Q This discussion thread is worth 20 points and is available for one week. Before working on your posts, make sure you are clear about the expectations. Check out the Discussion Thread Grading Rubric Actions and the example of a good discussion question post Download a good discussion question post. As a reminder, your posts will be evaluated based on the following two criteria. 1. Your understanding and application of course theories and concepts. To be successful in discussion, you must demonstrate your knowledge of course theories/concepts and your ability to apply these theories/concepts to discussion questions. It is thus important that you complete all the readings and gain an appropriate understanding of the course materials. When participating in discussion, be mindful to closely base your arguments on the theories, frameworks, and concepts from the readings. 2. The quality of your ideas, arguments, and analysis. It is critically important that you support your ideas, arguments, and analysis with evidence and sound reasoning. Simply saying that you agree or don't agree with something without providing evidence of your rationale or the reasoning behind your thinking is just an unsupported opinion. Strategy is about research and fact-based analysis, and thus should be supported with data, factual evidence and logical reasoning. If your evidence and reasoning is based on course materials, clearly state so. If they are from external sources, please provide a link to the appropriate website. NOTE: Please pick EITHER Apple OR Zoom for this Discussion Thread. If you pick Apple, please choose EITHER Q1-1 (value chain) OR Q1-2 (RBV). Q1. Apple has sustained a strong competitive advantage (manifested in profitability) over competitors in the global smartphone industry. As an illustration, in Q3 2019 Apple iPhone had a 13% share of global smartphone shipments which translated to 32% of the global smartphone revenues and 66% of the global smartphone profit (source (Links to an external site.)). A similar pattern was observed a year later: In Q3 2020, Apple iPhone took 60.5% (source (Links to an external site.)) of the global smartphone profit with a 12% (source (Links to an external site.)) share of global smartphone shipments. The first chart below presents global Top 5 smartphone company shipment market share trends by Q3 2019. The second chart shows global Top 6 smartphone industry profit share trends by Q3 2019. Please pick and respond to ONE of the following questions. Q1-1. Analyze the sources of Apple's profitability (competitive advantage) in the global smartphone industry using the value chain framework. Keep in mind that a firm can increase its profitability by lowering cost and/or increasing willingness to pay in each value activity. Q1-2. Analyze the sources of Apple's sustained competitive advantage in the global smartphone industry using the resource-based view of the firm (Hint: use the VRIN criteria for strategic resources - valuable, rare, inimitable (difficult to imitate), and nonsubstitutable (difficult to substitute). Source: https://www.idc.com/promo/smartphone-market-share/vendor Source: https://www.counterpointresearch.com/apple-continues-lead-global-handset-industry-profit-share/ Q2. Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 Pandemic, Zoom has grown exponentially. The current market capitalization of the company is about $101B (as of Aug 27, 2021), exceeding the combined value of the 7 largest US airlines (Yahoo Finance). Zoom has become the No. 1 app for video conferencing and is well becoming the generic term for videoconferencing. Is Zoom’s competitive advantage sustainable? Analyze the imitability OR inimitability of Zoom’s resources that have created its current competitive advantage over competitors (Hint: Physical uniqueness? Path Dependency? Causal Ambiguity? Social Complexity?). Some resources for your reference: - Read the FIRST new article in this news package. (Links to an external site.) - Watch “Zoom company story: How Eric Yuan defeated Skype” (and Webex): - Watch one of the numerous zoom humor videos on Youtube and social media: Suggested answers - Apple Actions Suggested answer - Zoom Actions Honor code You are expected to adhere to the Student Honor Code (view the complete Honor Code at Student Rights and Responsibilities) which is a commitment by students of Northern Kentucky University to uphold the highest degree of ethical integrity in academic conduct. You should not lie, cheat, or plagiarize to gain an academic advantage over fellow students or avoid academic requirements. To avoid any allegations of plagiarism, your should not claim someone else's work as your own, and you should cite sources whenever another person's ideas, models, text, graphs, figures, spoken word, photos or internet statements are used. Specifically, if you take more than five words directly from a source, you must use quotes and cite that quote in the text as well as include that source in the references. If you put information from a source into your own words, you must cite that source in the text and include the source in the references. Please read my policy on plagiarism and academic integrity in the syllabus. Course instructions and materials are for instructional use only. All other uses are strictly prohibited. Republication or reproduction of course instructions or materials is strictly forbidden. Discussion/quiz/exam questions or answers from this course must not be shared with any other individual who is not part of this course or on any other platform on the Internet.