Opportunities to differentiate a company's product offering:
A) are most reliably found in the R&D portion of the value chain.
B) are typically located in the sales and marketing portion of the value chain.
C) can exist in activities all along an industry's value chain.
D) usually are tied to product quality and customer service.
E) are most frequently attached to a company's manufacturing expertise and to its ability to achieve scale economies in production.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Differentiation opportunities can be found in activities all along an industry's value chain, including R&D, manufacturing, marketing, and customer service. Therefore, option C is the best choice. Option E focuses specifically on manufacturing expertise and achieving scale economies, which is just one aspect of potential differentiation. Option A is too narrow in its focus on only R&D, and option B overlooks the importance of differentiation beyond sales and marketing. Option D is partially correct in acknowledging the role of customer service in differentiation, but it is too limited in its scope.

Opportunities to Differentiate a Company's Product Offering