| Course | MGT 570 Advanced Strategic Management |
|---|---|
| Module | Module 3 |
| Paper type | MBA internal analysis |
| Length | About 1,035 words, 6 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Aspen University |
| Program | Master of Business Administration |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for MGT 570 Module 3
Permits No One Can Get Anymore: Resources, Core Competences and Dynamic Capabilities at a Regional Billboard Company
Student Name
Master of Business Administration, Aspen University
MGT 570: Advanced Strategic Management
Instructor Name
Month Day, Year
Permits No One Can Get Anymore: Resources, Core Competences and Dynamic Capabilities at a Regional Billboard Company
With a purpose and scenarios settled, attention turns to what Natural State Outdoor, the composite Arkansas firm, actually owns and does well. The next question is what the company has that its rivals, especially the national outdoor firms buying competitors in its region, cannot easily match. This paper inventories its resources and capabilities and tests them against frameworks for sustained advantage.
The Inventory
The company owns or leases 1,400 billboard faces. Of these, 410 sit on sites permitted decades ago under rules that the three states have since tightened, so no competitor can obtain similar permits on those stretches of road. It has 64 digital faces, all in Little Rock and Tulsa. Its 22 salespeople have relationships with roughly 2,600 local advertisers in sixty towns, many going back years. A sign crew of 30 maintains boards and can change static vinyls quickly. The company has a strong regional reputation and a modest balance sheet, with debt at about two times annual cash flow.
Four Cornerstones
Peteraf (1993) argued that sustained above-normal returns require four conditions. Resources must be heterogeneous, differing in quality across firms so that some earn rents. There must be ex post limits to competition, such as imitation barriers, that keep rents from being competed away. Resources must be imperfectly mobile, so they cannot easily be bought away and are worth more to the current owner. And there must be ex ante limits to competition: the firm must have acquired its position before others could compete for it at a price that removed the gains.
| Resource | Heterogeneous | Limits imitation | Imperfectly mobile | Gained before competition priced it | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grandfathered permits on 410 faces | Yes | Yes, new permits barred | Yes, tied to sites | Yes, acquired decades ago | Sustained advantage |
| Local selling relationships | Yes | Yes, built over years | Partly; people can leave | Yes | Sustained, if people stay |
| Digital screens | No | No; anyone can buy them | Yes | No | Parity |
| Sign crew speed | Somewhat | Somewhat | Partly | Not applicable | Temporary |
| Regional reputation | Yes | Moderate | Yes | Yes | Moderate advantage |
| Traffic data | No | No; vendors sell it | Yes | No | Parity |
| Balance sheet | No | No | No | No | Constraint |
Why the Permits Matter So Much
The grandfathered permits deserve closer attention, because they meet Peteraf's cornerstones unusually well. They are heterogeneous: a face beside a busy interstate interchange is worth many times one on a rural highway. Ex post limits to competition are built into law, since the states no longer issue new permits on many corridors. They are imperfectly mobile, because a permit attaches to a specific site and lease. And the company acquired most of them decades ago, before anyone could foresee their scarcity, so their price did not capture their future value. The 410 permitted faces earn about 46% of the company's revenue though they are under a third of its faces.
The People Behind the Relationships
The local selling competence lives in people. Six of the 22 salespeople account for over half of local revenue, and four of those six are over 55. If they retire or are recruited by a national firm, relationships could follow them. A resource that depends on a few individuals is less secure than one embedded in the organization, which is why the company must find ways to spread relationships across teams and document what experienced sellers know.
Core Competences
Prahalad and Hamel (1990) argued that corporations should be seen as portfolios of core competences, not only of businesses. A core competence provides potential access to a wide variety of markets, makes a significant contribution to the benefits customers perceive and is difficult for competitors to imitate. Applying the tests, local market selling, the ability to understand a small town's businesses and help them advertise, passes all three: it could extend to digital advertising beyond billboards, it is what small advertisers value most and it rests on relationships rivals cannot quickly build. Maintaining signs, though done well, is not a core competence; it serves only billboards and can be contracted.
Renewing the Resources
Eisenhardt and Martin (2000) argued that dynamic capabilities are not mysterious; they are specific processes, such as product development, alliancing and strategic decision making, that share common features across effective firms. In moderately dynamic markets, these processes rely on detailed routines; in fast-changing ones, on simple rules and rapid experimentation. Their value lies in the new resource configurations they produce, not in the processes themselves. Natural State's most important dynamic capability will be its process for converting faces to digital and selling digital time to local businesses, which it has done only twice so far.
Weaknesses to Address
The analysis also shows constraints. The balance sheet limits how fast faces can be converted, since each digital conversion costs about $150,000. The company has no in-house software skills for an ordering system. And its data on who sees each board is borrowed from a vendor, so it cannot offer the audience reporting advertisers increasingly expect. These gaps do not undermine the advantages, but they shape how quickly the company can use them.
Comparing With the National Rivals
The national firms entering the region bring advantages Natural State lacks: lower capital costs, national sales teams and audience data systems. But they bought rivals' inventory at prices that reflected its value, and much of it sits on newer, less central sites. Their local sales teams are thin and turn over often. The comparison sharpens the internal analysis: the company should not try to match the nationals' scale but should press the advantages the nationals cannot buy.
Implications
The digital strategy should be built on the company's real advantages: convert grandfathered faces in the best locations first, since their scarcity makes digital revenue on them hard for rivals to match, and use the local sales team to sell digital time to small businesses. Retention of experienced salespeople becomes a strategic priority.
Conclusion
Peteraf's cornerstones show that Natural State's permits and local relationships, not its screens, sustain its advantage. Prahalad and Hamel's tests identify local selling as a core competence, and Eisenhardt and Martin point to the conversion and selling process the company must strengthen to renew its position.
References
Eisenhardt, K. M., & Martin, J. A. (2000). Dynamic capabilities: What are they? Strategic Management Journal, 21(10-11), 1105-1121. https://doi.org/10.1002/1097-0266(200010/11)21:10/11<1105::AID-SMJ133>3.0.CO;2-E
Peteraf, M. A. (1993). The cornerstones of competitive advantage: A resource-based view. Strategic Management Journal, 14(3), 179-191. https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.4250140303
Prahalad, C. K., & Hamel, G. (1990). The core competence of the corporation. Harvard Business Review, 68(3), 79-91.
MGT 570 Module 3 instructions, in plain terms
Internal analysis in Aspen's MGT 570 asks what an organization has and can do that rivals cannot easily match. Students in Module 3 commonly inventory resources and capabilities and test them with frameworks from strategy research. The prompt posted for your section sets the requirements; this example continues the billboard company studied in earlier modules. List tangible and intangible resources and key capabilities with evidence such as counts, revenue shares and costs. Apply a framework for sustained advantage to each resource, one at a time. Test whether any capability qualifies as a core competence, using all three tests. Consider the processes that let the firm renew its resources. Draw implications for the strategy and investments ahead.
Inside the MGT 570 Module 3 example
Natural State Outdoor's inventory comes first: 1,400 faces, 410 of them on permits that state rules no longer allow new competitors to obtain, a sales team of 22 with relationships in sixty towns, a sign crew and a growing digital network. Peteraf's Strategic Management Journal article explains heterogeneity, ex post limits to competition, imperfect mobility and ex ante limits to competition. Prahalad and Hamel's Harvard Business Review article sets three tests for core competence: access to many markets, contribution to customer value and difficulty of imitation. Eisenhardt and Martin's Strategic Management Journal article argues that dynamic capabilities, such as product development or alliancing, follow common best practices. A table rates seven resources. Grandfathered permits and local selling pass every cornerstone; digital screens, which rivals can buy, do not. The implication is to build the digital strategy on top of permits and relationships.
Where the marks sit in the MGT 570 Module 3 rubric
Internal analysis is convincing when resources are described with evidence, tested against a framework and connected to choices. This example applies Peteraf's four cornerstones resource by resource, which shows why digital screens alone cannot sustain advantage. Prahalad and Hamel's tests identify local market selling as a competence that extends beyond billboards into other local advertising. Eisenhardt and Martin's view directs attention to the processes the company must improve. The table supports conclusions that later modules use, and the paper notes that the selling competence depends on a handful of people, a risk the strategy must address.
MGT 570 Module 3 help from the desk
Internal analyses often list strengths without testing whether rivals could copy them. Apply a framework such as Peteraf's cornerstones to each resource. Another weakness is confusing assets the firm owns with capabilities it exercises; analyze both. Test whether any capability qualifies as a core competence that could extend to new markets. Consider how the firm renews its resources, since today's advantage may erode. Use evidence, such as counts, costs and customer data. Finally, connect findings to strategic choices rather than ending with a list. Check whether your strongest resources depend on a few people.
Write yours, or have the desk draft it
This paper is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Aspen University document. Read it for the moves, then write your own to the instructions in your classroom. If you want one built to your exact prompt and rubric, the first custom sample is free and arrives in 24 to 48 hours.
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MGT 570 Module 3 questions, answered
What does MGT 570 Module 3 usually ask for?
Aspen's MGT 570 covers internal resources and capabilities in this module, so an MBA paper testing a firm's resources for sustained advantage is typical. Read your classroom prompt.
What are Peteraf's cornerstones of competitive advantage?
Heterogeneity of resources, ex post limits to competition, imperfect mobility and ex ante limits to competition.
What is a core competence?
Prahalad and Hamel describe it as collective learning that gives access to many markets, contributes significantly to customer value and is hard for rivals to imitate.
Where can I find a free MGT 570 Module 3 sample paper?
The example above tests a billboard company's resources against the cornerstones of competitive advantage and finds its permits and local selling most valuable.
What are dynamic capabilities?
Eisenhardt and Martin describe them as specific organizational processes, such as product development and alliancing, through which firms reconfigure resources as markets change.