The value chains of rival companies:
A. tend to be essentially the same—any differences are typically minor.
B. can differ substantially, reflecting differences in the evolution of each company's own particular business, differences in strategy, and differences in the approaches being used to execute strategy.
C. are fairly similar or fairly different, depending on how many activities are performed internally and how many are outsourced.
D. can be either fairly similar or fairly different, depending on the extent to which each company's primary and support activities are comprised of fixed-cost activities and variable cost activities.
E. are fairly similar except when rival companies have quite different product designs.
Answer: can differ substantially, reflecting differences in the evolution of each company's own particular business, differences in strategy, and differences in the approaches being used to execute strategy.