Measuring market orientation of Muscle Pharm Corp. (MSLP:US) REAL LIFECASE STUDY – REACHING NEW HEIGHTS | Page 13

Reaching new heights - Open source software application SabreSonic® Res.
advantage brought about by IT is only sustainable if “intelligent persistence”- learning by doing and
exploiting opportunities – is also applied. While being a first mover is not essential, it is important
that a company is able to keep up with a competitor that is an aggressive innovator (Copeland and
McKenney, 1988).
In conclusion, the six most important lessons learnt for management are:
1. Technical competence is required for gaining competitive advantage and it is important that the
management of American Airlines ensures that the envisioned tasks are congruent with
available technology.

2. A good information or OSS reservation booking system will only lead to competitive advantage
or to significant improvements of margins if the management consistently is learning by doing,
addressing and managing of ongoing problems, and consistently innovating and exploiting new
opportunities

3. Being the first mover, such as SABRE as a company, does not guarantee that the related OSS will
be able to keep up with competitors that are aggressive innovators.

4. An inefficient reservation booking system directly affects customer satisfaction and profits.
Consequently, existing and potential problems should be addressed quickly by a management
team or by having a high priority in the execution of operational strategy.

5. The implementation of a single company’s technology in a merger often leads to poor results
when different systems are used by different companies.

6. It is crucial to plan for all possible scenarios and have proper training and a highly skilled and
technical team. The past has shown that without this, large technical problems were not
detected. Employee training not conducted by experts proved to be inefficient.

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