Intel Question - Assignment Example

In accordance with Hill et al. (2009) in order for a firm to be considered as having a competitive advantage towards the other firms operating in the same industry it is necessary that ‘its profitability is greater than the average profitability and profit growth of its rivals’ (Hill et al. 6). In the case of Intel, there is no doubt that the firm has achieved to build a competitive advantage in microprocessors – taking into consideration the firm’s position in the particular industry over the years.

The factors that helped the firm to build this advantage are related to different parts of the internal and external organizational environment. One of key characteristics of the firm’s strategic policies is flexibility; this characteristic allowed the firm’s managers to develop radical updates of the firm’s practices – without delay, a fact that is considered one of the reasons that led Intel to develop a competitive advantage in microprocessors. In the study of Lewis et al. . Another aspect of the firm’s strategies for achieving a competitive advantage is described in the study of Tallman (2010); the above researcher notes that Intel managed to build a competitive advantage by establishing the center or its activities in Silicon Valley, ‘the worldwide center for the microprocessors industry’ (Tallman 54).

In other words, the competitive advantage of the firm has been primarily related to its location. At the next level, it is explained that the firm managed to keep this advantage by establishing manufacturing units in China and India – where the operational costs are extremely low and allow the standardization of the firm’s profitability. Apart from its location, the development by the firm of a competitive advantage seems to be related to other elements/ characteristics of its strategic processes.

This issue is highlighted in the study of Argyris (1999); in the specific study emphasis is given on the firm’s ability to learn fast – reference is made to the rapid response of the firm towards the ‘technological opportunities that come about’ (Argyris 26). It was in this context that the potentials of the microprocessors industry were early identified by managers in Intel; moreover, measures were taken in order for the firm’s entrance in this market to be developed rapidly – with no delays in replacing the manufacturing technology and techniques used by the firm in the past, i.e. before its involvement in the microprocessors industry.

In accordance with the above view, Intel managed to build a competitive advantage not because of the location of its facilities but because of its strategic choices and its ability to