1. Why is it important to study the internal resources, capabilities, and activities of firms? What insights can be gained?
2. a. Conduct a value chain analysis for McDonald's. What are its primary activities? What are its support activities? Identify the activities that add the most value for the customer. Why? Which activities help McDonald's to contain cost? Why?
b. In the past few years, McDonald's has made a lot of changes to its menu, adding more healthy choices and more higher-priced items, such as those offered in McCafe (e.g., pre-mium mast coffee, frappe, and fruit smooth-ies), and has also enhanced its in-restaurant services (e.g., free, unlimited Wi-Fi; upgraded interiors).
Did McDonald's new priorities-in terms of a broader, healthier menu and an improved in-restaurant experience-require changes to its traditional value chain activities? If so, how? Try to be as specific as possible in comparing the McDonald's from the recent past (focusing on low-cost burgers) to the McDonald's of today.
3. The resource-based view of the firm identifies four criteria that managers can use to evaluate whether particular resources and capabilities are core competencies and can, therefore, provide a basis for sustainable competitive advantage. Are these measures independent or interdependent? Explain. If (some of) the measures are interde¬pendent, what implications does that fact have for managers wanting to create and sustain a com¬petitive advantage?