Week 6 Reading Reflection

The thing that surprised me the most in the reading was how important competitive advantage is. I felt like in the reading, he explained not only the forces that shape competitive advantage but also how much a necessity it is in any industry. Without it I feel like any company or idea would fail.

Since I have discussed competitive advantage in many other classes of mine I was not confused by the reading. However, I did think that simplifying what shapes competitive advantage into only 5 forces was not right.

I would ask the author if he believes those are only forces that shape competitive advantage or if there are more and he just believes these are the most important. I would also ask him which of the five points is the most important, in the sense that without that one point the entire idea would fail?

Like I said, I think that simplifying the forces into only 5 sections was wrong. This is because I feel like competitive advantage is flowing and constantly changing so it is tough to get a true read on what is more important at any point of time.