IIBF Strategic Management & Innovations flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

VRIO framework

An internal analysis test asking whether a resource is Valuable, Rare, costly to Imitate, and supported by the Organisation. Only resources passing all four criteria produce sustained competitive advantage.

Relative market share

A firm's market share divided by the share of its largest competitor. A value above 1.0 marks market leadership and forms the horizontal axis cut-off of the BCG matrix.

TOWS matrix

A strategic option generator that pairs internal strengths and weaknesses with external opportunities and threats, producing SO, ST, WO and WT strategies. It converts a SWOT list into actionable choices.

Core competence

A bundle of skills that delivers disproportionate customer value, is hard for rivals to imitate, and can be extended to new products or markets. Prahalad and Hamel treat it as the root of competitiveness.

Strategic group map

A chart plotting firms in an industry on two strategic dimensions, such as price and product breadth. Firms in the same cluster face similar rivals and tend to move together when the industry shifts.

Focus strategy

A generic strategy serving a narrow segment, either by low cost (cost focus) or by differentiation (differentiation focus). It wins by tailoring value to that segment rather than competing industry-wide.

PESTLE analysis

A macro-environment scan covering Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal and Environmental factors. It identifies forces outside industry control that shape strategy and risk.

Business Model Canvas

A one-page template with nine blocks: customer segments, value propositions, channels, customer relationships, revenue streams, key resources, key activities, key partnerships and cost structure. It visualises how value is created, delivered and captured.

Disruptive innovation

An offering that starts simpler and cheaper at the low end or in a new market, then improves until it displaces incumbents. Incumbents often cede these segments because the margins look unattractive.

Minimum viable product

The smallest version of a product that lets a team test its riskiest assumption with real users. It drives the build, measure and learn loop of lean startup practice.

ERRC grid

A blue ocean tool listing what a firm will Eliminate, Reduce, Raise and Create in its offering. It aims to lift buyer value while lowering cost, breaking the value-cost trade-off.

Rogers adopter categories

Innovators 2.5%, early adopters 13.5%, early majority 34%, late majority 34% and laggards 16% of a market. The percentages describe how quickly successive segments adopt a new technology.

Organisational ambidexterity

The ability to exploit the current business efficiently while exploring new opportunities for future growth. March frames it as a tension between exploitation and exploration that leadership must actively balance.

Stage-gate process

A new product development system where projects pass through defined stages separated by gates. At each gate, deliverables are reviewed and a decision of go, kill, hold or recycle is taken.

Open banking

Regulated sharing of customer-permissioned banking data and payment initiation with third parties through application programming interfaces. It enables account aggregation, personal finance management and embedded finance propositions.

Account Aggregator framework

India's RBI-regulated consent architecture where licensed Account Aggregators let a user share financial data across institutions through data-blind, consent-based APIs and the Sahamati ecosystem.

Straight-through processing

The share of transactions completed end to end without manual intervention. High rates reduce cost-to-serve, error rates and turnaround time in digital channels.

Banking as a Service

A model where a licensed bank exposes its core capabilities through APIs so non-bank partners can embed deposits, payments or credit into their own customer journeys.

Zero trust security

A security model granting no implicit trust based on network location: every request is authenticated, authorised and encrypted. It limits lateral movement after a breach.

RegTech

Technology that automates and improves regulatory compliance, such as KYC, AML transaction monitoring, regulatory reporting and surveillance. It lowers compliance cost and reduces false-positive rates.

Central bank digital currency

A digital form of sovereign currency issued directly by a central bank. RBI's e-rupee pilots began with wholesale settlement in 2022, unlike UPI, which moves bank deposits.

Balanced Scorecard

A performance framework tracking financial, customer, internal process, and learning and growth perspectives linked by cause and effect. It balances lagging outcomes with leading drivers of future performance.

OKR

Objectives and Key Results: one to three qualitative objectives per level, each with three to five measurable key results, set quarterly. OKRs stretch ambition and are usually tracked separately from pay decisions.

Lead measure

A controllable, predictive metric that moves before the outcome it drives, such as customer calls per week. The fourth discipline of execution acts on lead measures and tracks them on a scoreboard.

Three lines of defence

A risk governance model where business units own risk, risk and compliance functions oversee it, and internal audit gives independent assurance. It separates ownership, oversight and assurance.

Strategy map

A one-page diagram of cause-and-effect links between learning and growth, internal process, customer and financial objectives. It shows how daily activity translates into strategic outcomes.

Net interest margin

Net interest income divided by average earning assets, expressed as a percentage. It is the core profitability driver of a bank balance sheet and is sensitive to interest rate cycles.

ADKAR model

A Prosci change framework at individual level: Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability and Reinforcement. All five must be present for one person to change successfully.

Kotter's first step

Establishing a sense of urgency: showing that the status quo is more dangerous than the change. Without genuine urgency, coalitions and visions fail to mobilise action.

Psychological safety

A team climate where members believe they can raise doubts, admit error and disagree without punishment. Edmondson links it to learning behaviour and to safer, more innovative outcomes.

Situational leadership

Hersey and Blanchard's model matching leader style to follower readiness: directing, coaching, supporting or delegating. Readiness combines competence and commitment on the specific task.

Bridges transition model

A psychological change model with three phases: endings, the neutral zone and new beginnings. It explains why people struggle after a structural change has already been announced.