Situation analysis focusing on the key internal factors - Essay Example

This will make apple have an increase in the number of transaction made, which is in line with its strategy. A company’s resource strengths and competitive capabilities allows a company to own power in the market place (Oster, 1999). Competitive power of a resource strength or competitive capability is measured by how many of the following four tests it can pass. This is determined by how much the company helps to improve its customer value preposition, how effectively it competes with rivals, and its role in the company’s preposition.

MasterCard has matched its closest rival in terms of competition since most financial institution offer both options to customers a structure known as ‘duality.’ In terms of market, MasterCard is a global brand. Due to these strengths it can be deduced that the company has a competitive value. The main rivals of MasterCard are Visa and American express, these two companies have the same resources and capability as MasterCard. Due to this fact, MasterCard does not have a competitive power in the market place, and it doesn’t qualify to be a source of competitive advantage.

This test is a fail on MasterCard as it doesn’t own a weapon that its competitors doesn’t have. The more difficult and more expensive it is for rivals to imitate a valuable resource or competitive capability, the greater its potential for enabling a company to outcompete rivals and win a competitive advantage. On this note it can be said that MasterCard has a resource that it is hard to copy, which is the company’s brand name as well as the complexity in its electro system. These resources have enabled the company to have a strong market strength as well as acquiring a sustainable profit.

MasterCard does not score in this test since the resources that it perceives to be hard to copy can be easily be substituted by its rivals