The birth, near-death, and comeback of Apple is a topic of interest for a variety of reasons. Whether it is the leadership style of Steve Jobs, or the development of a lock-in model that increases the willingness to pay on the part of consumers, Apple is a rich, fertile ground for exploring a variety ofRead… Read more »
With saturation in the United States market achieved in the 1990’s, Walmart began an aggressive international expansion, targeting China as one of its top priorities to fuel continued growth in the company. Due to its past success, Walmart brought its same Every Day Low Prices strategy to the Chinese market. Yet Walmart has discovered theRead… Read more »
A case study1 of a former company called Veridian shows that reputation and culture when treated as strategic resources can be critical for developing and maintaining a competitive edge. Yet culture can have its darker side, as we in the space business know all too well: culture was a contributing factor to both the Challenger2Read… Read more »
In response to the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) began a strategic transformation from a law-enforcement to a threat-focused intelligence agency. A case study1 of the progress in the transformation at the FBI shows how strategic resources propelled by inertia, along with theRead… Read more »
Disney and a Resources Based View (RBV) analysis illustrate the conditions under which organization-specific resources provide a sustained competitive advantage. Specifically, Disney through its beloved character Mickey Mouse shows that an organization can sustain a competitive advantage if it has available to it resources that are inimitable (unique), durable, appropriated to where the organization capturesRead… Read more »
In June 2014, the National Research Council (NRC) released its report on the future of human spaceflight, “Pathways to Exploration: Rationales and Approaches for a U.S. Program of Human Space Exploration.” At its heart is a question of strategy – what should it be to move forward with a meaningful and successful path? In contemplatingRead… Read more »
Perhaps you are like me, and don’t. My excuse for not having one is that my medical expenses vary from year to year, and therefore I’m reluctant to set aside dollars into an FSA, only to lose those dollars if I don’t spend them. Is that the situation you are in as well? While conductingRead… Read more »
Marcia Smith writes in SpacePolicyOnline.com concerning NASA’s asteroid return mission unveiled in the President’s budget for fiscal year 2014: All in all, however, the White House and NASA may be exacerbating the challenge of winning support from Congress and other stakeholders. Some officials are using imprecise terminology, there is confusion over the relationship of thisRead… Read more »