Competitive Advantages Paper

Team A

MGT/498: Strategic Management

Competitive Advantages

Intro

Competitive Advantage and Strategy Similarities

Within an industry of risk and instability it is hard for companies to attain competitive advantage. New technologies, globalization, and transparency have turned the business environment upside down creating a sense of unease for many CEOs. Up until 1980 business operating margins were stagnant, since 1980 operating margins, along with the gap between winner and losers, has more than doubled. With the percentage of companies falling out of the “top three” rankings within its industry increasing from 2%, in 1960, to 14%, in 2008, even market leadership is more problematic (Reeves & Deimler, 2011). The relationship between profitability and industry share has dropped dramatically from 34%, in 1950, to 7%, in 2007, making it nearly impossible for some CEOs to define which industry and companies they’re up against (Reeves & Deimler, 2011). This presents an overwhelming challenge for companies’ development for competitive advantage and strategy formulation. Apple Inc. and Netflix developed strategies, along with a surviving, permanent competitive advantage, by establishing canny and dominant market positioning and putting together just the right competencies and capabilities for creating and administering an offering of what it does best.

Apple Inc., Netflix, and Riordan are considered industry leaders within the companies’ pertinent field. Each of company provides a variety of products which meet consumer needs and sell both nationally and internationally. All three companies’ have the mastered the skill of differentiating company products. Operational excellence is another competitive advantage similarity the companies share; each company puts to use thorough standards and processes across all departments for assurance of operational excellence. The companies also excel in customer service and quality; they thrive as innovative solution renders for customer needs, establish and focus on long-term relationships that motivate the companies to rigorous control quality, and attain, as well as maintain, consumers through superb customer service and offering exceptional products.

Apple and Netflix’s competitive strategies stem from both of the companies’ potential to harbor rapid adaption and being exceptionally good at learning new things instead of being really good at doing some particular thing. The companies have formulated how to effectively experiment frequently, rapidly, and economically with not only products and services but also with company processes, strategies, and business models. Both companies’ developed skills in managing intricate multi-stakeholder systems within a progressively interconnected environment. Possibly the most essential competitive strategy, both companies have learned how to unlock greatest and primary resource of a company – employees, the people who work for them. Each company has also acquired the ability to read and act on signals; in order for a company to succeed and adapt it must have antennas in tune to the signals of change from the company’s environmental scan, decode those signals, and rapidly move to perfect and/or remake the company’s business model and if necessary alter or recreate the information landscape of the company’s industry. Lastly, each company has the ability to mobilize. For the most part, adaptation is local in nature due to the experiments first conducted at a specific place and time, but if the experiment is successful it is global in nature as the company will proceed to select the experiment and begin the process to communicate, amplify, and perfect the experiment. Therefore, the need for the company to create a mobilized environment which motivates flexibility, the knowledge flow which thrives for adaptation, risk taking, diversity, autonomy, and sharing arises. All these strategies can be used by Riordan to improve innovation and sustainability of business operations within both the United States and global markets.

Competitive Strategies Effect on Long-Term Sustainability

Explain why above strategies were chosen (beneficial) and estimate how the strategies may affect the long-term sustainability of organizational performance.

Riordan Global Market

Explain how the global market would affect Riordan’s business strategy.

Conclusion

Conclusion

References

Wheelen, T. L. & Hunger, J. D. (2012). Concepts in Strategic Management and Business Policy: Toward Global Sustainability: Pearson Education, Inc.

University of Phoenix Virtual Organizations Portal. (2013). Riordan Manufacturing. Retrieved from University of Phoenix Virtual Organizations Portal, MGT498 – Strategic Management https://ecampus.phoenix.edu/secure/aapd/CIST/VOP/Business/Riordan/index.asp

Reeves, M. & Deimler, M (2011). Harvard Business Review. Adaptability: The New Competitive Advantage. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2011/07/adaptability-the-new-competitive-advantage