another challenge comes from a liability of foreignness, a term that describes the risks of com-
peting outside a firm’s domestic markets.28 The amount of time firms usually require to learn to
compete in markets that are new to them is one risk of entering a global market. A firm’s perfor-
mance can suffer until it gains the knowledge needed to compete successfully in a new global mar-
ket.29 This is especially true because of cultural differences that are likely to exist between the firm’s
home market and international markets. In addition, a firm’s performance may suffer by entering
too many global markets either simultaneously or too quickly. When this happens, the overall orga-
nization may lack the skills required to effectively manage all of its diversified global operations.30
The Strategic Focus demonstrates that global interconnectedness associated with global supply
chains also creates problems that would not exist if firms only relied on domestic markets for their
productive inputs.
Related to global supply chains are global value chains. Whereas a global supply chain pertains
A global value chain simply to the transfer of goods from one party to another across a global network, a global value
refers to the processes chain refers to the processes through which a firm receives raw materials, uses them to add value
through which a firm
receives raw materials, uses
through manufacturing a product that provides greater utility for the consumer, and sells the prod-
them to add value through uct to another firm or the ultimate consumer of the product, in a global setting.31 In other words, a
manufacturing a product that global supply chain pertains to an industry, whereas a global value chain pertains to an individual
provides greater utility for firm as it seeks to create value, in part, through its management of a global supply chain. It is a set of
the consumer, and sells the
product to another firm or interrelated activities that involve companies from multiple countries, coordinated by a particular
the ultimate consumer of the firm in search of a competitive advantage.
product, in a global setting. On the surface, a global supply chain and a global value chain may appear the same. The global
supply chain describes the steps in production from raw materials to ultimate consumer; however,

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Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
Chapter 1: Strategic Management and Strategic Competitiveness 9

Strategic Focus
Global Supply Chains and the Risks of Interconnectedness
Global supply chains are abundant in the global economy. They help
companies obtain the very best resources found anywhere in the
world, and at the best prices. However, they are not without prob-
lems, in part due to their impact on the increased complexity and
uncertainty that firms face. Also, participants in global supply chains
complain that they do not have full visibility into their supply chains,
and many supply chains are plagued by a lack of trust among partici-
pants. In addition, some consumers are resistant to globalization, and
are reluctant to buy products that are produced largely outside their
home countries.
However, one of the biggest problems associated with global sup-

Jenari/Shutterstock.com
ply chains occurs when there is a major shock in one or more parts
of the chain. An unexpected event such as a hurricane or earthquake
can stop production of components that are necessary to produce
products in other countries. One famous example is Toyota, which
had to close most of its Japan-based production plants due to supply Supply chain problems cause far-reaching shortages of products
chain disruptions after an earthquake and tsunami in 2011. The short-
age of parts lasted for weeks. Toyota put into place several measures
to protect the company from problems in case of a similar event. large provider of oil. Russia is also the major supplier of natural gas in
However, in 2016, a series of earthquakes led to closing down almost Europe. Higher energy prices mean higher transportation and manu-
all production lines in Japan due to supply shortages. Toyota is a facturing costs, which increase inflation. Also, Western governments
very successful company with highly sophisticated technologies; this imposed strong sanctions against Russia that reduced the country’s
example demonstrates how hard it is to mitigate the risks associated ability to conduct business in international markets.
with shocks to the global supply chain. Overall, the increased efficiency and broader availability of
Of course, the COVID-19 pandemic was a shock to the entire global goods and services make global supply chains an attractive part of
economy and affected virtually every global supply chain. Labor and the global economy. However, they also provide additional uncer-
materials shortages were very harmful to production around the tainty that makes strategic management difficult because almost
world. Researchers found that the COVID-related disruption to supply all businesses rely on them to some extent for the resources they
chains due to production capacity damage in China had their biggest need.
impact on the United States, South Korea, Japan, and Germany, and
Sources: Y. Trofimov, A. Cullison, B. Forrest, & A. M. Simmons, 2022, Russians close in on
especially in the electronics, textiles, machinery, manufacturing, and Ukranian capital, Wall Street Journal, February 25: A1, A10; I. Talley & M. Colchester, 2022,
wholesale trade sectors. However, this is largely because consumers West imposes stiffer sanctions, Wall Street Journal, February 25: A1, A4; C. D. Court,
in those countries purchase more non-essential items than consum- J.-P. Ferreira, G. J. D. Hewings, & M. L. Lahr, 2021, Accounting for global value chains: Rising
global inequality in the wake of COVID-19, International Review of Applied Economics,
ers in developing economies. Researchers also found that economies 35: 813–831; Y. Kashiwagi, Y. Todo, & P. Matous, 2021, Propogation of economic shocks
that were hurt the worst by supply chain disruptions as a result of through global supply chains—Evidence from Hurricane Sandy, Review of International
COVID-19 were in developing nations—those that could least afford Economics, 29: 1186–1220; Y. Chang, E. Iakovou, & W. Shi, 2020, Blockchain in global supply
chains and cross border trade: A critical synthesis of the state-of-the-art challenges and
such difficulties. opportunities, International Journal of Production Research, 58: 2082–2099; M. Qin, X. Liu,
A military conflict such as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is another & X. Zhou, 2020, COVID-19 shock and global value chains: Is there a substitute for China,
type of unexpected event that influences global supply chains. In Emerging Markets Finance & Trade, 56: 3588–3598; J. Webb, 2016, Toyota’s ‘quake-proof’
supply chain that never was, Forbes, www.forbes.com, April 26.
the run-up to the invasion, oil futures increased because Russia is a

it does not describe the integrated processes through which a firm adds value. Innovative firms
tend to participate with higher frequency in global value chains.32 Also, coordinative processes in
global value chains have been found to be an effective method for transferring technology to firms
in developing economies.33 However, suppliers in emerging economies that participate in global
value chains frequently do not reap many of the economic benefits from their innovations.34 This
is, perhaps, one of the reasons for the increase in protectionism.
Protectionism, the liability of foreignness, and the risks of interconnectedness in global supply
chains are all forces that are working to reduce globalization.35 Firms that are reducing their

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10 Part 1: Strategic Management Inputs

participation in global supply chains and global value chains are a part of a trend called deglobal-
ization.36 On the other hand, some companies are still increasing their involvement in cross-border
activities in an effort to expand markets, purchase the best or lowest cost products, and learn or
develop new technologies.
This section demonstrates that success in international markets, even for firms with substan-
tial experience in the global economy, requires effective use of the strategic management process.
However, even if a firm is able to compete successfully in global markets, it also needs to commit
to remaining competitive in its home market. Firms seek competitiveness in both domestic and
international markets, in part, by remaining in tune with technological opportunities and potential
disruptions innovations might create.

1-2b Technology and Technological Changes


Increasingly, technology affects all aspects of how companies operate and as such, the strategies
they choose to implement. Boston Consulting Group analysts describe technology’s impact as
follows: “No company can afford to ignore the impact of technology on everything from supply
chains to customer engagement, and the advent of even more advanced technologies, such as
artificial intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things, portends more far-reaching change.”37
Information technologies facilitate the integration of enterprises into the global supply chains
described previously.38
The rate of technology diffusion, which is the speed at which new technologies become available
to firms and when firms choose to adopt them, is far greater than was the case a decade or two ago.
Consider the following rates of technology diffusion:
It took the telephone 35 years to get into 25 percent of all homes in the United States. It took TV
26 years. It took radio 22 years. It took PCs 16 years. It took the Internet 7 years.39
The impact of technological changes on individual firms and industries is broad and signif-
icant. For example, information technologies have made working at home much more efficient
and effective than it was a few years ago, and the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated this trend.40
Companies that facilitate at-home work—like Zoom and Microsoft—enjoyed tremendous success,
and competitors are trying to catch up.41 In transportation, electric cars are rapidly increasing in
popularity and automobile manufacturers are responding, which means that internal combustion
engines are being pushed out of the automotive market.42 Also, innovative firms are working on
self-driving cars and air taxis, small, pilotless aircraft designed to carry passengers short distances
in and around cities.43 In addition, cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin are influencing international com-
merce as well as the investment community.44 Some believe that the public blockchains that make
cryptocurrencies possible hold the potential to build a new decentralized digital economy.45
Related to many other technologies is AI, which has already had a significant impact in many
areas.46 AI can be thought of as intelligence that is demonstrated by a machine. For example, a
machine exhibiting AI will use sensors to perceive and effectors to respond to its environment.47
In the not-too-distant future, AI holds the potential to alter the human experience through new
technologies, products, and services, as well as the way people work, communicate, and manage
businesses.48 The famous theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking once said, “The rise of powerful AI
will be either the best or the worst thing ever to happen to humanity. We do not yet know which.”49
Perpetual innovation is a term used to describe how rapidly and consistently new, information-
intensive technologies replace older ones. The shorter product life cycles resulting from rapid
diffusions of new technologies place a competitive premium on being able to quickly introduce
new, innovative products into the marketplace.50 For example, in 2021, Boston Consulting Group
identified the 50 most innovative companies in the world. The first five firms on this list are large
companies—Apple, Alphabet (Google), Amazon, Microsoft, and Tesla.51 During the research con-
ducted by Boston Consulting Group in support of the ranking, the company made some interesting
discoveries that reinforce the value of innovation in today’s businesses. The 1,500 global innovation
executives they surveyed found that the COVID-19 experience increased the importance of inno-
vation in their companies. Also, more than 60 percent of companies plan to increase investments
in innovative activities in an effort to keep up with technological changes.
Another indicator of rapid technology diffusion is that firms quickly gather information about
their competitors’ research and development (R&D) and product decisions, sometimes even within

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Chapter 1: Strategic Management and Strategic Competitiveness 11

days.52 Also, when rival companies hire personnel from a competing firm, the result is that tech-
nological knowledge spills over from one firm to another company.53 Because of the potential for
technology diffusion and knowledge spillovers, firms must move quickly to use their innovations
productively. In this sense, the rate of technological diffusion has reduced the competitive benefits
of patents.54 Today, patents may still be an effective way of protecting proprietary technology in
a small number of industries such as pharmaceuticals. In contrast, many firms competing in the
electronics industry often do not apply for patents to prevent competitors from gaining access to
the technological knowledge included in the patent application.
Disruptive technologies—technologies that destroy the value of an existing technology and
create new markets—surface frequently in today’s competitive markets. 55 Think of the new mar-
kets that have been created by the technologies underlying the development of products such as
WiFi, the web browser, smartphones, and electric cars. These types of products represent radical or
breakthrough innovations (we discuss radical innovations in Chapter 13).56 A disruptive or radical
technology can create what is essentially a new industry or can harm industry incumbents.

Information Technology and Big Data


Knowledge (information, intelligence, and expertise) is the basis of technology and its application.
Today, knowledge is a critical organizational resource and an increasingly valuable source of com-
petitive advantage.57 Individuals acquire knowledge through experience, observation, and inference.
Knowledge is an intangible resource (we describe tangible and intangible resources fully in Chapter 3).
The value of firms’ intangible resources, including knowledge, continues increasing as a proportion of
total shareholder value.58 Knowledge is a key intangible asset that, when diffused quickly throughout
a firm, contributes to efforts to outperform rivals.59 Therefore, firms must develop (e.g., through train-
ing programs) and acquire (e.g., by hiring educated and experienced employees) knowledge, integrate
it into the organization to create capabilities, and then apply it to gain a competitive advantage.60
Information technology is key to acquiring and managing knowledge flows. Firms have begun
applying “big data” technologies to help with these processes.61 Big data refers to the data retrieved
by firms that are increasing in volume, variety, and frequency. Big data analytics is the process
of examining huge amounts of data to uncover hidden patterns and other information that can
be used to improve decision making. The internet increased low-cost data storage capacity and
increased efficient processing technologies have made capturing and processing large volumes of
data possible. In fact, “cloud” technologies that link computer servers through the internet mean
that many of these processes can be performed offsite rather than on local computers. Amazon
Web Services provides big data solutions to other companies. They provide descriptive analytics,
which answer the “What happened and why?” questions, as well as predictive analytics, and pre-
scriptive analytics, which provides recommendations regarding what a client firm should do.62
Big data analytics combined with internal systems that help information get to parts of the
organization where it is most useful can enhance a firm’s strategic flexibility, a set of capabilities Strategic flexibility is
firms use to respond to various demands and opportunities existing in today’s dynamic and uncer- a set of capabilities firms
use to respond to various
tain competitive environment. Strategic flexibility involves coping with uncertainty and its accom- demands and opportunities
panying risks.63 Firms should try to develop strategic flexibility in all areas of their operations. existing in today’s dynamic
To be strategically flexible on a continuing basis and to gain the competitive benefits of such and uncertain competitive
flexibility, a firm must also develop the capacity to learn. Continuous learning provides the firm environment.
with new and up-to-date skill sets, which allow it to adapt to its environment as it encounters
changes.64 Firms capable of applying quickly what they have learned exhibit the strategic flexibility
and the capacity to change in ways that will increase the probability of dealing successfully with
uncertain, or even hypercompetitive, environments.

1-2c Social Responsibility


Today’s competitive environment is also marked by the need to incorporate social responsibility
into a firm’s strategic management, often called corporate social responsibility, or CSR.65 More than
ever before, society is holding corporations and other businesses, both large and small, accountable
for their actions with regard to a number of societal expectations, including how they treat employ-
ees, their records with regard to inclusiveness, the quality and safety of the products they make and
services they provide, their environmental records, the absence or existence of legal suits brought
by any of their stakeholders, and their philanthropic activities.66

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12 Part 1: Strategic Management Inputs

The push for sustainability incorporates many of society’s expectations. The basic idea behind
Sustainability means that sustainability is that a firm should not deplete or destroy natural elements upon which it depends
a firm should not deplete for survival.67 For example, if a forestry company cuts down a tree to create paper pulp, it should
or destroy natural elements
upon which it depends for
plant at least one tree that it can cut down in the future. Sustainability has also been extended
survival. into other resource areas beyond the environment, such as human capital, gender equality, global
poverty, and innovation. For instance, a firm that develops programs to recruit and train employ-
ees that live in poverty is promoting sustainability because these activities will provide important
human resources used to produce products and services over the long term.
The corporate social responsibility movement extends beyond a firm’s own activities. Often
large firms are also held accountable for the actions of the firms with which they do business.68
One of the most significant manifestations of this phenomenon is the criticism a large cor-
poration receives when it outsources some of its production to firms in other countries that
engage in labor practices such as employing minor children or paying meager wages to over-
worked employees with poor working conditions (sometimes called sweatshops).69 Apple has
been highly criticized for many years for its inability to completely resolve problems like these
in its supply chain.70
As society embraced the principles underlying CSR, CSP (corporate social performance), and
sustainability, so did investors, especially institutional investors.71 Many of them want to invest in
firms that are socially responsible. One of the economic reasons for such investments is that firms
that are high in social responsibility are at less risk of legal suits, negative social media, walkouts,
and so forth.72 In addition, research evidence is supportive of a small but positive relationship
between corporate social responsibility and economic performance.73
As a result of increasing interest in the social responsibility of businesses, many firms have
emerged to track this sort of information, most often referred to with the title of ESG (environment,
society, and governance). Also, the majority of large corporations publish sustainability reports which
outline their activities in these areas. Unfortunately, some of those reports exaggerate the activities of
the firm in areas such as protecting the environment, a phenomenon referred to as greenwashing.74
There are organizations that hold businesses to a set of standards when reporting on sustainability,
such as the ISO 14000 standards and the Global Reporting Initiative. However, there is not one set of
standards that is universally accepted, and typically firms are not required to participate.75
We have now discussed the almost overwhelmingly complex global competitive environment
that managers face when devising strategies. Fortunately, there are some well-developed models
and tools to help managers with these sorts of decisions. In the next three sections, we will examine
three different models that managers can use to help their firms to achieve strategic competitive-
ness and above-average returns.

Learning Objective
1-3 The I/O Model of Above-Average Returns
1-3 Use the industrial
organization (I/O) model From the 1960s through the 1980s, those leading organizations believed that the external environ-
to explain how firms ment rather than the internal organization was the strongest influence on the choice of strategy.76
can earn above-average The industrial organization (I/O) model of above-average returns explains the external environ-
returns. ment’s dominant influence on the choice of strategy and the actions associated with it. The logic
of the I/O model is that a set of industry characteristics, including economies of scale, barriers to
market entry, diversification, product differentiation, the degree of concentration of firms in the
industry, and market frictions, determine the profitability potential of an industry or a segment
of it as well as the actions firms should take to operate profitably.77 We examine these industry
characteristics and explain their influence in Chapter 2.
Grounded in economics, four underlying assumptions explain the I/O model. First, the
model assumes that the external environment imposes pressures and constraints that deter-
mine the strategies that result in above-average returns. Second, most firms competing within
an industry or within a segment of that industry are assumed to control similar strategically
relevant resources and to pursue similar strategies in light of those resources. Third, resources
are highly mobile, meaning that any resource differences that might develop between firms
will be short-lived. Fourth, the model assumes that organizational decision makers are rational
individuals who are committed to acting in the firm’s best interests, as shown by their profit-
maximizing behaviors.78

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Chapter 1: Strategic Management and Strategic Competitiveness 13

The I/O model challenges firms to find the most attractive industry in which to compete, based
on the second and third assumptions—that firms possess the same types of valuable resources and
that these resources are mobile across companies. This means that a firm is able to increase its per-
formance only when it competes in the industry with the highest profit potential and learns how to
use its resources to implement the strategy required by the industry’s structural characteristics. The
competitive realities associated with the I/O model find firms imitating each other’s strategies and
actions taken to implement them.79
The five forces model of competition is an analytical tool firms use to find the industry that is
the most attractive for them. The model (explained in Chapter 2) tries to capture the complexity
of competition by suggesting that an industry’s profitability is a function of interactions among
five forces: suppliers, buyers, competitive rivalry among firms currently in the industry, product
substitutes, and potential entrants to the industry.80 Firms use the five forces model to identify the
attractiveness of an industry (as measured by its profitability potential) as well as the most advanta-
geous position for the firm to take in that industry, given the industry’s characteristics.81 The model
suggests that firms can earn above-average returns by producing either standardized products at
costs below those of competitors (a cost leadership strategy) or by producing differentiated prod-
ucts for which customers are willing to pay a price premium (a differentiation strategy). We discuss
the cost leadership and product differentiation strategies fully in Chapter 4.
As shown in Figure 1.2, the I/O model suggests that firms earn above-average returns by study-
ing the external environment effectively as the foundation for identifying an attractive industry
and implementing an appropriate strategy in it. For example, in some industries, firms can reduce

Figure 1.2 The I/O Model of Above-Average Returns

The External Environment


1. Study the external
• The general environment
environment, especially
• The industry environment
the industry environment.
• The competitor environment

An Attractive Industry
2. Locate an industry with
• An industry whose structural
high potential for above-
characteristics suggest above-
average returns.
average returns

3. Identify the strategy called Strategy Formulation


for by the attractive • Selection of a strategy linked with
industry to earn above- above-average returns in a
average returns. particular industry

4. Develop or acquire assets Assets and Skills


and skills needed to • Assets and skills required to
implement the strategy. implement a chosen strategy

5. Use the firm’s strengths (its Strategy Implementation


developed or acquired assets • Selection of strategic actions linked
and skills) to implement with effective implementation of
the strategy. the chosen strategy

Superior Returns
• Earning of above-average returns

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14 Part 1: Strategic Management Inputs

competitive rivalry and erect barriers to entry by forming strategic alliances with other companies.
In turn, reduced rivalry increases the profitability potential for firms that are collaborating.82 Com-
panies that develop or acquire the internal skills needed to implement strategies required by the
external environment are likely to succeed, while those that do not are likely to fail.83 Hence, this
model suggests that the characteristics of the external environment influence returns more so than
do a firm’s unique internal resources and capabilities.
Research findings support the I/O model because the industry in which a firm competes explains
approximately 20 percent of its profitability. However, research also shows that the firm’s resources and
capabilities and the actions taken by using them accounts for 36 percent of the variance in firm prof-
itability.84 Thus, managers’ strategic actions affect the firm’s performance as do the characteristics of
the environment in which the firm competes.85 These findings suggest that the external environment
and a firm’s resources, capabilities, core competencies, and competitive advantages (see Chapter 3)
influence the company’s ability to achieve strategic competitiveness and earn above-average returns.
As shown in Figure 1.2, the I/O model assumes that a firm’s strategy is a set of commitments
and actions flowing from the characteristics of the industry in which the firm chose to compete.
The resource-based model, discussed next, takes a different view of the major influences on a firm’s
choice of strategy.

Learning Objective
1-4 The Resource-Based Model
1-4 Use the resource-
based model to explain of Above-Average Returns
how firms can earn
The resource-based model of above-average returns assumes that each organization is a collection
above-average returns.
of unique resources and capabilities. The uniqueness of resources and capabilities is the basis of a
firm’s strategy and its ability to earn above-average returns.86 Resources are inputs into a firm’s pro-
Resources are inputs into duction process, such as capital equipment, the skills of individual employees, patents, finances, and
a firm’s production process,
such as capital equipment, talented managers. Firms use three categories to classify their resources: physical, human, and orga-
the skills of individual nizational capital. Described fully in Chapter 3, resources are either tangible or intangible in nature.
employees, patents, finances, Individual resources alone may not yield a competitive advantage; resources have a greater
and talented managers.
likelihood of being a source of competitive advantage when integrated to form a capability.
A capability is the capacity A capability is the capacity for a set of resources to perform a task or an activity in an integrative
for a set of resources to manner.87 Core competencies are capabilities that serve as a source of competitive advantage for a
perform a task or an activity in
an integrative manner. firm over its rivals.88 Core competencies are often visible in the form of organizational functions.
For example, Apple’s R&D function is one of its core competencies, as is its ability to produce
Core competencies are
capabilities that serve as
innovative new products that create value for customers. Amazon’s distribution function is a core
a source of competitive competence while information technology is a core competence for Walmart.
advantage for a firm over its According to the resource-based model, differences in firms’ performances across time are due
rivals. primarily to their unique resources and capabilities rather than the industry’s structural charac-
teristics. Through continued use, capabilities become stronger and more difficult for competitors
to understand and imitate. As a source of competitive advantage, a capability must not be easily
imitated but also not too complex to understand and manage.89 The resource-based model of
above-average returns is found in Figure 1.3. This model suggests that the strategy the firm chooses
should allow it to use its competitive advantages in an attractive industry (firms use the I/O model
to identify an attractive industry).
Not all of a firm’s resources and capabilities have the potential to be the foundation for a com-
petitive advantage. This potential is realized when resources and capabilities are valuable, rare,
costly to imitate, and non-substitutable.90 Resources and capabilities are valuable when they allow
a firm to take advantage of opportunities or neutralize threats in its external environment. They
are rare when possessed by few, if any, current and potential competitors. Resources are costly to
imitate when other firms either cannot obtain them or are at a cost disadvantage in obtaining them
compared with a firm that already possesses them. They are non-substitutable when they have no
practical equivalents.
Over time, competitors find ways to imitate value-creating resources or to create new resources that
yield a different type of value for customers. Therefore, it is difficult to achieve and sustain a competi-
tive advantage based on resources alone. Firms integrate individual resources to develop configurations
of resources with the potential to build capabilities. Capabilities developed in this manner have a stron-
ger likelihood of becoming a core competence and of leading to a source of competitive advantage.91

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Chapter 1: Strategic Management and Strategic Competitiveness 15

Figure 1.3 The Resource-Based Model of Above-Average Returns

1. Identify the firm’s resources.


Study its strengths and Resources
weaknesses compared with • Inputs into a firm’s production process
those of competitors.

2. Determine the firm’s


capabilities. What do the Capability
capabilities allow the firm • Capacity of an integrated set of
to do better than its resources to integratively perform
competitors? a task or activity

3. Determine the potential


of the firm’s resources Competitive Advantage
and capabilities in terms of • Ability of a firm to create superior value
a competitive advantage. for its customers

An Attractive Industry
4. Locate an attractive • An industry with opportunities
industry. that can be exploited by the
firm’s resources and capabilities

5. Select a strategy that best


allows the firm to utilize Strategy Formulation and
its resources and capabilities Implementation
relative to opportunities in • Strategic actions taken to earn above-
the external environment. average returns

Superior Returns
• Earning of above-average returns

While the I/O model focuses on industry, which is external to the organization, and the
resource-based model focuses on internal resources and capabilities, a third model of above-aver-
age returns focuses simultaneously on internal stakeholders (employees) and external stakeholders
(customers, suppliers, communities, shareholders), and in particular on the relationships of a firm
with these stakeholders. Since all firm resources come from stakeholders, it makes sense that the
nature of relationships with those stakeholders will make a big difference in terms of a firm’s ability
to create and sustain competitive advantages leading to above-average returns. In fact, one of the
leading scholars on the resource-based model, Jay Barney, said that if there were no other stake-
holders besides shareholders providing resources to the firm that have the potential to earn profits,
there would be no profits.92 Learning Objective
1-5 Use the stakeholder
1-5 The Stakeholder Model model to explain how
firms can earn above-
of Above-Average Returns average returns.

Every organization involves a system of stakeholder groups with which it establishes and manages
relationships.93 Stakeholders are individuals, groups, and organizations that can both influence Stakeholders are
and are affected by the objectives, actions, and outcomes of a firm. They are internal and exter- individuals, groups, and
organizations that can both
nal constituencies that have a strong interest in the activities and outcomes of an organization influence and are affected by
and upon whom the organization relies on to achieve its own objectives.94 Internal stakehold- the objectives, actions, and
ers include all of a firm’s employees, including both non-managerial and managerial personnel. outcomes of a firm.
External stakeholders are a diverse group, and include the major suppliers of a firm’s capital as

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16 Part 1: Strategic Management Inputs

well as product market stakeholders–the firm’s customers, suppliers, host communities, and any
unions representing the workforce. Also included are regulators and special interest groups or
NGOs (non-governmental organizations) that play a role in policing what the firm does.
How can a firm’s managers account for all of these different interests when devising competitive
strategies? A related question is whether all of these stakeholders are, or should be, equally import-
ant when devising strategies to create value and achieve above-average returns. A useful classifica-
tion between primary and secondary stakeholders helps managers answer both of these questions.
Primary stakeholders are Primary stakeholders are directly involved in the value-creating processes of the firm. They include
directly involved in the value- suppliers, employees, customers, the communities in which the firm operates, and financiers such as
creating processes of the firm.
the firm’s shareholders and banks. In fact, nearly two hundred CEOs from the largest corporations in
the United States released a signed statement through an association called the Business Roundtable
declaring that the purpose of the corporation is to serve these same five stakeholder groups.95
Secondary stakeholders Secondary stakeholders can both influence and are influenced by what the firm does, but
can both influence and they do not contribute directly to the value the firm creates. Many successful organizations have
are influenced by what the
firm does, but they do not learned that taking especially good care of primary stakeholders can lead to competitive advantage
contribute directly to the and high performance.96 Some of the sources of competitive advantage, and the value they create,
value the firm creates. are outlined in Figure 1.4. This sort of management is often called managing for stakeholders or
stakeholder-oriented management.

Figure 1.4 The Stakeholder Model of Above-Average Returns

1. Study external environment to Stakeholders


determine which stakeholders • Have a legitimate interest (stake) in what
are most important to value the firm does
creating processes. • Firm depends on them to achieve its
objectives

2. Develop relationships with Reciprocity


employees and external • Stakeholders want to engage with the
stakeholders based on firm, are loyal, help the firm achieve its
fairness, respect, and trust. objectives, and are willing to share
valuable information

3. Collect valuable information Information Useful for Strategic Planning


from stakeholders. • Stakeholder needs and wants
• Ideas for improvements to value creation
process
• Ideas for product innovation

4. Identify strategies that Strategy Formulation


incorporate information • Opportunities to collaborate
from stakeholders. • Innovative products
• Enhanced efficiency

5. Develop and carry out plans Strategy Implementation


using collaborations with • Stakeholder needs and wants
stakeholders where possible. • Ideas for improvements to value creation
process
• Potential areas for innovation

Superior Returns
• Earning of above-average returns

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Chapter 1: Strategic Management and Strategic Competitiveness 17

Managing for stakeholders implies that more attention and resources are allocated to satisfy the
needs of stakeholders than might be necessary simply to retain their participation in the productive
activities of the firm.97 This also means that firms incur greater costs as, for example, they provide
better wages and benefits to their employees, give back to the communities in which they operate,
and provide high-quality products or outstanding service to customers at prices that are perhaps a
little lower than they might otherwise charge. Managing for stakeholders is economically feasible
because it leads to behavior on the part of stakeholders that helps the firm create more value than
might otherwise be created.98
Well-treated stakeholders reciprocate by treating the firm and its other stakeholders well in
return. One of the fundamental drivers of reciprocity is fairness, or what scholars call organizational
justice.99 Organizational justice can be divided into three primary types: distributional, procedural,
and interactional. Distributional justice means that stakeholders feel as though they are receiving
value through their relationship with their firm that is commensurate with what they contribute
to the firm. For example, an employee who works really hard and provides a lot of good sugges-
tions for firm innovations feels as though they are compensated fairly for the additional value they
provide. Procedural justice means that the firm listens to stakeholders and considers their posi-
tions when making important decisions that are likely to affect them. This does not mean that the
firm will always make decisions that have no negative impact on any stakeholder, although this is
a worthwhile objective. Interactional justice means that all stakeholders are treated with honesty,
respect, and integrity. Formal and informal (i.e., promises) contracts are made and kept. Day-to-
day transactions with stakeholders typically are positive, and if something goes wrong, the firm
does its best to remedy the situation.100
Stakeholders that experience this kind of fairness are likely to reciprocate through a higher level
of motivation to work with the firm and provide a level of effort and loyalty that they might not
provide to another firm in the same industry. Because these sorts of firms tend to develop strong
reputations for fairness, new stakeholders will want to be affiliated with them. Communities will
welcome expansions, job applications will be higher, and customers will want to buy from and
remain loyal to the firm. Suppliers will want to sell to the firm, which means the firm will have
more attractive buying propositions and an opportunity to acquire superior resources and develop
highly competitive capabilities. In general, stakeholders will be more cooperative with the firm and
with each other in value-creating activities.101
Organizational justice also leads to higher levels of stakeholder trust, and this means stakehold-
ers will be much more likely to share important information with them. Taking advantage of this
sort of trust, companies like Honda and Harley Davidson send out very long surveys to purchasers
of their automobiles and motorcycles. The information gathered is tremendously helpful in devel-
oping next-generation products, and it would not be made available if customers did not trust that
the information they provide would be given attention—that the companies would listen to them.
Trust associated with organizational justice is an important source of competitive advantage. In a
recent survey, a group reported that “Unlike other online retailers, 67 percent of Amazon custom-
ers trust the company to protect their privacy and personal data.”102
Consider also the advantages from generating feelings of trust among employees. They will
be much more likely to share information with management about how to improve products or
services, or to improve the efficiency with which they are made and delivered. Also, suppliers who
trust a firm will be more willing to invest resources in developing new components for sale to the
firm and are also more likely to share information with them that could improve their products and
production processes because they believe that the information will not be used opportunistically
against them.
These factors can lead to higher levels of innovation, sales growth, and operational efficiency.
The contracting process is also more efficient, because high levels of trust mean that contracts will
not need to contain as many safeguards or complicated contingency clauses.103 In addition, because
stakeholders are treated well and promises to them are kept, they are much less likely to pursue
negative actions such as boycotts, legal suits, walkouts and strikes, lobbying for new regulations,
or negative social media activities. This means that a firm that emphasizes organizational justice is
a less risky proposition for all of the firm’s stakeholders, including those that invest time, material
resources, energy, or money in the firm. Also, an enhanced reputation means that potential new
stakeholders, such as new customers, new suppliers, and new employees with excellent qualifica-
tions, will be attracted to the firm. This can give the firm an edge as it competes with other firms

Copyright 2024 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
18 Part 1: Strategic Management Inputs

Strategic Focus
Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporate Social Performance, and ESG
Stakeholder-oriented firms typically exhibit high performance these firms track a lot of information about how companies treat their
in matters that are important to society, beyond just taking stakeholders, their records on matters such as discrimination and
good care of their stakeholders. This sort of performance might inclusion, and whether they engage in “sin” industries such as tobacco
be labeled CSR (corporate social responsibility), CSP (corporate or gambling. In the governance (G) area, the rating firms collect infor-
social performance), or ESG (environment, society, and gover- mation about the firm’s board of directors, executive compensation,
nance. These labels are often used interchangeably, which can be and reporting transparency. Corporate governance will be discussed
confusing even to people who spend their lives studying such phe- in detail in Chapter 10. Over the years, the popular business press
nomena. Regardless of how they are labeled, corporate behaviors and many managers and investors have adopted the ESG label as a
associated with social responsibility are very important to many eco- descriptor for business activities associated with social responsibility
nomic actors and a large swath of society. or sustainability.
Scholars who study social responsibility have argued among There is a lot of overlap among the various labels for social
themselves regarding whether CSR or CSP is a better descriptor of responsibility primarily because they measure most of the same
the things a firm does that are either consistent with or go against things. However, managing for stakeholders is something different.
societal values. However, these same scholars tend to measure the The way a firm manages its stakeholders—how it treats them—is
same phenomena in their research, so the debate about terminology only one component of a measure of CSR, CSP, or ESG. The focus in
is strictly academic. Of course, the term sustainability, mentioned pre- this section has been on the strategic advantages that can accrue
viously in this chapter, has also been used in this literature. However, to a firm that treats its stakeholders particularly well, and not on
sustainability tends to focus more on environmental issues and a these broader conceptualizations of corporate social responsibil-
few other issues, whereas CSR and CSP incorporate all areas that ity. Although, again, firms that are high on the social responsibility
are scrutinized by society, which also includes how a firm treats its dimensions also tend to take good care of their stakeholders–
stakeholders. related, but not the same thing.
Another common label in this literature is ESG. The data provided
to the investment community by the firms who track and report Sources: S. Schaltegger, K. L. Christ, J. Wenzig, & R. L. Burritt, 2022, Corporate sustain-
ability management accounting and multi-level links for sustainability–A systematic
information about social responsibility tends to be divided into three review, International Journal of Management Reviews, in press; J. Mattingly & B. Bailey,
categories. The first area is the environment (E), such as the amount 2021, Constructs and measures in stakeholder management research, in M. A. Hitt
of carbon that is released through a firm’s operations, the degree to (ed.), Oxford Encyclopedia of Business and Management, New York, Oxford University
Press, doi: 10.1093/acrefore/9780190224851.013.316; J. Hörisch, S. Schaltegger, &
which a firm pollutes in other ways, such as polluting groundwater, R. E. Freeman, 2020, Integrating stakeholder theory and sustainability accounting:
and the extent to which its operations destroy or deplete other nat- A conceptual synthesis, Journal of Cleaner Production, 275, https://doi.org/10.1016
ural resources such as trees or minerals. In the society (S) category, /j.jclepro.2020.124097.

for the most outstanding stakeholders.104 These sorts of positive outcomes lead to a higher level
of value creation than if a firm were to operate in a less fair and trustworthy fashion, especially if
noneconomic factors are considered.105
As mentioned previously, from an economic perspective, the only way this sort of management
pays off is if the economic benefits exceed the additional costs of treating stakeholders better than
they need to be treated simply to retain their participation with the firm. Fortunately, research evi-
dence supports the view that firms that manage for stakeholders often enjoy above-average returns
compared to firms that do not manage for stakeholders.106 In addition, as discussed in the Strategic
Focus, firms that manage for stakeholders tend also to perform well on related dimensions such as
CSR, CSP, and ESG.

1-5a Managing for Stakeholders


Although research confirms a positive relationship between managing for stakeholders and
firm performance, not all firms that manage in this way will have above-average returns. This is
because stakeholder management is only one important component in the strategic management
process. The rest of this book outlines many other important components of devising strat-
egy. Also, situations may occur in which a firm would perform better if they simply engage in
what are called arms-length transactions with stakeholders.107 This means that a firm doesn’t try

Copyright 2024 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
Another Random Document on
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dark brown laminated material, made up very largely of the cuticles
of Lepidodendroid plants.
From such examples we may naturally pass to fossils in which the
plant structure has been converted into carbonaceous matter or
even pure coal. This form of preservation is especially common in
plant-bearing beds at various geological horizons. In other cases,
again, some mineral solution, oxide of iron, talc, and other
substances, has replaced the plant tissues. From the Coal-Measures
of Switzerland Heer has figured numerous specimens of fern fronds
and other plants in which the leaf form has been left on the dark
coloured rock surface as a thin layer of white talcose material[87]. In
the Buntersandstone of the Vosges and other districts the red
imperfectly preserved impressions of plant stems and leaves are
familiar fossils[88]; the carbonaceous substance of the tissues has
been replaced by a brown or red oxide of iron.
INCRUSTATIONS.

Plants frequently occur in the form of incrustations; and in fact


incrustations, which may assume a variety of forms, are the
commonest kind of fossil. The action of incrusting springs, or as they
are often termed petrifying springs, is illustrated at Knaresborough,
in Yorkshire, and many other places where water highly charged with
carbonate of lime readily deposits calcium carbonate on objects
placed in the path of the stream.
The travertine deposited in this manner forms an incrustation on
plant fragments, and if the vegetable substance is subsequently
removed by the action of water or decay, a mould of the embedded
fragment is left in the calcareous matrix. An instructive example of
this form of preservation was described in 1868[89] by Sharpe from an
old gravel pit near Northampton. He found in a section eight feet high
(fig. 10), a mass of incrusted plants of Chara (a) resting on and
overlain by a calcareous paste (c) and (d) made up of the
decomposed material of the overlying rock, and this again resting on
sand. The place where the section occurred was originally the site of
a pool in which Stoneworts grew in abundance. Large blocks of
these incrusted Charas may be seen in the fossil-plant gallery of the
British Museum.

Fig. 10. Section of an old pool filled up with a mass of Chara. (From the
Geol. Mag. vol. v. 1868, p. 563.)
In the Natural History Museum in the Jardin des Plantes, Paris,
one of the table-cases contains what appear to be small models of
flowers in green wax. These are in reality casts in wax of the moulds
or cavities left in a mass of calcareous travertine, on the decay and
disappearance of the encrusted flowers and other plant fragments[90].
This porous calcareous rock occurs near Sézanne in Southern
France, and is of Eocene age[91]. The plants were probably blown on
to the freshly deposited carbonate of lime, or they may have simply
fallen from the tree on to the incrusting matrix; more material was
afterwards deposited and the flowers were completely enclosed.
Eventually the plant substance decayed, and as the matrix hardened
moulds were left of the vegetable fragments. Wax was artificially
forced into these cavities and the surrounding substance removed by
the action of an acid, and thus perfect casts were obtained of Tertiary
flowers.
Darwin has described the preservation of trees in Van Diemen’s
land by means of calcareous substances. In speaking of beds of
blown sand containing branches and roots of trees he says:
“The whole became consolidated by the percolation of calcareous matter; and the
cylindrical cavities left by the decaying of the wood were thus also filled up with a hard
pseudo-stalactitical stone. The weather is now wearing away the softer parts, and in
consequence the hard casts of the roots and branches of the trees project above the
surface, and, in a singularly deceptive manner, resemble the stumps of a dead
thicket[92].”

As a somewhat analogous method of preservation to that in


travertine, the occurrence of plants in amber should be mentioned. In
Eocene times there existed over a region, part of which is now the
North-east German coast, an extensive forest of conifers and other
trees. Some of the conifers were rich in resinous secretions which
were poured out from wounded surfaces or from scars left by falling
branches. As these flowed as a sticky mass over the stem or
collected on the ground, flowers, leaves, and twigs blown by the
wind or falling from the trees, became embedded in the exuded
resin. Evaporation gradually hardened the resinous substance until
the plant fragments became sealed up in a mass of amber, in
precisely the same manner in which objects are artificially preserved
in Canada balsam. In many cases the amber acts as a petrifying
agent, and by penetrating the tissues of a piece of wood it preserves
the minute structural details in wonderful perfection[93]. Dr Thomas in
an account of the amber beds of East Prussia in 1848, refers to the
occurrence of large fossil trees; he writes:
“The continuous changes to which the coast is exposed, often bring to light enormous
trunks of trees, which the common people had long regarded as the trunks of the amber
tree, before the learned declared that they were the stems of palm trees, and in
consequence determined the position of Paradise to be on the coast of East
Prussia[94].”
CASTS OF TREES.

In 1887 an enormous fossil plant was discovered in a sandstone


quarry at Clayton near Bradford[95]. The fossil was in the form of a
sandstone cast of a large and repeatedly branched Stigmaria, and it
is now in the Owens College Museum, where it was placed through
the instrumentality of Prof. Williamson. The plant was found spread
out in its natural position on the surface of an arenaceous shale, and
overlain by a bed of hard sandstone identical with the material of
which the cast is composed. Williamson has thus described the
manner of formation of the fossil:
“It is obvious that the entire base of the tree became encased in a plastic material,
which was firmly moulded upon these roots whilst the latter retained their organisation
sufficiently unaltered to enable them to resist all superincumbent pressure. This external
mould then hardened firmly, and as the organic materials decayed they were floated out
by water which entered the branching cavity; at a still later period the same water was
instrumental in replacing the carbonaceous elements by the sand of which the entire
structure now consists[96].”

Although the branches have not been preserved for their whole
length, they extend a distance of 29 feet 6 inches from right to left,
and 28 feet in the opposite direction.
The fossil represented in fig. 1 (p. 10), from the collection of Dr
John Woodward, affords a good example of a well-defined
impression. The surface of the specimen, of which a cast is
represented in fig. 1, shows very clearly the characteristic leaf-
cushions and leaf-scars of a Lepidodendron. The stem was
embedded in soft sand, and as the latter became hard and set, an
impression was obtained of the external markings of the
Lepidodendron. Decay subsequently removed the substance of the
plant.

Fig. 11. Equisetites columnaris Brongn. From a specimen in the


Woodwardian Museum, Cambridge. ⅓ nat. size.
In fig. 11 some upright stems of a fossil Horse-tail (Equisetites
columnaris) from the Lower Oolite rocks near Scarborough, are seen
in a vertical position in sandstone. On the surface of the fossils there
is a thin film of carbonaceous matter, which is all that remains of the
original plant substance; the stems were probably floated into their
present position and embedded vertically in an arenaceous matrix.
The hollow pith-cavity was filled with sand, and as the tissues
decayed they became in part converted into a thin coaly layer. The
vertical position of such stems as those in fig. 11 naturally suggests
their preservation in situ, but in this as in many other cases the erect
manner of occurrence is due to the settling down of the drifted plants
in this particular position.
FOSSIL CASTS.

An example of Stigmaria drawn in fig. 12 further illustrates the


formation of casts[97]. The outer surface with the characteristic
spirally arranged circular depressions, represents the wrinkled bark
of the dried plant; the smaller cylinder, on the left side of the upper
end (fig. 12, 2, p) marks the position of the pith surrounded by the
secondary wood, which has been displaced from its axial position.
The pith decayed first, and the space was filled in with mud;
somewhat later the wood and cortex were partially destroyed, and
the rod of material which had been introduced into the pith-cavity
dropped towards one side of the decaying shell of bark.
Fig. 12. Stigmaria ficoides Brongn. 1. Side view, showing wrinkled
surface and the scars of appendages. 2. End view (upper) showing the
displaced central cylinder; p, pith, x, xylem, r, medullary rays. 3. End
view (lower). From a specimen in the Woodwardian Museum. ½ nat.
size.
As the parenchymatous medullary rays readily decayed, the mud
in the pith extended outwards between the segments of wood which
still remained intact, and so spokes of argillaceous material were
formed which filled the medullary ray cavities. The cortical tissues
were decomposed, and their place taken by more argillaceous
material. At one end of the specimen (fig. 12, 3) we find the wood
has decayed without its place being afterwards filled up with foreign
material. At the opposite end of the specimen, the woody tissue has
been partially preserved by the infiltration of a solution containing
carbonate of lime (fig. 12, 2).
Numerous instances have been recorded from rocks of various
geological ages of casts of stems standing erect and at right angles
to the bedding of the surrounding rock. These vertical trees
occasionally attain a considerable length, and have been formed by
the filling in by sand or mud of a pipe left by the decay of the stem. It
is frequently a matter of some difficulty to decide how far such fossils
are in the position of growth of the tree, or whether they are merely
casts of drifted stems, which happen to have been deposited in an
erect position. The weighting of floating trees by stones held in the
roots, added to the greater density of the root wood, has no doubt
often been the cause of this vertical position. In attempting to
determine if an erect cast is in the original place of growth of the
tree, it is important to bear in mind the great length of time that wood
is able to resist decay, especially under water. The wonderful state of
preservation of old piles found in the bed of a river, and the
preservation of wooden portions of anchors of which the iron has
been completely removed by disintegration, illustrate this power of
resistance. In this connection, the following passage from Lyell’s
travels in America is of interest. In describing the site of an old forest,
he writes[98]:
“Some of the stumps, especially those of the fir tribe, take fifty years to rot away,
though exposed in the air to alternations of rain and sunshine, a fact on which every
geologist will do well to reflect, for it is clear that the trees of a forest submerged
beneath the water, or still more, if entirely excluded from the air, by becoming imbedded
in sediment, may endure for centuries without decay, so that there may have been
ample time for the slow petrifaction of erect fossil trees in the Carboniferous and other
formations, or for the slow accumulation around them of a great succession of strata.”

In another place, in speaking of the trees in the Great Dismal


Swamp, Lyell writes:—“When thrown down, they are soon covered
by water, and keeping wet they never decompose, except the sap
wood, which is less than an inch thick[99].” We see, then, that trees
may have resisted decay for a sufficiently long time to allow of a
considerable deposition of sediment. It is very difficult to make any
computation of the rate of deposition of a particular set of
sedimentary strata, and, therefore, to estimate the length of time
during which the fossil stems must have resisted decay.
PLANTS AND COAL.

The protective qualities of humus acids, apart from the almost


complete absence of Bacteria[100] from the waters of Moor- or Peat-
land, is a factor of great importance in the preservation of plants
against decay for many thousands of years.
From examples of fossil stems or leaves in which the organic
material has been either wholly or in part replaced by coal, we may
pass by a gradual transition to a mass of opaque coal in which no
plant structure can be detected. It is by no means uncommon to
notice on the face of a piece of coal a distinct impression of a plant
stem, and in some cases the coal is obviously made up of a number
of flattened and compressed branches or leaves of which the original
tissues have been thoroughly carbonised. A block of French coal,
represented in fig. 13, consists very largely of laminated bands
composed of the long parallel veined leaves of the genus Cordaites
and of the bark of Lepidodendron, Sigillaria, and other Coal-Measure
genera. The long rhizomes and roots below the coal are preserved
as casts in the underclay.
In examining thin sections of coal, pieces of pitted tracheids or
crushed spores are frequently met with as fragments of plant
structures which have withstood decay more effectually than the bulk
of the vegetable débris from which the coal was formed.
The coaly layer on a fossil leaf is often found to be without any
trace of the plant tissues, but not infrequently such carbonised
leaves, if treated with certain reagents and examined
microscopically, are seen to retain the outlines of the epidermal cells
of the leaf surface. If a piece of the Carbonaceous film detached
from a fossil leaf is left for some days in a small quantity of nitric acid
containing a crystal of chlorate of potash, and, after washing with
water, is transferred to ammonia, transparent film often shows very
clearly the outlines of the epidermal cell and the form of the stomata.
Such treatment has been found useful in many cases as an aid to
determination[101]. Prof. Zeiller informs me that he has found it
particularly satisfactory in the case of cycadean leaves.
Fig. 13. Part of a coal seam largely made up of Cordaites leaves.
Stigmaria and Stigmariopsis shown in the rock (underclay) underlying
the coal. (After Grand’Eury [82] Pl. i. fig. 3.)
FOSSILS IN HALF-RELIEF.

It is sometimes possible to detach the thin lamina representing the


carbonised leaf or other plant fragment from the rock on which it lies
and to mount it whole on a slide. Good examples of plants treated in
this way may be seen in the Edinburgh and British Museums,
especially Sphenopteris fronds from the Carboniferous oil shales of
Scotland. In the excellent collection of fossil plants in Stockholm
there are still finer examples of such specimens, obtained by Dr
Nathorst from some of the Triassic plants of Southern Sweden. In a
few instances the tissues of a plant have been converted into coal in
such a manner as to retain the form of the individual cells, which
appear in section as a black framework in a lighter coloured matrix.
Examples of such carbonised tissues were figured by some of the
older writers, and Solms-Laubach has recently[102] described sections
of Palaeozoic plants preserved in this manner. The section
represented in fig. 70 is that of a Calamite stem (8 × 9·5 cm.) in
which the wood has been converted into carbonaceous material, but
the more delicate tissues have been almost completely destroyed.
The thin and irregular black line a little distance outside the ring of
wood, and forming the limit of the drawing, probably represents the
cuticle. The whole section is embedded in a homogeneous matrix of
calcareous rock, in which the more resistant tissues of the plant have
been left as black patches and faint lines.
Mention should be made of a special form of preservation which
has been described as fossilisation in half-relief. If a stem is
imbedded in sand or mud, the matrix receives an impression of the
plant surface, and if the hollow pith-cavity is filled with the
surrounding sediment, the surface of the medullary cast will exhibit
markings different from those seen on the surface in contact with the
outside of the stem. The space separating the pith-cast from the
mould bearing the impression of the stem surface may remain
empty, or it may be filled with sedimentary material. In half-relief
fossils, on the other hand, we have projecting from the under surface
of a bed a more or less rounded and prominent ridge with certain
surface markings, and fitting into a corresponding groove in the
underlying rock on which the same markings have been impressed.
It is conceivable that such a cast might be obtained if soft plant
fragments were lying on a bed of sand, and were pressed into it by
the weight of superincumbent material. The plant fragment would be
squeezed into a depression, and its substance might eventually be
removed and leave no other trace than the half-relief cast and hollow
mould. A twig lying on sand would by its own weight gradually sink a
little below the surface; if it were then blown away or in some manner
removed, the depression would show the surface features of the
twig. When more sand came to be spread out over the depression, it
would find its way into the pattern of the mould, and so produce a
cast. If at a later period when the sand had hardened, the upper
portion were separated from the lower, from the former there would
project a rounded cast of the hollow mould. The preservation of soft
algae as half-relief casts has been doubted by Nathorst[103] and
others as an unlikely occurrence in nature. They prefer to regard
such ridges on a rock face as the casts of the trails or burrows of
animals. This question of the preservation of the two sides of a
mould showing the same impression of a plant has long been a
difficult problem; it is discussed by Parkinson in his Organic
Remains. In one of the letters (No. xlvi.), he quotes the objection of
a sceptical friend, who refuses to believe such a manner of
preservation possible, “until,” says Parkinson, “I can inform him if, by
involving a guinea in plaster of Paris, I could obtain two impressions
of the king’s head, without any impression of the reverse[104].”
It would occupy too much space to attempt even a brief reference
to the various materials in which impressions of plants have been
preserved. Carbonaceous matter is the most usual substance, and in
some cases it occurs in the form of graphite which on dark grey or
black rocks has the appearance of a plant drawn in lead pencil. The
impressions of plants on the Jurassic (Kimeridgian) slates of
Solenhofen[105] in Bavaria, like those on the Triassic sandstones of
the Vosges, are usually marked out in red iron oxide.
PETRIFIED TREES.

So far we have chiefly considered examples of plants preserved in


various ways by incrustation, that is, by having been enclosed in
some medium which has received an impression of the surface of
the plant in contact with it. By far the most valuable fossil specimens
from a botanical point of view are however those in which the
internal structure has been preserved; that is in which the preserving
medium has not served merely as an encasing envelope or internal
cast, but has penetrated into the body of the plant fragment and
rendered permanent the organization of the tissues. In almost every
Natural History or Geological Museum one meets with specimens of
petrified trees or polished sections of fossil palm stems and other
plants, in which the internal structure has been preserved in siliceous
material, and admits of detailed investigation in thin sections under
the microscope. Silica, calcium carbonate, with usually a certain
amount of carbonate of iron and magnesium carbonate, iron pyrites,
amber, and more rarely calcium fluoride or other substances have
taken the place of the original cell-walls. Of silicified stems, those
from Antigua, Egypt, Central France, Saxony, Brazil, Tasmania[106],
and numerous other places afford good examples. Darwin records
numerous silicified stems in Northern Chili, and the Uspallata Pass.
In the central part of the Andes range, 7000 feet high, he describes
the occurrence of “Snow-white projecting silicified columns.... They
must have grown,” he adds, “in volcanic soil, and were subsequently
submerged below sea-level, and covered with sedimentary beds and
lava-flows[107].” A striking example of the occurrence of numerous
petrified plant stems has been described by Holmes from the Tertiary
forests of the Yellowstone Park. From the face of a cliff on the north
side of Amethyst mountain “rows of upright trunks stand out on the
ledges like the columns of a ruined temple. On the more gentle
slopes farther down, but where it is still too steep to support
vegetation, save a few pines, the petrified trunks fairly cover the
surface, and were at first supposed by us to be the shattered
remains of a recent forest[108].” Marsh[109] and Conwentz[110] have
described silicified trees more than fifty feet in length from a locality
in California where several large forest trees of Tertiary age have
been preserved in volcanic strata. In South Africa on the Drakenberg
hills there occur numerous silicified trunks, occasionally erect and
often lying on the ground, probably of Triassic age[111]. In some
instances the specimens measure several feet in length and
diameter. Some of the coniferous stems seen in Portland, and
occasionally met with reared up against a house side, illustrate the
silicification of plant structure on a large scale. These are of Upper
Jurassic (Purbeck) age. From Grand’Croix in France a silicified stem
of Cordaites of Palaeozoic age has been recorded with a length of
twenty meters. The preservation of plants by siliceous infiltrations
has long been known. One of the earliest descriptions of this form of
petrifaction in the British Isles is that of stems found in Lough Neagh,
Ireland. In his lectures on Natural Philosophy, published at Dublin in
1751, Barton gives several figures of Irish silicified wood, and
records the following occurrence in illustration of the peculiar
properties erroneously attributed to the waters of Lough Neagh.
Describing a certain specimen (No. xxvi), he writes:—
“This is a whetstone, which as Mr Anthony Shane, apothecary, who was born very
near the lake, and is now alive, relates, he made by putting a piece of holly in the water
of the lake near his father’s house, and fixing it so as to withstand the motion of the
water, and marking the place so as to distinguish it, he went to Scotland to pursue his
studies, and seven years after took up a stone instead of holly, the metamorphosis
having been made in that time. This account he gave under his handwriting. The shore
thereabouts is altogether loose sand, and two rivers discharge themselves into the lake
very near that place[112].”

The well-known petrified trees from the neighbourhood of Lough


Neagh are probably of Pliocene age, but their exact source has been
a matter of dispute[113].
PETRIFIED WOOD.
In 1836 Stokes described certain stems in which the tissues had
been partially mineralised. In describing a specimen of beech from a
Roman aqueduct at Eibsen in Lippe Bückeburg], he says:—
“The wood is, for the most part, in the state of very old dry wood, but there are several
insulated portions, in which the place of the wood has been taken by carbonate of lime.
These portions, as seen on the surface of the horizontal section, are irregularly circular,
varying in size, but generally a little less or more than ⅛ inch in diameter, and they run
through the whole thickness of the specimen in separate, perpendicular columns. The
vessels of the wood are distinctly visible in the carbonate of lime, and are more perfect
in their form and size in those portions of the specimen than in that which remains
unchanged[114].”

Fig. 14.
A. Araucarioxylon Withami (L. and H.). Radiating lines of crystallisation in
secondary wood, as seen in transverse section.
B. Lepidodendron sp. Concentric lines of crystallisation, and scalariform
tracheids, as seen in longitudinal section.

This partial petrifaction of the structure in patches is often met with


in fossil stems, and may be seriously misleading to those unfamiliar
with the appearance presented by the crystallisation of silica from
scattered centres in a mass of vegetable tissue. A good example of
this is afforded by the gigantic stems discovered in 1829 in the
Craigleith Quarry near Edinburgh[115]. Of those two large stems found
in the Sandstone rock, the longest, originally 11 meters long and
3·3–3·9 meters in girth, is now set up in the grounds of the British
Museum, and a large polished section (1 m. × 87 cm.) is exhibited in
the Fossil-plant Gallery. The other stem is in the Botanic Garden,
Edinburgh. Transverse sections of the wood of the London specimen
show scattered circular patches (fig. 14 A) in the mineralised wood in
which the tracheids are very clearly preserved; while in the other
portion the preservation is much less perfect. The patch of tissue in
fig. 14 A shows a portion of the wood of the Craigleith tree
[Araucarioxylon Withami (L. and H.)] in which the mineral matter,
consisting of dolomite with a little silica here and there, has
crystallised in such a manner as to produce what is practically a
cone-in-cone structure on a small scale, which has partially
obliterated the structural features. This minute cone-in-cone
structure is not uncommon in petrified tissues; it is precisely similar
in appearance to that described by Cole[116] in certain minerals. The
crystallisation has been set up along lines radiating from different
centres, and the particles of the tissue have been pushed as it were
along these lines.
Fig. 15. Transverse section of the central cylinder of a Carboniferous
Lepidodendroid stem in the collection of Mr Kidston. From Dalmeny,
Scotland. s. Silica filling up the central portion of the pith. p. Remains
of the pith tissue. x1. Primary xylem. x2. Secondary xylem. c. Innermost
cortex.
PRESERVATION OF TISSUES.

A somewhat different crystallisation phenomenon is illustrated by


the extremely fine section of a Lepidodendroid plant shown in fig. 15.
The tissues of the primary and secondary wood (x1 and x2) are well
preserved throughout in silica, but scattered through the siliceous
matrix there occur numerous circular patches, as seen in the figure.
One of these is more clearly shown in fig. 14 B drawn from a
longitudinal section through the secondary wood, x2; it will be noticed
that where the concentric lines of the circular patch occur, the
scalariform thickenings of the tracheids are sharply defined, but
immediately a tracheid is free of the patch these details are lost. It
would appear that in this case silicification was first completed round
definite isolated centres, and the secondary crystallisation in the
matrix partially obliterated some of the more delicate structural
features. The same phenomenon has been observed in oolitic
rocks[117], in which the oolitic grains have resisted secondary
crystallisation and so retained their original structure.
Among the most important examples of silicified plants are those
from a few localities in Central France. In the neighbourhood of
Autun there used to be found in abundance loose nodules of
siliceous rock containing numerous fragments of seeds, twigs, and
leaves of different plants. The rock of which the broken portions are
found on the surface of the ground was formed about the close of
the Carboniferous period.
At the hands of French investigators the microscopic examination
of these fragments of a Palaeozoic vegetation have thrown a flood of
light on the anatomical structure of many extinct types. Sometimes
the silica has penetrated the cavities of the cells and vessels, and
the walls have decayed without their substance being replaced by
mineral material. Sections of tissues preserved in this manner, if
soaked in a coloured solution assume an appearance almost
identical with that of stained sections of recent plants. The spaces
left by the decayed walls act as fine capillaries and suck up the
coloured solution[118].
In the Coal-Measure sandstones of England large pieces of woody
stems are occasionally met with in which the mineralisation has been
incomplete. A brown piece of fossil stem lying in a bed of sandstone
shows on the surface a distinct woody texture, and the lines of wood
elements are clearly visible. The whole is, however, very friable and
falls to pieces if an attempt is made to cut thin sections of it; the
tracheids of the wood easily fall apart owing to the walls being
imperfectly preserved, and the absence of a
connecting framework such as would have
been formed had the membranes been
thoroughly silicified. It is occasionally possible
to obtain from petrified plant stems perfect
casts in silica or other substances of the cavity
of a sclerenchymatous fibre, in which the
mineral has been deposited not only in the
cavity but in the fine pit-canals traversing the
lignified walls. Such a cast is represented in fig.
16, the fine lateral projections are the delicate
casts of the pit canals. Numerous instances of
minute and delicate tissues preserved in silica
are recorded in later chapters. A somewhat
unusual type of silicification is met with in some
of the Gondwana rocks of India, in which
cycadean fronds occur as white porcellaneous
specimens showing a certain amount of
internal structure in a siliceous matrix.
Specimens of such leaves may be seen in the
British Museum.
COAL-BALLS.

In the Coal-Measures of England, especially


in the neighbourhood of Halifax in Yorkshire, Fig. 16. Internal cast
and in South Lancashire, the seams of coal of a
occasionally contain calcareous nodules sclerenchymatous
varying in size from a nut to a man’s head, and cell from the root of
a Cretaceous fern
consisting of about 70% of carbonate of (Rhizodendron
calcium and magnesium, and 30% of oxide of oppoliense Göpp.).
iron, sulphide of iron, &c.[119] The nodules, often After Stenzel (86)
spoken of by English writers as ‘coal-balls,’ Pl. iii. fig. 29. × 240
contain numerous fragments of plants in which and reduced to one-
the minute cellular structure is preserved with half.
remarkable perfection. It should be noted that the term coal-ball is
also applied to rounded or subangular pieces of coal which are
occasionally met with in coal seams, and especially in certain French
coal fields. To avoid confusion it is better to speak of the plant-
containing nodules as calcareous nodules, restricting the term coal-
ball to true coal pebbles. A section of a calcareous nodule, when
seen under the microscope, presents the appearance of a matrix of
a crystalline calcareous substance containing a heterogeneous
mixture of all kinds of plant tissues, usually in the form of broken
pieces and in a confused mass.

Fig. 17. A thin section of a calcareous nodule from the Coal-Measures.


Binney collection, Woodwardian Museum, Cambridge. Very slightly
reduced.
A large section of one of these nodules (12·5 cm. × 8·5 cm.) is
shown in fig. 17. It illustrates the manner of occurrence of various
fragments of different plants in which the structure has been more or
less perfectly preserved. In this particular example we see sections
of Myeloxylon (I), Calamites (II), Fern petioles (Rachiopteris) (III),
Stigmarian appendages (IV), Lepidodendroid leaves (V), Myeloxylon
pinnules (VI), Gymnospermous seeds (VII), Twig of a
Lepidodendron, showing the central xylem cylinder and large leaf-
bases on the outer cortex, (VIII), Sporangia and spores of a strobilus
(IX), Tangential section of a Myeloxylon petiole (X), Rachiopteris sp.
(XI), Rachiopteris sp. (XII), Band of sclerenchymatous tissue (XIII),
Rachiopteris sp. (XIV).
The general appearance of a calcareous plant-nodule suggests a
soft pulpy mass of decaying vegetable débris, through which roots
were able to bore their way, as in a piece of peat or leafy mould.
Overlying this accumulation of soft material there was spread out a
bed of muddy sediment containing numerous calcareous shells,
which supplied the percolating water with the material which was
afterwards deposited in portions of the vegetable débris. According
to this view the calcareous nodules of the coal seams represent local
patches of a widespread mass of débris which were penetrated by a
carbonated solution, and so preserved as samples of a decaying
mass of vegetation, of which by far the greater portion became
eventually converted into coal[120].
FOSSIL NUCLEI.

In such nodules, we find that not only has the framework of the
tissues been preserved, but frequently the remains of cell contents
are clearly seen. In some cases the cells of a tissue may contain in
each cavity a darker coloured spot, which is probably the mineralised
cell nucleus. (Fig. 42, A, 1, p. 214.) The contents of secretory sacs,
such as those containing gum or resin, are frequently found as black
rods filling up the cavity of the cell or canal. The contents of cells in
some cases closely simulate starch grains, and such may have been
actually present in the tissues of a piece of a fossil dicotyledonous
stem described by Thiselton-Dyer from the Lower Eocene Thanet
beds[121], and in the rhizome of a fossil Osmunda recorded by
Carruthers[122]. (Fig. 42, B, p. 214.)
Schultze in 1855[123] recorded the discovery of cellulose by
microchemical tests applied to macerated tissue from Tertiary lignite
and coal. With reference to the possibility of recognising cell
contents in fossil tissue it is interesting to find that Dr Murray of
Scarborough had attempted, and apparently with success, to apply
chemical tests to the tissues of Jurassic leaves. In a letter written to
Hutton in 1833 Murray speaks of his experiments as follows:—
“Reverting to the Oolitic plants, I have again and with better success been
experimenting upon the thin transparent films of leaves, chiefly of Taeniopteris vittata
and Cyclopteris, which from their tenuity offer fine objects for the microscope.... By
many delicate trials I have ascertained the existence still in these leaves of resin and of
tannin.... I am seeking among the filmy leaves of the Fucoides of A. Brongniart for
iodine, but hitherto without success, and indeed can hardly expect it, as probably did
iodine exist in them, it must have long ago entered into new combinations[124].”

Apart from this difficulty, it is not surprising that Dr Murray’s search


for iodine was unsuccessful, considering how little algal nature most
of the so-called Fucoids possess.
Some of the most perfectly preserved tissues as regards the
details of cell contents are those of gymnospermous seeds from
Autun. In sections of one of these seeds which I recently had the
opportunity of examining in Prof. Bertrand’s collection, the
parenchymatous cells contained very distinct nuclei and
protoplasmic contents. In one portion of the tissue in the nucellus of
Sphaerospermum the cell walls had disappeared, but the nuclei
remained in a remarkable state of preservation. The cells shown in
fig. 42 are from the ground tissue of a petiole of Cycadeoidea
gigantea Sew.[125], a magnificent Cycadean stem from Portland
recently added to the British Museum collection; in the cell A, 1, the
nucleus is fairly distinct and in 2 and 4 the contracted cell-contents is
clearly seen. Other interesting examples of fossil nuclei are seen in a
Lyginodendron leaf figured by Williamson and Scott in a recent
Memoir on that genus[126]. Each mesophyll cell contains a single dark
nucleus. The mineralisation of the most delicate tissues and the
preservation of the various forms of cell-contents are now generally
admitted by those at all conversant with the possibilities of plant
petrifaction. If we consider what these facts mean—the microscopic
investigation of not only the finest framework but even the very life-
substance of Palaeozoic plants—we feel that the aeons since the
days when these plants lived have been well-nigh obliterated.
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