Acquisitions:
Acquisitions involve one company having a controlling interest in another one.
Alliances:
An alliance is a longer-term partnership between two or more organizations. Alliance can be relatively loose and tactical through to strategy. A strategic alliance involves a reciprocal commitment by the various parties to longer-term collaboration which involves the mutual deployment of resources.
Benchmarking:
Benchmarking involves some comparison of performance and of some underlying capability- in order to achieve learning and change. Customer benchmarking entails comparison of customer needs against supplier delivery. Competitive benchmarking involves understanding differences between delivery of value to customer or cost between at least two players.
World-class benchmarking:
World-class benchmarking involves comparison with the best in the world either within or outside your industry.
Internal benchmarking:
Internal benchmarking looks at the learning from comparison of different operations within your ownership.
Buyer power:
This is the degree of pressure which buyers have over companies in terms of price, discounts, delivery times, quality levels and penalties for poor quality. Buyer power will vary by market, segment, distribution channel and customer. It will also vary according to whether it is a primary supply or a secondary supply.
Breakthrough:
A breakthrough is a major shift in a company’s competitive position, organizational capability and financial performance.
Capability:
This is the overall ability of a company to compete.
Competitive advantage:
This is about either superior value to your target customers or similar value at lower cost (relative to your competitors).
Core competence:
A core competence is a particular skill area which a company has, which will enable it to add value to its customers and to manage its cost base.
Competitive strategy:
The scope