In the field of business, companies spend a lot of time thinking about how they can gain an edge over their competitors.
More often than not, this means finding a way to do things better than the other companies in your industry.
You can do this by innovating new ways of doing things or improving existing processes. This can be done through product innovation, process innovation, or market innovation.
A key concept in business strategy is the concept of strategic architecture. Strategic architecture refers to the foundations of a company’s strategy, which include its core competencies (KC’s), knowledge systems (KS’s), fortresses (F’s), and supporting activities (SA’s).
This article will discuss these concepts and how they relate to each other.
Definition of graphical links
A graphical link is the connection between two factors in an organization. An organization relies on these connections to be successful, and without them, success is hard to come by.
These connections are internal factors such as knowledge, skills, and experience of employees, and external factors such as suppliers and demand for product.
Apple Inc. is a famous example of success due to graphical links. The company has had success with its iPhone, Mac Computers, and Apple Watches due to the quality of their products and marketing.
Their products are well-marketed with nice looks and features while also having good internal components making them successful. The external demand for their products is high which contributes to success.
The graphical links between these two factors is the internal quality of the products coupled with high demand for them.
Definition of supporting activities
Supporting activities are internal factors such as knowledge, skills, and processes that contribute to a company’s competitiveness. These also include the company’s organizational structure, workforce talent, and strategy for leveraging its human capital.
A company’s knowledge consists of its theoretical and practical understanding of the market, its customers, and its own capabilities. Its skills consist of the expertise and ability it has to carry out specific tasks such as production or delivery. Its processes are the ways in which it carries out all of its functions such as production or delivery.
Innovation is a key element in today’s business world. A company must keep developing new products and services to remain competitive. This area of competitiveness relies heavily on a company’s internal knowledge, skills, and processes.
All of these elements play an important role in determining whether a company remains competitive or not.
Example of a graphical link for customer satisfaction
A graphical link is a diagram that represents the relationships between strategic objectives, key functions, and supporting activities. These links show how these components are related to each other and to the organization’s overall mission.
A key function is an internal process or activity that contributes to the organization’s goal. A supporting activity is an external activity that contributes to the organization’s achievement of its goal.
In the customer satisfaction link, customer satisfaction is the strategic objective, quality service is the key function that supports it, and complaint handling procedures are a supporting activity that supports quality service and customer satisfaction.
The graphical link of competitive advantage (linkage model) shows how each of these elements contribute to the organization’s competitive advantage. This model was developed by researchers at Harvard Business School and can be found in detail on their website.
Example of a graphical link for quality control
A company can use quality control as a competitive advantage by linking it with other company functions. For example, quality control can be linked with the function of designing products.
Designing products requires skill and experience. Companies that have quality control as a business model can hire designers from within their organization or outside to improve the quality of their products.
They can also invest in technology that helps with the design process and thus improve the quality of the product. Using lower-quality technology may seem like a way to cut costs, but it will not help with quality control.
Companies that have quality control as a business model can also link marketing and sales with quality control. If people are buying your products because they are high-quality, then more people will want to buy your products.
Example of supporting activities for a basketball team
A team of players can have all the best strategies, plays, and moves, but they will not win the game unless they work well together.
The same applies to business teams. A company may have the best products and services, but if its employees do not work well together and with other companies, it will not win in the market.
A successful business needs to have more than just good products and services. It needs to have good teamwork among its employees and with other companies that offer similar products and services.
In sports psychology, this concept is referred to as team cohesion. Cohesion is a sense of common identity, purpose, and understanding among members of a group.
Team cohesion is a very important factor in team performance, which can influence performance in both desirable and less desirable ways.
