How does each company create value and sustain competitive advantage through business strategy? What measurement guidelines is each company using to verify its strategic effectiveness? How effective are the measurement guidelines that each company is using? Format your paper according to APA standards. MGT 498 Week 3 DQs 1 ,2 ,3 Included MGT 498 Week 4 Team Assignment Competitive Advantages Paper Resources: Virtual Organizations available through the UOP website and Environmental Scan Papers from last
Running head: FINAL STRATEGIC PLAN – THE HOME DEPOT Final Strategic Plan – The Home Depot University of Phoenix MBA 580 Charles Hooley June 1, 2009 Final Strategic Plan – The Home Depot Executive Summary Companies in today’s market need to think more than “product, placement, and promotion.” With the stressors, both internal and external on the company, they must think critically to ensure continuing operations. Many businesses explicitly and all implicitly adopt one or more generic strategies characterizing their competitive orientation in the marketplace. Low cost, differentiation, or focus strategies define the three fundamental options… Enlightened managers seek to create ways their firm possesses both low cost and differentiation competitive advantages as part of their overall generic strategy. They usually combine these capabilities with a comprehensive, general plan of major actions through which their firm intends to achieve its long-term objectives in a dynamic environment. Called the grand strategy, this statement of means indicates how the objectives are to be achieved… (Pearce and Robinson, 2004, p. 14).
The following is a case study discussing the pros and cons of Rosewood hotels moving from individual brands to a corporate brand. Concepts included will be the customer lifetime value calculator, as well as a variety of elements such as differentiation, operational issues and brand management. Furthermore, included is an exploration of how one assumption may affect results in regards to lifetime value calculation. Relationship Marketing Rosewood Hotel Management Company has found themselves in a unique situation that many companies often find themselves in after years of success in the industry. Although they have brands that carry their own weight, they also now have a decision to make regarding consolidating dynamic individual well-established brands into an umbrella that is essentially a corporate brand.
Marketing Research Rochelle Woods MKT/421 April 2, 2012 Ricci Rizzo Marketing Research The original vision of Kudler Finer Foods was to be a one stop gourmet food store. As a result Mrs. Kudler’s vision, Kudler Finer Foods growth continues to manifest. Mrs. Kudler built an expanding entity having direct control on customer service, all orders for the business and hiring. Known for her kindness and generosity to employees, this has allowed Kudler Finer Foods to prosper. Kudler Fine Foods (KFF) began as the dream of a local entrepreneur and has in the most part been successful.
A successful business creates a SWOTT analysis to improve business decision making and identify high-level performance areas as well as any other area needing improvement. A SWOTT analysis looks at the positive and negative in the business and helps to overcome any problem areas. Strengths and weaknesses are internal forces within the business that can be controlled and changed in most circumstances. Strategy is one internal force that can be changed when necessary. In this instance the business focuses on customers in a one-on-one setting or in small groups to allow them to feel special and treated with high priority.
The message will be that Kona-Q is a convenient, healthy fast-casual alternative restaurant. Kona-Q will employ several marketing outlets: • Print media advertising: The Willamette Week, a weekly entertainment guide. Similar weekly entertainment guides will be used with expansion to different cities. • Flyers: Passed around to local businesses with coupons attached to introduce the community to Kona-Q and creating an economic incentive to try it. • Entertainment book coupons: Presented within the first eight months of entering a market.
Strategic Plan: Part II Anonymous BUS/475 February 23, 2000 n.a. Strategic Plan: Phase II Several trends and forces, both external and internal factors can lead businesses on different pathways. Trends and forces are necessities that must be analyzed by organization and fostered as a tool to increase revenue. Organizations that respond and react to changes and modify their strategic plan when necessary will remain superior in the industry and competition. In order for a business to thrive in today’s shifting business environment, the administration of that particular organization must have the capability to respond to changes in the trends and forces in the business setting.
We also gained a close understanding of how Wal-Mart uses strategic planning to add organizational and stakeholders’ value while increasing profits. We uncover a series of great efficiency tools used by Wal-Mart such as cost leadership to leverage operating expenses, and how it is used by the organization to strategically dominate the competition, and lead the industry by continuing to provide quality products at discount prices. This perfect planning continues to demonstrate Wal-Mart’s expertise in effectively utilizing global resources to maximizing profits while minimizing the shared risk associated with it. In the end, Wal-Mart’s narrowed financial expense control and robust inventory management alongside with their strategic planning; will sustain a profitable successful organization with profitable
Some of the executives have found that diversity strategy has become Allstate’s competitive edge. Allstate focuses on two major strategies: Internal diversity- is where Allstate shows the employees how they can excel in the company by giving them the tools, resources, and opportunities to succeed. External diversity- is where Allstate is making certain that the workforce matches the backgrounds, experiences, and sensitivities of the market it serves (Hellriegel, & Slocum p. 215). The diversity index at Allstate asks the following questions of employees: • To what extent does our company deliver quality service to customers regardless of their ethnic background, etc.? • To what extent are you treated with respect and dignity at work?
Apart from quality and service lead, M&S has been considering the succeeding factors as their competitive advantage: (a) M&S has not only established good relationship and reciprocate profit with suppliers but also maintained long-term partnerships to work with them. (b) M& S considers its employees as partners of the company’s accomplishment by having them experience what the firm has actually offers. Top management executives wear their own clothing line and consume their own food products. Through this approach, employees may assess and deliver their concerns, therefore, contribute to the improvement of their brands. 2.