answer each question below, between 75-150 words in length.
1. Use the Internet to find two articles describing firms’ use of a cooperate strategy: one where trust is being used as a strategic asset and another where contracts and monitoring are being emphasized. What are the difference between the managerial approaches being used in the two companies? Which of the cooperative strategies has the highest probability of being successful? Why
2. Read the popular business press (e.g., Business Week, Fortune, Fast Company), to identify a strategic action and a tactical action taken by firms approximately two years ago. Use the Internet to search the popular business press to see if and how competitors responded to those actions. Discuss the results.
3. Given the importance of understanding the external environment, why do some firms fail to do so? What were the implications of the firms’ failure to understand that environment?
4. What is the definition of competitive strategy, and why is this strategy important to firms in the twenty-first century landscape?