Advantages Of Barclays

A company or an organization can create competitive advantage only when it is able to distinguish itself from the rivals by implementing value creating strategy over a longer period of time. It is said to have sustainable competitive advantage when other rival firms are unable to duplicate the value creating strategy of firm which has led to achievement of

Based on segments, customer centric offerings are to be offered. Each customer has their own liking and disliking as well as proper planning. The right time to offer also plays an important role. This will avoid unnecessary mailers/calls to be made. Customers normally tend to ignore mass mailers and emails which are sent on regular intervals as they feel that they are junk mail. It is also important to determine the best channel of communication the customer is most likely to respond to. Valuable resources and time is saved and also frees marketing resources to concentrate on other customer and plan for newer programs. Overall, we can work with our customers on helping us improve our customer service and provide the quality service that the customers deserve. It is in this endeavor to have a sustaining model to keep the customer engaged throughout their relationship with the bank for growth and profits in the long run.

It is the wish of every business to be able to achieve and maintain a competitive advantage. A competitive advantage can be considered to be an advantage, a condition or even a position that will make a firm to be able to operate efficiently and also be able to produce products or services that are of a higher quality than the previous ones or than the other competing firms. When a firm is able to achieve increased earnings as compared to the costs it incurred, then it can be said to have achieved a competitive advantage according to Michael Porter, a

Although participation in such activities may add value, they may not be a source of competitive advantage. Ultimately, the value, rarity, inimitability, and/or organization (VRIO) of an activity or resource determine its sustainability as a source of competitive advantage. Within this context, we can identify a firm’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT).

A firm has a sustainable competitive advantage when it implements a value creating strategy that is not being implemented by another competitor and cannot be copied by another firm. As all resources are not of equal importance or possess the potential to be a source of sustainable competitive advantage, it is important to be able to characterize the relevant resources. Barney (1991) suggests that these resources must meet four conditions; value, rareness, inimitability, and non- substitutability. Collis and Montgomery (1995) proposes that these advantage-creating resources meet five tests; inimitability, durability, appropriability, substitutability and competitive superiority.

From the previous strategic frameworks, the company should increment their offerings into the financial options to their clients. There are five options in this field with their respectively advantages and disadvantages:

In this discussion be careful to explain what you mean with “sustainable competitive advantage” and how it relates to Barney (1991) and Porter (1996). Thus you should either defend or critique the views on competitive advantage offered by Porter and/or Barney in relation to the Aldi case.

Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance, by Michael E. Porter. Author focused on three principle strategies that a firm can use to neutralize competition areas. low cost differentiation products, superior performance, and competitive technology. The profit potential of any organization can be truly determined by total 5 competition areas. 1 Jockeying for a position, 2 new competitors 3 substitute products/services threats 4 Raw materials power of suppliers 5. Organization customer bargaining power. Value chain is a tool that can be used to analyzing large number of value producing activities to determine customer segment need. Competitive advantage through low cost focus on ten major factors; economics, learning, capacity utilization, linkage within value chain, business interrelationships unit, vertical integration, Business cycles timing purchases, discretionary policies, location, and institutional factors. Two main area an organization achieve cost advantage is controlling cost drivers and two

o Technology: In a technology driven world, it is important that banks in the industry ‘move with the time’. With respect to the big four, these banks have now introduced internet and cell phone banking as well as banking from the ATM; making the industry highly competitive. This technology aims to make banking for the client simple and accessible from anywhere. This new technology is aimed, once again, at the medium to high-income earning clients, who have access to these technologies.

For example, it would be hard for a supermarket to achieve a long term advantage over other supermarkets by simply offering groceries goods at lower prices as other supermarkets would probably lower and match the prices if other supermarkets think that to lower the prices would help to attract the customers. Another scenario is it would difficult for a departmental store to develop a long term advantage by just offering a deeper or broader assortments of merchandise to attract their customers as competitors could easily copy to buy the same merchandise for their stores. As such, to establish a sustainable competitive advantage is the key to achieve long-term financial

The need for this competitive advantage to be sustainable is due to the changing environment in which it competes, another component to strategy. The environment in which a business operates is diverse and complex, Johnson et al (2005), suggest ‘layering ' the business environment helps to identify key areas and ways of coping with complexity and change. Within these layers tools can be used for further understanding of the issues associated within it. The ability to react to changes in the environment is essential for maintaining a competitive advantage; it is an interactive process, with changes in either component affecting the other. For example, Apple was aware that competitors such as Sony and Panasonic had identified customers wanted an alternative to a large ipod and were producing, smaller, cheaper units, albeit with less capacity. Apple 's response was to produce the ipod shuffle, a stripped down MP3 player, technically inferior to the competitors offerings. However, Apples ' unique selling point was to use the durability of its

As a result, a new service “Tawasul” launched in the market and the reason why the Bank choose it as their competitive advantage because it provide all the differences a competitive advantage should hold and as will it met the banks objectives. As a service that is different “Tawasul” have it all. It is Important to the customer, distinctive as no other bank in the same market provide the same, superior .communicable, pre-emptive as it’s not easy to be cloned, affordable to customers and finally profitable to the Bank.

When a bank is losing market share they have two options, grow organically or grow inorganically. Faced with a fleeting and a dissatisfied customer base, Midlands came up with another, unique, solution to their problem. First Direct was born from an idea that the customer comes first in banking, this idea would change the course of banking forever.

A company achieves sustainable competitive advantage when an attractive number of buyers prefer its products or services over the offerings of competitors and when the basis for this preference is durable.

A good business strategy would be that to attain a competitive advantage over other competitors. So what is a competitive advantage? And how company can be able to have a competitive advantage over other competitors? This essay would now discuss what a competitive advantage is and how a company can build a competitive advantage over other competitors in the same industry by using two furnishing stores, Ikea and Courts as examples.