Cash Cow- a business or product which generates a sturdy, dependable flow of cash.
Dog- a product with low market share in a slow growing market and thus neither generates more consumes large amounts of cash.
Star- products that are in high growth markets with a relatively high share of that market. They tend to generate high amounts of income.
Question Mark- growing rapidly and thus consumes large amounts of cash but because they have low markets shares they do not generate much cash
2. What are core competences?
Core competences are critical capabilities to a business achieving competitive advantage. The starting point for analysing core competences is recognising that competition between businesses is as much a race for competence mastery as it is for market position and market power. Senior management cannot focus on all activities of a business and the competencies required to undertake them. So the goal is for management to focus attention on competencies that really affect competitive advantage.
4 Potential sources of core competences * Distribution * Marketing * Management * Manufacturing
4 criteria used to evaluate core competences * Valuable * Rare * Costly to imitate * Non substitutable
3. What should an audit of resources include?
The resources available to a business whether it be owned or obtained through partnerships, joint ventures or simply suppliers arrangement with other businesses. The assessment of the strength and weakness of an organisation in conjunction with an assessment of opportunities and threats. It should have the key success factors for the markets and industries in question and the comparable strengths and weaknesses of competitors for the same customers.
4. What are the strategic options for competing in a Mature Industry? * Prune marginal products and models * Emphasize innovation in the value chain * Strong focus on cost reduction