Merton's Toothpaste has been the leader of dental care products for about 40 years. However, this company relied too long on its competency of reducing cavities without refining or upgrading other aspects of its product. As a result, other personal hygiene companies that began to offer toothpaste with natural whitening agents gained a competitive advantage over Merton's. This case is an example of

a. resource flow.

b. dynamic capabilities.

c. core rigidity.

d. value chain.

Answer: The correct answer is "c. core rigidity.".

Explanation: This case is an expample of core rigidity.

Core rigidity is caused by excessive confidence and dependence on an advantage over a long period of time, therefore when one company relaxes and does not continue to work on improving its competencies, another company that works continuously seeking to improve the competitiveness of its product can obtain greater advantages over the first.

c) Core Rigidity

Explanation:

Core rigidity is the just like the opposite of a company's competency. Core Rigidity is caused by over reliance on success. As a firm relaxes on it's advantages or present success without looking for ways to improve, it's competitors are out there looking for ways to get better thereby having a greater competitive advantage.

For example here, Merton's toothpaste case here is of core rigidity because they rested on their competency for too long without sourcing for ways to improve while other personal hygiene companies improved and gained a great competitive advantage over Merton's Toothpaste.