Find the sources of cost advantage of a successful company with low prices.

1. Identify a company you would like to learn more about that seems to have a cost advantage—it consistently has the lowest prices in the market.

2. Use your own experience and public sources, including the company website or annual reports and public articles, to gather data about the activities of that company. Based on your data, what are the primary sources of the company’s cost advantage?

3. Try to identify any resources or capabilities the company has that enable it to achieve low costs.

4. What, if anything, do you think prevents other companies from easily imitating this company’s strategy? For example, is it difficult to imitate the company’s source (or sources) of cost advantage? Why?