Comvita Competitive Advantage

Resource analysis/allocation

Generally, the concept of resource – based view (RBV) explains how one firm is different from their competitors as well as how they maintain their competitive advantages by utilizing various resources (Kostopoulos et al, 2013, p. 2[l5] ). For any firms, their resources include both tangible and intangible. Tangible resources are defined as physical assets such as land, equipment, manufacturing process, inventory, stocks and cash. While intangible assets include non-physical items, including intellectual property, human resource, copyright and branding. As stated above, the superior products, sustainable branding as well as global presence are Comvita competitive advantage. In order to provide such superior products

Since expanding the manufacturer, it is easier for Comvita to achieve economies of scale and operating in a more efficient way. On the other hand, the key element that helps Comvita to create such unique product for the market is their human resource, especially the research and development (R&D) department, also as known as Comvita Innovation Limited. This department is responsible for the researching of health benefits that can be brought by using natural products, and then “develop products with proven efficacy” (Comvita, 2017). Comvita Innovation Limited has been partnered with differents network such as Kiwi Innovation Network or various universities around New Zealand to advance their product and technology further. Without R&D department, there will be no uniqueness in Comvita - Manuka honey products. For the second competitive advantage, which is sustainable branding and global presence, the culture of the company is very important in building branding. Company culture refers to the vision, mission as well as attitude of employees towards the company. It is considered as critical element because once everyone in the company has the same vision and mission, they will work hard for what they believe and together creating a

Firstly, as long as Comvita wants to maintain their position as market leader in honey industry, R&D department is indispensable for the company. Being a market leader, Comvita needs to constantly improve not only their product quality, but also adding more product types to meet customers’ demand. Moreover, new products need to be invented before their competitors in order to be the exclusive supplier. Hence, not only that R&D department needs to be maintained at Comvita, but also investing more capital in this department due to its importance. According to Comvita (2017), Comvita Innovation Limited focuses on different activities, such as “assessment of raw products, natural products bio-active discovery and screening, development of food processing technology that enhances active ingredients, formulation and delivery of bioactives”. Secondly, beekeepers are important to Comvita for several reasons. Comvita can actively control their main ingredient rather than relying on different suppliers. Moreover, the quality of honey are also be controlled under Comvita standard, which can ensure the high quality of Comvita Manuka Honey. Comvita CEO - Brett Hewlett states that “the primary advantage of ownership of supply is the mitigation against continuously