Discuss the two questions in separate paragraphs,For example, the answer to 1^st question should be the first paragraph and the answer to the second question should be the second paragraph.

1. Chapter 5 discusses about the importance of cost parity in pursuing the differentiation strategy? What do you understand by cost parity in this context?
2. In automobile industry, if Mercedes wants to differentiate its products from its competitors, do you think it should have cost parity with Toyota or BMW? If you choose Toyota then discuss why, and if you choose BMW then discuss why? (Hint:- Think about different strategic groups in automobile industry as discussed in Chapter 2).