You know that your team will be travelling to all of the different divisions of the corporation to assist in that division’s strategic planning. You want to impress on this young group of planners how important the concept of competitive advantage is, and why it is even more important now than it was in the past.

Discuss the following specific points:

• In your own words, what is competitive advantage?
• Why is it important for a company to have one or more sources of competitive advantage?
• What are 3 examples of sources of competitive advantage for a firm in the pharmaceutical industry?
• Why is having some competitive advantage much more important for a firm now than it was 25 years ago?