Step 1. Watch the following two videos that are provided in this assignment.
Video 1: Alternative Competitive Advantage (Link to the video)
This video discusses the three types of competitive advantages that organizations can adopt to
compete with other companies in the market. A competitive advantage can be viewed as
something that makes a company’s product or service superior to those of other companies in the
market. Through watching this video, try to understand that multiple companies in a given market
can be equally successful by utilizing different types of competitive advantages.
Video 2: Zappos Strategic HR (Link to the video)
This video discusses the competitive advantage of Zappos (i.e., top-tier customer service), the
culture that is required to maintain the competitive advantage (i.e., fun culture), and how HRM
practices (e.g., recruiting and selection practices) can help the company to build the required
culture.
Step 2. Provide your initial response. (25 points)
You have just won a lottery. The prize amount is 10 million dollars (after tax). After some consideration,
you have decided to quit your current job and start a business in Killeen, TX. Answer the following five
questions.
Q1) What business will you start in Killeen, TX?
Discussion #2
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Q2) What will be your company’s competitive advantage? Or why will the customers choose your
product or services over those of other companies in the market? (In the case of Zappos, the
competitive advantage was providing top-tier customer service.)
Q3) For your business, which employee group is the most critical in delivering the competitive
advantage? (In the case of Zappos, this would be the customer service representatives since they
are the employees who are actually delivering top-tier customer service.)
Q4) For the critical employee group to appropriately deliver the competitive advantage, what are
the knowledge and skills that the employees need to possess, behaviors that they need to engage
in, or the culture that needs to be established? (In the case of Zappos, this was building a “fun
culture.”)
Q5) What are some HRM practices (e.g., selection, training, performance appraisal, and
compensation) that you may adopt to foster the knowledge, skills, behaviors, and culture that
were identified in Q4? (In the case of Zappos, the company only selected job candidates who are a
good fit with its fun culture. But let’s not only focus on the selection practices in answering this
question.)
Note. Your answers to Q1, Q2, and Q3 should be short (less than half of the total initial post). Your
answers to Q4 and Q5 should be long (more than half of the total initial post).
Sample Solution