Evaluating The Business Strategies Of Kroger, Amazon, Ebay

Portray the competitive strategy of the (competing) firms using the grid of “strategic target” and “source of competitive advantage”.

Business-level strategy is an integrated and coordinated collection of commitments and actions that are used by firms to achieve a competitive advantage. The firms utilize core competencies in certain product markets. Under this strategy, firms specify their choices on how they plan to compete in individual product markets. It’s important that every firm develop a business-level strategy to create differences between its position and its competitors’ positions. The relationship between customers and business-level strategies is very important because customers are the source of the strategy’s success. It’s imperative that the firm differentiate who the customer will be (market segmentation), what are the customers’ needs,

The building blocks of competitive advantage approach was used to analyze customer responsiveness and innovation. The purpose of analyzing customer responsiveness is to help determine if the company has the ability to adequately meet their customers’ needs. Innovation involves improving products, services, and processes. Prime Insurance is a supplemental line insurance carrier that has somewhat of a monopoly in the high risk insurance market. The companies’ innovative way of thinking has been key to the company’s growth. Analyzing the customer responsiveness and innovation of Prime Insurance will help identify reasons why the company is considered a leader in the high risk supplemental line insurance industry.

Business analysis tools are different techniques investors use to assess a company’s operations. In most cases, the purpose of the analysis is to determine how effective or efficient a company is in the overall market locally, nationally and globally. A scan of the internal and external environment is an important part of this strategic planning process. A few different tools are commonly used such as SWOT, PESTEL, Comparative and Porter’s Five Forces. Each one takes a different approach when reviewing the company’s financial and nonfinancial aspects.

2016). Companies in the same industry can also struggle maintaining its competitive advantage because of their exposure to similar opportunities and threats in their market area (Rothaermel 2017). Hence, it is necessary for the companies to analyse their internal resources and capabilities that form their core competencies (Rothaermel 2017). It has been studied that a company’s differentiating internal environment accounts for more than half of its success (Rothaermel 2017). This resource-based view enables the company to identify their strength and weaknesses for strategic competitiveness (Rothaermel 2017). An analysis of a company’s external opportunities and threats in combination with its resources and capabilities propels activities for strategic manoeuvre (Hanson et al. 2016). This, in-turn, creates pathway for above-average returns (AAR) (Hanson et al.

Each year QSSI conducts a strategic planning session where senior leadership examines the company’s standing in the marketplace and its desired standing to determine where the company’s opportunities to improve exist. In addition, the leadership team considers the company’s mission, guiding principles and past performance when developing goals to close any gaps in marketability, innovation, and delivery. One of the most valuable tools at the disposal of the group is an analysis of feedback from the both external customers, employees, and partnering organizations regarding the organization’s performance for a specific period (Barney &

Successful companies do not all pursue the same strategies. This is evident with both Amazon and Wal-Mart, both are direct competitors but each focuses on a different market channels and provide different customer value proposition. A business strategy characterizes a company’s unique position in the market and distinguishes the firm ’s value proposition from that of its competitors. Qupte Simci levi Such a unique market position drives and depends on operations and supply chain strategies. Unfortunately due to the effiency curve, no company can be both highly efficient and extremely responsive. This is where companies need to make trade-offs decisions. Of course, trade-offs need to be made not only between efficiency and responsiveness

Compass System has requested that a simple overview of the company on how resources and the ability to compete in the marketplace be strategize to the fullest extent. First, a qualitative look at the company’s internal policies, procedures, financial reports, proposal process, and limited customer interaction to provide information on how the company is performing. This data will represent a rapid strategy measure for company performance. If the data is strong and dependable, it will be used as a guide to evaluate how the company is doing. A competitive view of strengths and weaknesses for the current strategy and as well as a forecast of how quick the company is changing. Processes, procedures and value will be assessed to determine how they compete against their competitors for market opportunities and external threats. Viewing value in terms of how it is provided to customers from both the perspective of the rivals and customers. How can value be provided for the customer. Management’s philosophy on the company’s strategy

The internal analysis focuses on the strengths and weaknesses inside a company or organization; it helps determine what the company is capable of. There are many tools that play a part of the internal analysis but the three main tools used in an internal analysis are the Boston Consulting Group Matrix, the Value Chain Analysis which includes primary activities and support activities inside the business. Another big part of the internal analysis is the Financial Ratio Analysis which is used to evaluate various aspects of a company’s operating and financial performance such as its efficiency, liquidity, profitability and solvency. The trend of these ratios over time is studied to check whether the company is

Analyse the market performance of existing and potential competitors and their products or services, to identify potential opportunities or threats

This article focuses on strategic analysis and strategic development of today’s dynamic, competitive business environment for companies.

There are three ways we can evaluate a company’s performance. Financial, operational and overall effectiveness (Ramsey, J. R., Bahia, B. R., 2013). By looking at financial indicators such as sales growth, growth of foreign sales and return of investment one can assess if these fulfill the economic goals that the company have. When using the operational dimension, we look at non-financial elements that may influences the company’s performance. This includes market share, new products introduction, product quality etc. The last of the three, overall effectiveness, evaluates achievement of goals, perceived overall performance, perceived performance in relations to its competitors etc (Hult, Ketchen, Griffith, Chabowski, Hamman, Dykes, Pollitte, Cavusgil, 2008).

Developing a strategic performance plan for a company is only the first step. The plan must then be implemented and after a short period of time it must then be evaluated. This evaluation is key in determining if the strategic plan is not only effective but also efficient. After being presented with yearly data for the top three competitors, Delta, Southwest, and United Airlines, of the US airline industry, it was my goal to develop comparative performance metrics to find out how if the companies strategies are efficient in a financial standpoint. While I calculated all of the required metrics, only a few stood out to me as useful when evaluating the companies. Some of the key performance metrics that I computed are revenue per employee, accounts receivable turnover, current ratio, and return on assets.

“Competitive strategy involves positioning a business to maximize the value of the capabilities that distinguish it from its competitor’s” (Porter 1980:47). A successful business plan requires first and foremost the formation of an appropriate strategy. Through the implementation of a suitable strategy, the company is able to obtain its own industry niche and gain an understanding of its customers (Porter 1985). Whichever strategy is adopted it must be adequately integrated within the firms goals and missions to achieve a competitive advantage (Parker and Helms 1992).

This paper discusses upon the importance marketing in the formulation of corporate strategies. Marketing plays a dynamic role in building corporate strategy. Although it is been criticised that there is lack of quality research work done in this field, marketing has evolved significantly with the changing business environments. Marketing plays a key role in competitive strategy, but the inputs from the marketing functional level won’t solely suffice the decision makers at the corporate levels. Significant inputs from all the strategic business units, which are aligned to the same set of goals, are necessary in formulating a good competitive strategy. The company’s vision and mission must be communicated to all the business units and the culture of customer orientation must be instilled within them to get all the units to work in the same direction.