<Li> Human resource management is the recruiting, training, and development of people . Obviously, the cuts across every other activity . </Li> <Li> Firm infrastructure is a considerable part of the firm, including the accounting department, the legal department, the planning department, government relations, and so on . </Li> <P> The basic idea is that competitive advantage grows out of the firm's ability to perform these activities either less expensively than its competitors, or in a unique way . Competitive advantage should be linked precisely to these specific activities, and not thought of broadly at a firm - wide level . This is an attractive way of thinking for most information Services people, as it is, fundamentally, the systems analysis approach . Computer people are trained to reduce systems to their components, look for the best application for each component, then put together an interrelated system . Information technology is also pervasive throughout all parts of the value chain . Every activity that the firm performs has the potential to embed information technology because it involves information processing . As information technology moves away from repetitive transaction processing and permeates all activities in the value chain, it will be in a better position to be useful in gaining competitive advantage . Porter emphasizes what he call the linkages between the activities that the firm performs . No activities in a firm are independent, yet each department is managed separately . It is most important to understand the cost linkages that are involved so that the firm may get an overall optimization of the production rather than departmental optimizations . A typical linkage might be that if more is spent in procurement, less is spent in operations . If more testing is done in operations, after - sales service costs will be lower . Multifunctional coordination is crucial to competitive advantage, but it is often difficult to see . Insights into linkages give the ability to have overall optimization . Any strategic information system must be analyzed across all departments in the organization . Cost and Competitive Advantage . Cost leadership is one of Porter's two types of competitive advantage . The cost leader delivers a product of acceptable quality at the lowest possible cost . It attempts to open up a significant and sustainable cost gap over all other competitors . The cost advantage is achieved through superior position in relation to the key cost drivers . Achieving cost leadership usually requires trade - offs with differentiation . The two are usually incompatible . A firm's relative cost position cannot be understood by viewing the firm as a whole . Overall cost grows out of the cost performing discrete activities . Cost position is determined by the cumulative cost of performing all value activities . To sustain cost advantage, Porter gives a number of cost drivers which must be understood in detail because the sustainability of cost advantage in an activity depends on the cost drivers of that activity . Again, this type of detail is best obtained by classical systems analysis methods . </P> <P> Some of the cost drivers which must be analyzed, understood, and controlled are: </P>

Perception is a simple process. please select the best answer from the choices provided