How does Chipotle Mexican Grills competitive strength compare in 2018 against that of Taco Bell, Qdoba Mexican Eats, and Moes Southwest Grill, assuming that customer traffic and the companys financial performance continues to rebound? Do a weighted competitive strength assessment using the methodology presented in Table 4.4 in Chapter 4 to support your answer. Based on your assessment and calculations, does Chipotle have a net competitive advantage over some or all of these rivals? Which rivalTaco Bell or Moes Southwest Grill or Qdoba Mexican Eatsseems likely to have the strongest set of resource strengths and competitive capabilities in 2019 and positioned to achieve the best financial performance?

Based on your assessment and calculations, does Chipotle have a competitive advantage over some or all of these rivals? Select true for those statements that are accurate and choose false for those that are not.

a. Chipotle is in a competitively strong positionsomewhat weaker than Taco Bell, but stronger than Moes and Qdoba.

(Click to select) True False

b. Moes is financially the weakest of the four competitors because it is very doubtful if its franchisees have anywhere near the financial resources of the other three rivals.

(Click to select) True False

c. Chipotle is stronger than Taco Bell due to the number of locations, and their innovative menu offerings and selection, and greater financial strength.

(Click to select) True False

d. Chipotle has a competitive edge over its rivals on food quality and taste.

(Click to select) True False

e. Moes is fractionally stronger than Qdoba because of its use of fresh, natural ingredients (and the associated taste appeal of its dishes).

(Click to select) True False

Table 1: Competitive Strength Assessments of Chipotle, Qdoba, Moes, and Taco Bell

(Rating scale for each strength measure: 1 = very weak; 5 = average; 10 = very strong.)

Instructions:

Review the information on competitive strength assessment in Chapter 4 to help you with this activity. In the table that follows, do a weighted competitive strength assessment for Chipotle, Qdoba, Moes and Taco Bell. Review the various competitive strength measures as shown in the table. If you determine that one or more of the measures are inappropriate or not needed, then insert a "0" in the boxes for that row. Enter importance weights for each of the competitive strength measures that you decide to use in your assessment. Then, for each of the four companies, assign a rating from 1 to 10, where 1 = very weak, 5 = average, and 10 = very strong.

Weighted scores and sum of the weighted ratings for each company will be generated in Sum of weights and Total Rating/Score rows at the bottom of the table.

		Chipotle		Qdoba		Moes		Taco Bell
Competitive Strength Measures	Importance Weight	Strength Rating	Weighted Score	Strength Rating	Weighted Score	Strength Rating	Weighted Score	Strength Rating	Weighted Score
Menu selection and appeal	0.15	8	1.20	8	1.20	8	1.20	9	1.35
Food quality and taste	0.25	10	2.50	8	2.00	9	2.25	7	1.75
Brand image and reputation	0.15	8	1.20	6	0.90	7	1.05	10	1.50
Geographic coverage; number of locations	0.15	7	1.05	4	0.60	3	0.45	10	1.50
Competitive pricing	0.10	8	0.80	8	0.80	8	0.80	10	1.00
Dining ambience	0.10	8	0.80	8	0.80	8	0.80	6	0.60
Financial strength	0.10	6	0.60	5	0.50	4	0.40	10	1.00
Sum of weights	1.00
Total Rating/Score		55	8.15	47	6.8	47	6.95	62	8.70