$21.$ Walmart$$s cost competitiveness is largely a function of

a$.$ how efficiently it manages its internally performed value chain activities and the costs in the value chains of its suppliers and forward channel allies.

b$.$ whether it does a good enough job of benchmarking its value chain activities against the value chains of competitors so that it knows exactly how low to drive its costs in order to be cost$-$competitive.

c$.$ whether it possesses more core competencies and competitive capabilities than rivals.

d$.$ how closely its internally performed activities are linked to the activities performed by suppliers and to the activities performed by forward channel allies.

e$.$ whether it does a better job of building its resource strengths more cost effectively than rivals.

$22.$ Which one of the following conclusions would you be unlikely to make from doing a competitive strength assessment of Netflix?

a$.$ the extent to which Netflix$$s customer value proposition is superior to its rivals$$

b$.$ whether Netflix has a net competitive advantage or a net competitive disadvantage relative to key rivals $($as indicated by the differences among the companies$$ competitive strength scores$)$

c$.$ which rival company to Netflix is competitively weakest and the areas where Netflix is most vulnerable to competitive attack

d$.$ which of the rated companies besides Netflix is competitively strongest and what magnitude of competitive advantage it enjoys

e$.$ identifying the competitive factors where Netflix is strongest and weakest vis$--$vis key rivals and the kinds of offensive$/$defensive actions the company can use to exploit its competitive strengths and reduce its competitive vulnerabilities