Comparing chipotle mexican grill to panera bread and moe’s southwest grill

purpose

the company featured at the beginning of this chapter, chipotle mexican grill, competes with panera bread and moe’s southwest in hundreds of cities. gaining and sustaining competitive advantage is something that both firms strive to do every day. this exercise gives you practice in identifying competitive advantages that could provide a basis for strategic action.

instructions

step 1 using the online databases mentioned in table 3-8, and an on-site visit, conduct research aimed at comparing chipotle versus panera bread versus moe’s.

step 2 identify four competitive advantages that chipotle has over the other two firms, and four competitive disadvantages. give a rationale and source for each of your identified factors.

step 3 discuss or write up how chipotle can best sustain and promote its competitive advantages in the course room.

1   all nations face the problem of scarcity because there are limited resources and unlimited wants. nations do not have enough factors of production to produce everything that their population wants. entrepreneurial resources initiate businesses to make new goods and services; labor resources produce goods and services.

2 there are four factors of production: natural resources, labor resources, capital resources, and entrepreneurial resources. natural resources are raw materials from nature that are used to produce goods. trees, water, and grains are natural resources. some natural resources, such as wheat and cattle, are renewable

3 wants

things that you do not need to have in order to survive, but would like to have

needs

things that you must have in order to survive

goods

physical products

services

tasks that a business perform for customers

resources

items that people can use to make or obtain what they need or want

determine

to settle or decide by choice of alternatives or possiblities

4 i really dont know

government control and resources

answerit is the safest endorsement for business;