Question

Karina viewed her staff as a competitive advantage. They had the necessary academic degrees, the necessary experience, and competitive salaries. Jean, her division manager, said, "Karina, until you have staff with rare and valuable academic research experience and corresponding degrees, and with talents that are world-class and in extremely high demand by your clients, such that they are willing to pay top dollar for that talent, your staff do not represent a competitive advantage. Your staff are too ______________ by your competitors."

Answer 1

Answer:

easy to imitate

Explanation:

a person or an employ who is very easy to imitate is one whose character or how he or she does his or her work can easily be copied or emulated.

managing intellectual property is an important prerequisite of any business man or woman. if you do not, your work and every thing you had work for may easily be stolen by competitors. intellectual property may be your products and even your employees.

Employees become your competitive advantage when they freely give you the best  of their abilities and effort  in terms of them carrying out their responsibilities, giving best and wonderful solutions to problems, innovative ideas, good customer services e.t.c. and this may even attract your competitors to want to capture them especially with high salary upgrade and several benefits. staff who are in high demand for by other companies or competitors are also those with good education background, good track record of work and success to show for it, has also brought previous company innovative ideas and sort after ideas.

Answer 2

Answer: easy to imitate

Explanation: Competitive advantages places a company or business above the competition. They are conditions that allow a business  to produce a good or service either at a lower price or in a more desirable fashion thus increasing sales and generating more revenue.

A business can gain an advantage over its competitors by being the first (first mover advantage) or by possessing hard to imitate resources/strategies which must be protected in order to sustain competitive advantage.

Karina's staff while having the necessary degrees, experiences and salaries (easy to imitate) do not represent a competitive advantage because these can be recreated by other firms in her industry. Having a staff with  rare and valuable academic research experience and corresponding degrees, and with talents that are world-class and in extremely high demand by clients that are willing to pay top dollar for these talent (hard to imitate), as suggested by her division manager would help her gain and sustain competitive advantage.