Question 1

— When would one list of criteria for competitive priorities be preferred vs. the other list? Share a situation where the textbook list might be more or less useful than the Panmore list and explain why. It could be one of the other companies from the Panmore site, a company you have worked for or interned for, or a company that you have read about.

The textbook’s list of competitive priorities is a more general list of delivering value to the customer and satisfying customer needs. This is different than the Panmore list of competitive priorities that is focused on the blueprint for adding value to the product or service itself. In other words, the textbook list is customer-focused whereas the Panmore list is product/service-focused.

The textbook’s list of competitive priorities is better suited for evaluating technology companies that do not carry an inventory of physical goods. These companies do not have a physical supply chain and do not move product from one location to another, therefore, categories in the Panmore list such as “Inventory Management”, and “Location Strategy” bare little to no significance in evaluating the operations of a technology company. A company like Facebook that provides a social media service to its users collects its user’s data. Facebook’s core processes consist of its inventory of ad space and the collection and selling of user information gathered from its network to customers. A company like Facebook would need to focus resources on its flexibility, quality, and costs of its operations in order to impact its bottom line.

The inverse is true for companies that sell physical inventory. The Panmore Institute list is more adapt for evaluating the operations of a more traditional brick-and-mortar retail business such as Home Depot. Retailers have suppliers and customer relations as part of its core supply chain processes, which are measures of productivity in the Panmore lists of competitive priorities.