Question 1 Write a detailed note on environmental scanning and its implication for HR policy making?

? Answer - 1 Environmental scanning is a process of gathering, analyzing, and dispensing information for tactical or strategic purposes. The environmental scanning process entails obtaining both factual and subjective information on the business environments in which a company is operating or considering entering. There are three ways of scanning the business environment: 1. Ad-hoc scanning - Short term, infrequent examinations usually initiated by a crisis 2. Regular scanning - Studies done on a regular schedule (e.g. once a year) 3. Continuous scanning (also called continuous learning) - continuous structured data collection and processing on a broad range of environmental factors Most commentators feel that in today's turbulent business environment the best scanning method available is continuous scanning because this allows the firm to act quickly, take advantage of opportunities before competitors do and respond to environmental threats before significant damage is done. Environmental scanning usually refers just to the macro environment, but it can also include industry, competitor analysis, marketing research (consumer analysis), new product development (product innovations) or the company's internal environment. All good companies have an effective environmental scanning process achieved through, for example:
1. networking with other people 2. reading newspapers, magazines and journals that are relevant to the

business 3. attending conferences or sitting in boards and committees 4. surfing the internet from time to time to find information relevant to the business 5. membership in organizations and associations Environmental scanning provides information on what is happening around a business's environment and how this could impinge upon the business. With environmental scanning, the business needs to look at trends that are shaping its industry, including:

1. social and political trends

Some political and social issues may be getting a lot of attention that might end up in government policy or legislation which could impact on the business. 2. market and competition trends 3. technological trends At the heart of strategic planning is environmental scanning, a process of studying the environment of the organization to pinpoint opportunities and threats. The external environment affects HR planning in particular because each organization must draw from the same labour market that supplies all other organizations, including competitors. Indeed one measure of organizational effectiveness is the ability of an organization to compete for a sufficient supply of human resources with the appropriate capabilities. All elements of the external environment government influences, economic conditions, geographic and competition issues and workforce changes must be part of the scanning process. Before managers can begin to formulate an effective strategy, they must make a critical examination of the firms's environment. Assessing the strategic situation is the first phase in determining the content of the proper strategies for a firm. This process begins with an assessment of the general environment of the firm, in terms of economic, technological, social, and political/legal influences. Analyzing the organization's industry is the second major aspect of assessing the firm's strategic situation. An industry structure analysis identifies the major forces affecting competition in an industry and determines the strengths and weaknesses of the business relative to the industry. Michael Porter has identified five basic competitive industry forces: the threat of new entrants in the industry, the intensity of rivalry among existing competitors, the pressure from producers of substitute products or services, the bargaining power of buyers of the industry's outputs, and the bargaining power of suppliers to the industry's companies. Management must find for a firm a position in the industry from which it can best defend itself against these competitive forces or can influence them to its advantages. Another major element of the industry environment is the product/market life cycle which assumes that all products, and, therefore, industries, move through stages of a life cycle. In analyzing an industry, its is also useful to determine if the industry is a global industry, that is, an industry that requires global operations to compete effectively.

The organization's internal environment is the third aspect of assessing the strategic situation, which must be done before strategy alternatives are formulated. Several techniques are available to help management develop a worthwhile environmental analysis. Environmental scanning involves studying and interpreting social, political, ecological, and technological events in an effort to spot budding trends and conditions that could affect the industry. Strategic managers must not only understand the current state of the environment and their industry but also be able to forecast its future states. Moreover, once having implemented the environmental analysis process, management should continually evaluate and strive to improve it.

Question 2 Compare and contrast traditional HR perspective and modern HR perspective. Answer 2 With organisational dynamics shifting towards an increasing market-andcustomer-oriented approach, the role of the human resource function in any industry needs to be revisited and interpreted in todays context. In a typical machine-dominated economy, HR was limited to recruitment and training of the operators, so that the capital assets would function smoothly. Whereas, traditionally, HR has always played the role of a support function, catering to resourcing, training and motivation requirements, the modern organisation demands a more enhanced participation from the HR department. Strategic HR or modern HR, the new avatar, is a realisation that HR can play a more important and proactive role in the emerging flexible new organisation paradigm. The HR function is well linked with the strategic goals and objectives of an organisation, such that HR can augment the organisations ethos, and foster a participative culture. Strategic HR, thus, recognises HRs partnership role in the organisations strategising process. Traditional HR A traditional HR company focuses on clearly laid out and more operational responsibilities of:

1. Staffing/resourcing/hiring: Getting the right people for the appropriate

role/position
2. Evaluating/rewarding: Setting a system of evaluating performance and

ensuring adequate returns and rewards

3. Motivating/mentoring/ counselling: Keeping employees happy with their

roles/ work and work environment, minimising dissent or conflicts

4. Developing/maintaining culture: Developing the organisations unique

character, values, ethics and principles

5. Managing/controlling: In the administrative capacity, to ensure that

policies/processes and standards are appropriately implemented. Modern HR/Strategic HR Most of the above, in todays newage organisation, are administrative responsibilities. These no longer form the bulk of HR activities in the strategic sense, though HR still handles these requirements as before. However, to make the HR function add more value, a top-down and matrix approach needs to be adopted, focussing more on the role HR can play in the implementation of strategic corporate plans. In this enhanced capacity, HR is required to balance the roles of a change agent, an administrative expert, a strategic partner, and an employee championand add value on all these counts.

Change agent: HR must play a proactive role in shaping the workforce attitude and focus in alignment with the companys business objectives. For instance, in todays times of mergers, and new strategic partnerships, two or more organisations come together to form a bigger entity. The HR function has to handle the transition, change, and evolution of the bigger organisation, as seamlessly and smoothly as possible. Administrative expert: The HR function has to perform its basic functions, and these need to keep evolving with new developments. An effective HR needs to be conversant with a range of emerging tools and techniques, and innovative organisational approaches to improve the way in which traditional roles are performed. Strategic partner: HR must be an active participant in strategic decision-making. The learnings from the HR role can help advise, coach and educate senior executives on how workforce issues can affect the overall performance of the business, and offer solutions that support the execution of business plans. Employee champion: HR should maintain a well-knit bond with the employees and develop their trust and confidence in the organisations objectives. The SHR function doesnt only work towards the collective goal of the organisation, but also focuses on the individual dreams and aspirations of every employee.

Question 3 Why has human resource planning become more significant in the contemporary business environment? Discuss with examples. Answer 3 Human resource is the most important asset of an organization. The planning of human resources is an important function. It ensures adequate supply, proper quantity & quality as well as effective utilization of human resources. Human resource planning is the process by which a management determines how an organization should move from its current manpower position to its desire manpower position. Through planning a management strives to have right number & the right kind of people at the right place, at the right time to do things which results in both the organisation & the individual getting long time benefits. Planning is not as easy as one might think because it requires a concerted effort to come out with a programme that would easy your work. Commencing is complicated, but once you start and finish it you have a smile because everything moves smoothly. Planning is a process that has to be commenced form somewhere and completed for a purpose. It involves gathering information that would enable managers and supervisors make sound decisions. The information obtained is also utilized to make better actions for achieving the objectives of the Organization. There are many factors that you have to look into when deciding for an HR Planning programme. HR Planning involves gathering of information, making objectives, and making decisions to enable the organization achieve its objectives. Surprisingly, this aspect of HR is one of the most neglected in the HR field. When HR Planning is applied properly in the field of HR Management, it would assist to address the following questions: 1. 2. 3. 4. How many staff does the Organization have? What type of employees as far as skills and abilities does the Company have? How should the Organization best utilize the available resources? How can the Company keep its employees?

HR planning makes the organization move and succeed in the 21st Century that we are in. Human Resources Practitioners who prepare the HR Planning programme would assist the Organization to manage its staff strategically. The programme assists to direct the actions of HR department. The programme does not assist the Organization only, but it will also facilitate the career planning of the employees and assist them to achieve

the objectives as well. This augment motivation and the Organization would become a good place to work. HR Planning forms an important part of Management information system. HR have an enormous task keeping pace with the all the changes and ensuring that the right people are available to the Organization at the right time. It is changes to the composition of the workforce that force managers to pay attention to HR planning. The changes in composition of workforce not only influence the appointment of staff, but also the methods of selection, training, compensation and motivation. It becomes very critical when Organizations merge, plants are relocated, and activities are scaled down due to financial problems. Practical benefits When it concerns human resources, there are the more specific criticisms that it is over-quantitative and neglects the qualitative aspects of contribution. The issue has become not how many people should be employed, but ensuring that all members of staff are making an effective contribution. And for the future, the questions are what are the skills that will be required, and how will they be acquired. There are others, though, that still regard the quantitative planning of resources as important. They do not see its value in trying to predict events, be they wars or takeovers. Rather, they believe there is a benefit from using planning to challenge assumptions about the future, to stimulate thinking. For some there is, moreover, an implicit or explicit wish to get better integration of decision making and resourcing across the whole organisation, or greater influence by the centre over devolved operating units. Cynics would say this is all very well, but the assertion of corporate control has been tried and rejected. And is it not the talk of the process benefits to be derived self indulgent nonsense? Can we really afford this kind of intellectual dilettantism? Whether these criticisms are fair or not, supporters of human resource planning point to its practical benefits in optimising the use of resources and identifying ways of making them more flexible. For some organisations, the need to acquire and grow skills which take time to develop is paramount. If they fail to identify the business demand, both numerically and in the skills required, and secure the appropriate supply, then the capacity of the organisation to fulfil its function will be endangered. Why human resource planning? Human Resource Planning: an Introduction was written to draw these issues to the attention of HR or line managers. We address such questions as:

what is human resource planning?

how do organisations undertake this sort of exercise? what specific uses does it have?

In dealing with the last point we need to be able to say to hard pressed managers: why spend time on this activity rather than the other issues bulging your in tray? The report tries to meet this need by illustrating how human resource planning techniques can be applied to four key problems. It then concludes by considering the circumstances in which human resourcing can be used. Human beings are the most important resources in health care. Machines and gadgets which are integral parts of health care require the human touch, expertise, and commitment for their full utility and application in delivery of health care. Therefore planning of human resources is the key to any health care provision. The objective of human resource (HR) policy is to a) attract, recruit, retain and develop competent personnel and b) create a continuously learning health care organisation. I. TARGET HUMAN RESOURCES IN HEALTH CARE The patient unquestionably is the focus of all health care personnel. While doctors, nurses, hospital attendants, technologists, clinical assistants and pharmacists are directly involved in providing OPD and ward care, administration, public relation, security, catering, laundry, electronics, civil, electrical and air conditioning maintenance are involved in supporting the former for providing safe health care. Planning needs to be done for all these personnel and not only for the direct care givers. II. IMPROVEMENT OF HUMAN RESOURCES This is done through three ways such as a) Work system, b) employee education, training and development, and c) employee well being and satisfaction. a) Work system : The aim of work system improvement is to get co-operation and collaboration among all employees. Health care employees look for good systems in place so that their endeavours would yield favourable results without any wasteful activities. They would like to participate and feel important in laying down these systems. A system that is thrust on them often breeds cynicism as they do not own it. In order to own the system they have to actively participate in designing it. While doing so a

cross functional team across various sections brings about greater effectivity and cohesion than an intra departmental team. Some of the examples of such teams are given under the following headings : (i) Design/organise formal/informal, temporary or long term units (teams). Infection control team, waste management team and quality improvement (QIP) team are some of the examples that have been doing good quality work in Tata Main Hospital. (ii) Encourage and motivate innovation through quality circle (QC), value engineering (VE) and suggestions. There are over 104 quality circles actively functioning in TMH. These are small circles of five members picked up from supervisors and workers who take small local problems and solve them with organisations support. Employees are encouraged to do cost savings without affecting the quality through intra or inter departmental teams. Suggestions are encouraged from the employees and wherever appropriate those are implemented. (iii) Encourage higher learning, give them higher responsibilities and help them identify their training needs. (iv) Encourage multi skilling and rotate their jobs wherever possible so that there is no boredom with the repeatitive type of job. This has been implemented amongst the hospital attendants who rotate in various areas with different job specifications in the hospital. (v) Performance management system: Every level of employees must work with a purpose and their work must be Sr. Spl. & HOD, Tata Main Hospital evaluated against their target from time to time so that they achieve their target at the year end. In TMH, this is done by giving targets to all doctors and officers in the form of key result areas ( KRAs) which are reviewed twice a year. The annual appraisal identifies the super achievers who are recognised as fast trackers. They move aggressively and groom rapidly. (vi) Compensation, recognition and

reward practices This could be non monetary or monetary. Non monetary recognition could be formal by a letter or informal by a pat on the back in front of other employees. Monetary recognitions are through promotions, special increment, joint department council (JDC) award or long service awards after 20 yrs, 25 yrs, 35 yrs and 40 yrs of service. (vii) Communication meetings at all levels Communication upward and down-ward helps inculcate among the employees a sense of oneness in the organisation. This is done at a pre-decided interval regularly in TMH. (viii) Recruiting and hiring new employees While recruiting employees, the hospital must first identify the job requirement and while interviewing, an attitudinal and aptitudinal survey of the candidate must be done. Transparency must be practiced while explaining to the candidate his/her future growth in the organisation. The new employee should be made familiar to the working of the hospital through induction to various areas before he/she is finally posted to his/her place of work. (b) Employee education, training and development Employees education, training and development should be a continuous process. Their training needs in terms of technical, managerial and behavioural aspects should be identified. Short term goals of training need to be directed towards customer satisfaction and reduction of cycle time and long term goals should be towards better technology. The important thing is to link their training with the patients need in the hospital they are working in. In TMH, the deployment of training has been done through regular continuing medical education (CME) for doctors, nurses and technologists, bed side teaching for doctors & nurses, training through joint departmental councils (JDC) for hospital attendants in subjects such as waste management and oxygen therapy. Communication with patients (or relatives) was identified through periodic

surveys as one of the weakest links with our employees at all levels. This was repeatedly addressed through motivation, attitude and time management (MAT) programme which was designed by a group of highly motivated employees drawn from all sections in TMH. Having a training programme in place is not enough. There has to be an evaluation system in place for monitoring the effectiveness of training. The parameters which need to be monitored should be directly related to patient well-being. Some such parameters could be catheter induced infection rates, mortality and morbidity parameters, feed back from patients and relatives, number of re-admissions for the same ailment and above all retaining the customer. (C) Employee well being and satisfaction Employee satisfaction is essential for a motivated work force. It will do what a state of the art technology cannot do in health care. This issue could be addressed under three heads such as i) work environment ii) work climate and iii) employee's satisfaction. (i) Work environment: A healthy work environment needs to be created where employees feel safe to work. Universal precautions need to be enforced; proper disposal of waste should be implemented; periodic health checkup for all the employees need to be done and hepatitis B vaccination should be compulsorily given to all the employees. The organisation needs to identify and safeguard against unsafe practices. Serious efforts have been made in the past two years in TMH to achieve the desired goals for all the employees in the aforesaid areas. (ii) Work climate : Every employee needs to be provided with certain awareness programmes and facilities for him or her to feel proud and being looked after by the organisation. AIDS awareness programme, cooperative society, injury on duty (IOD) facility, subsidised (no profit - no loss) canteen facility, academic activity and library are some of the measures TMH has provided to improve the work climate. (iii) Employees satisfaction: This is not an easy area to tackle. There are few hospitals where

most of the employees are satisfied. Human mind is not satisfied with what it has achieved and therefore to expect that employees will be satisfied with certain facilities is far from being true; however the organisation must collect feedbacks through formal/informal assessment methods and relate these findings to identify improvement priorities. This will at least make the employees feel that management is sincere about its concern for them. DNB course was started in TMH after identifying a long standing need of the graduate doctors in TMH. CONCLUSION A satisfied human resource is valuable and has no alternative. Human beings needs are dynamic and therefore to satisfy those the health care organisation has to be dynamically thinking. Only then our most important customer, the patient, can get his just need fulfilled. Employee's growth and development should be the result of both the employers responsibility and the employees initiative. Appropriate timely rewards and recognition go a long way in retaining a motivated employee. Inspite of providing all the help and resources if certain human resources cant be moulded to fit into the organisations needs, the organisation should not hesitate to leave them behind. Tatas H.R philosophy attract good people, retain the better people and advance the best people is a right step in this direction. It may appear a bit harsh but at present it appears to be the only scope for a fast changing health care organisation.

Human Resource competitive advantage In today's highly competitive world a key question facing virtually every organization is, "What will be the human resource strategies of the effective company in the highly competitive 21st century?" This is the basic, yet multi-dimensional, question that stimulated IBM to initiate this project. The study design was developed in conjunction with Towers Perrin who subsequently conducted A 21st Century Vision: A Worldwide Human Resources Study The study reinforces the growing view that the management of human resources is as important to organizational competitiveness as are the traditional areas of technology, marketing strategy, and financial prowess. It gives meaning to the acknowledgment in virtually every shareholder report that, "our employees are our most important asset. An initial understanding of where companies can gain competitive advantages through their HRM practices is facilitated by a discussion of

Strategic targets Strategic thrusts We shall briefly describe these via examples of companies that have gained a competitive advantage through the various targets and thrusts. Exhibit 1 identifies major thrusts and targets. After the description of thrusts and targets,, we show how specific HRM practices can be used to gain a competitive advantage. Competitive Advantage through Job Analysis, Job Description and Job Evaluation Job Analysis The job analysis looks at the behavioural needs of a particular competitive strategy (cost leadership or differentiation) role peculiar to the culture and organisation of the company. It is like performing a Personal Profile Analysis on an imaginary person. The goal is to define the ideal individual for the job position from the perspective of the company and the employees that the successful applicant will work with. Job analysis is the process of collecting information and making judgements about a specific job (Wilson, 1995:188). From the stand point of researchers such as (Barney 1991 and Wright et, al 1994) that competitive advantage only occur when employees knowledge, skills and ability can add value to the firm, are rare, cannot be imitated and are not sustainable. In order to target employees with the requisite knowledge, skills and ability, the job has to be carefully defined. The HRM literature promotes careful job definition in the belief that it will have two effects. First, it is commonly believed to assist targeting and attraction of potential recruits. Second, job analysis helps potential recruits to make up their own minds about whether to apply or not (Premarck & Wanous, 1985, Dakin & Smith, 1995). Job Description The job description is generally used to identify the responsibilities, the objectives associated with each specific task and the reward that associated with good performance. In order to accomplish the employment relationship effectively, work has

to be designed, programmed, costed, organised and co-ordinated. (Keenoy, 1992) in other words detailed job description, otherwise can be used by an employee to define what s/he is not prepared to (thats not part of my job or Im not paid to do that) (Morgan 1986). In a dynamic environment it is impossible to have a good job description because anticipating the environment changes in advance is impossible and it is silly to think that any written job description could cover all the possibilities. But that does not mean we should not describe the job as detailed as possible. Job Evaluation Once jobs have been analysed and described, the job evaluation began by considering several job factors such as: working conditions, necessary technical KSA (Knowledge, Skills and Ability) and behaviour, salaries and required managerial skills. A rating of each factor is made on a standard scale, and the total rating points can be used to rank jobs hierarchically. The recruiting and selection model appendix A can be used in the rating process by using different criteria and weights such as the abovementioned job factors. Competitive Advantage through the Generic Function of HRM The aim of Human Resource Management is seen as the optimisation of human resources value. Devanna et al (Legge 1995:308) suggest four generic functions of HRM, namely, selection, appraisal, rewards and development that act as independent variables, in a cycle of human resource interventions on the dependent variable of 396 performance. In the next sections we will examine the competitive advantage through the HRM generic function and some others. Selection Security in employment and reliance on the work force for competitive success mean that one must be careful to choose the right people, in the right way (Pfeffer 1994). The question then is what do we want?. We want -Employees with more competencies Employees who self-develop without the need for company training Employees who have more ideas that are implemented Employees that have a lower error rate, number of discipline incidents and

absenteeism rate Employees that have a higher customer satisfaction, higher performance appraisal scores, bonus rates and promotion rates Employees that require "low maintenance" from managers Employees that stay longer before quitting Employees who produce more return for every dollar of salary paid to them Selection can be regarded as the primary mechanism in enhancing the organisation capabilities. The individual behaviour and learning ability can optimise the organisations situation in its environment. The goal of selecting program is to ensure that the firm is hiring only the highest ability individual. Then the firm must be able to identify high ability individuals and also the firm must be able to attract and retain those applicants deemed to be of the highest ability. But in an increasingly competitive market, it can be almost as hard to attract the right staff as to attract the right customers. In this research paper we have proposed a model called the scoring model which can successfully be used in the four generic functions. For further details see Appendix A. Performance Appraisal and Performance Management Performance appraisal is defined as a process by which an organisation measures and evaluates an individual employees behaviour and accomplishments for a finite time period (Moen, 1989: 62, Johnson, 1995: 278). Measuring/reviewing and evaluating the performance of employees is arguably one of the most important tasks for any manager, since critical decisions rely on the accurate assessment of an employees behaviour. Historically, organisations tended to develop a performance appraisal instrument and forms administrated on an annual basis. Even though managers have been repeatedly told that performance review should be more than just an annual event, they do not always do it. Employees are often not coached and counselled throughout the year, so when review time arrives, they do not know what to expect. This leads only to confusion and resentment (McAfee and Champagne 1993: 24). The question then is how performance appraisal can be done better and more effectively?. The answer may

be in the approach to managing known as performance management. There are three basic resources that can provide competitive advantages:
1. Physical capital resources include the firms plant, equipment, and

finance 2. Organizational capital resources include the firms infrastructure, planning, controlling, coordinating, and HR systems 3. Human capital resources include the skills, judgment, and intelligence of the firms employees Focusing on the characteristics of the firms Human Resources, including all of the knowledge, experience, skills, and commitment of a firms employee and their relationships with each other and with those outside the firm and examine the Value, Rareness, Imitability, and Organization (VRIO) framework for analyzing sources of competitive advantage, which can provide Human Resources executives with the tools necessary to analyze how they can manage the function to develop a firms people as a source of sustainable competitive advantage. The VRIO framework

Value Firms create value through either decreasing the cost or differentiating the product/ service so they can charge at a premium price. The goal of Human Resource Executives is to create value through the Human Resource function. Rareness The value of the companys Human Resource is important, but not sufficient as a competitive advantage. If the same characteristic of Human Resource is found in many rivals then that characteristic cannot be used as a source of competitive advantage. Valuable but common characteristics of Human Resource provide only competitive parity. The challenge of Human Resource executive is to examine and develop rare characteristics of the companys Human Resource to gain competitive advantage. Read more in Employment Small Employers and the Immigration Mess Careers in Fashion Imitability

Valuable and Rare characteristic of a companys Human Resources can provide above normal profits for the company in short term, however if other firms can imitate these characteristics, then over the time these characteristics will become competitive parity. The Human Resource executives should attempt to develop and nurture the characteristics that cannot easily imitate by the rivals. The point is focus to the importance of a unique history and culture of an organization. This corporate history and culture will provide a foundation to create competitive advantages which will be impossible to imitate. Organization Organization focuses and gives attention on systems. In Order for any characteristic of the firms Human Resources to provide a source of sustained competitive advantage, the firm must be organized to exploit the resource. Organization requires systems and practices that allow human resources characteristics to bear the fruit of their potential advantages. This can include the employee involvement to improve the system and process in the organization. In this employee involvement, the employee can participate in the decision making and to utilize their cognitive skills. Examples of competitive advantage Competitive advantages are a very important factor in todays economy. Global market is so filled with so many different companies that you need something that will put you in front of other companies. We have to make sure we have something to offer to our customers that our competition does not. There are many sorts of competitive advantages and Ill try to give you some examples for you to find which ones are the easiest to implement in your field of work.
I will present you the four main competitive advantages. Remember that even so you can probably be the best only at one of them, you still need to be good enough in all the others. The one that you are the best in is the winning factor and all the others are the qualifying factors. Why qualifying and why winning because the winning factor makes you win on the market and the qualifying factors keep you in the game. First competitive advantage is of course the costs. Many many companies compete with their competition by lowering the costs and consequently lowering the price. Price is a very important competitive advantage in todays capitalism because people are always looking to buy something cheaper. But you really have to think about it. Is low price really something you want to be known for? Usually a low price is connected with low-quality and even so this might not be the case in your company people will associate low price with low quality in your company as well. The second and also very important competitive advantageh is quality. On most economy schools, in course management of production process they separate

the quality advantage into two different areas. First one are normal qualities such as quality materials, long life of a product and similar stuff. While the other is compatibility. This side is becoming more and more important in todays global connected world. Why you will ask? Because people are traveling a lot and it is very important that they can use their cell phone for example and charge it in every country they go to. Compatibility is a very important competitive advantage also because of the global market. Not so many years ago companies were selling their products in special areas or with other words in their own country. But today there is no such thing as a local market anymore as I wrote in one of the previous articles already. We have one global market and almost every company that produce anything interesting cell their products all around the world. So its very important that their product is compatible on all the markets around our beautiful planet Earth. Another important competitive advantage is flexibility. And here Im not talking about how flexible your TV is, how much it can bend, but how much your product can adjust the customers needs. For example if you are making boats do you have only three models in your offer or can you make boats specially by customer requests. IBM for example has this on a very high level. They make custom ordered computers on daily basis and that for sure gives them a very big competitive advantage against other computer producers on our planet. Last but not least of our competitive advantage examples is delivery. This one is also separated into different fields. First one is speed or in other words time of delivery and second one is reliability of the delivery. I dont think I have to explain this in much more details. First one is of course how much time you need to deliver the product to the customer and the second one is how sure you are or how trustworthy you are to deliver the product on the date you have promised to.