Nucor Case Study

More attention to own business than to competitors is their strategy. South magazine observed that Nucor is “stripped down, no nonsense” organization. It keeps maintaining low cost and efficiency, which is the key to making profit in steel industry, by keeping the employee force at the level it should be, empowering them, being totally honest, involving them in decision making process, and using effective incentive compensation system.

There are many competitive forces that are affecting Nucor Corporation. Some of the primary ones are the market size, number of rivals, and pace of technological change.

Technology plays a crucial role in this industry. Every organisation always strives for look atnew technological solutions in order to come up with a distinct product. Technology plays arole in production as well as marketing activities in this industry.

Nucor has been facing many industry challenges including the overall development of the industry. They are competing with foreign firms on cost and efficiency. Nucor has a low cost strategy because as they say their product is not necessarily very attractive. It does not have attractive or unique selling features other than its cost. The commodity of steel is in a very competitive market. Nucor understands that innovation and productivity are going to be key factors to keep their buyers satisfied with their prices. Nucor is facing many challenges with a growing world market and many of their competitors merging in order to create stronger more dominate

The core strategy of Nucor is that of cost leadership via the use of technology. Through innovation and the use of high quality technology to process their steel, Nucor was able to achieve this cost advantage.

the internal analysis of the firm and the external analysis of the industry and competitive environment

In Phase II we ensured external competitiveness by analyzing the external market survey data on total

Upon Review of Nucor Corporation’s current findings, analysis of internal strengths and weaknesses, as well as a comparative analysis at the industrial level of the steel industry, the following includes a summary of findings and recommendations for Nucor Steel Corporation:

Nucor Corporation is made up of 11,500 teammates whose goal is to "Take Care of Our Customers." We are accomplishing this by being the safest, highest quality, lowest cost, most productive and most profitable steel and steel products company in the world. We are committed to doing this while being cultural and environmental stewards in our communities where we live and work. We are succeeding by working together.

Recommendation 3: Other than expanding internationally, Nucor should make joint ventures with suppliers to keep the cost down of the product. A lot of scrap that is used is imported so it would be a good idea for Nucor to utilize that to reduce costs of making their products.

Nucor Corporation is one of the three largest U.S. steel producers with production capacity of more than 26 million tons and 20,400 employees. The company is also the world's largest steel recycler,

Nucor is a classic case in how a firm can develop sustainable competitive advantages through resources that fit the VRIO criteria. It is worth noting that Nucor has achieved this in an industry that few would describe as attractive.

Nucor must now consider the need to keep up with the changing dynamics of a globalized corporate world. Nucor already has a business model that proved to be successful in the American markets. Using the same business model, Nucor should now consider penetrating and exploiting other international markets that promise low costs of production and higher revenue generation such as India and China. This could be done by either setting up operations in those countries or getting into

Nucor has created a company that is both internally and externally fit to the environment. The firm responds well to the driving forces of the industry and has opted to take a low-cost strategy with the relentless pursuit of innovation and strong employee productivity in order to combat the issues of the steel industry. In 2000, Nucor decided to expand its operations by acquiring new firms and new factories while continuing with its low-cost operations. The competitive strategy of Nucor has helped it become one of the leading manufacturers of steel and steel products in the United States.

In order to sustain its competitiveness and profitability, Nucor shall consider going global. Generally, the criteria needed for Nucor to go global are intellectual capital, psychological capital and social capital.