Costco's Competitive Strategies

“The threat of substitutes for Virgin Atlantic is low in the developed countries where people mainly use airlines for both short and long distance travel”. “Virgin has a high group of substitutes. Leading substitutes include innovative products such as IPhones, Blackberries, Times Warner Productions, and Google products. Some of these substitutes products prices are lower, creating buyers to face few high switching costs”. On the other hand, in the developing world, there are threats of different modes of transport for example train. Even though trains do not have the same speed as Virgin Atlantic which they are two different modes of transport it is still less expensive when compared to Virgin and thus, “the preferred

In the following essay I will be analysing and discussing Porter’s five forces. Created and named after Michael E. Porter, Porters model of the five forces helps a “company understand the structure of its industry and stake out a position that is more profitable and less vulnerable to attack” (Porter, 2008) The five forces that shape an industry are the following; Threat of new entrants, Bargaining power of suppliers, Threat of substitute products or services, Bargaining power of buyers and finally, Rivalry among existing competitors. (Porter, 2008) This analysing tool can help determine your position in the market, help create strategies and determine the industry’s long run profit potential. In the first section of the essay I will take you

One of the main opportunities Costco has is more global expansion to specific targeted countries. Although operating in many countries, Costco is heavily dependent on the U.S. and Canadian markets. It still has the opportunity to expand into the Asian and Australian markets where it has a limited presence. Costco has the capability to operate about 100 stores in Taiwan, Korea and Japan combined and about 20 stores in Australia. It currently has 41 stores in Taiwan, Korea and Japan combined and 6 stores in Australia. There is clearly room for further expansion into these regions as well as the opportunity for massive expansion into China and India. When Costco enters another country it does everything in its power

For the business-level, Trader Joe’s adopted a differentiation focus strategy. According to our textbook with this strategy, Trader Joe’s seeks to differentiate in its target market. They rely on providing better service than broad-based competitors. Specifically, they focus on the special needs of the buyer in other segments (Dess, Page 159). Joe’s differentiates its self from other grocers by providing a unique shopping experience fortified with their private label goods and great service from their crew members. Their unique shopping experience stems from their smaller store locations with the chevron pattern. They don’t have a large array of products, but they provide high quality goods under their brand name that continues to attract customers.

Porter’s Five Forces framework is to identify the level of competition within the industry and to determine the strengths or weaknesses which can utilise to strengthen the position. The framework consist of five elements: threat of entry, bargaining power of supplier, bargaining power of buyer, threat of substitutes and industry rivalry.

By providing examples of why the market and land should be shared and unmasking the

In Costco’s macro-environment, a variety of factors could affect the company’s economic viability. External factors such as inflation, foreign currency exchange rates, levels of unemployment, reduced consumer confidence, and changes in tax policies could unfavorably affect the demand for Costco’s products and services. Prices of some goods and services including food products, are often variant and subject to fluctuations deriving from changes in domestic and foreign supply and demand, competition, taxes, labor costs, or delays in delivery which could significantly affect Costco’s sales. Therefore, the product’s costs and selling could also increase affecting financial results. Other important economic factors include the increasing international

This paper presents an overview of Kmart retail supply chain in New Zealand. Various IT systems and software used by Kmart are presented in this paper. The new IT systems and business applications are also proposed. In retail sector, IT is involved at every point right from supply chain management to POS terminals for transaction processing. Efficient use of technology and IT systems can bring innovation. The paper highlights an SLA and business case for a new business application proposed for Kmart New Zealand. The paper also through light on critique of created IT plan for Kmart and comparison with another plan.

What is Panera Bread? They serve quality food with speedy service but not too fast like McDonalds or other fast food restaurants nor as expensive and slow as full dine in restaurants (i.e. Chili’s or Applebee’s). “Panera Bread offers freshly baked artisan bread to neighborhoods in cities throughout the country. As of September 27th, 2016, Panera Bread has 2,024 baker-cafes in 46 states” (panerabread.com). They have grown from twenty stores in 1993. Key Factors that drive the industry Panera Bread is in are economy, technology, and socially or society.

An organization must identify its core competencies and strategically align those competencies with its business objectives to achieve success. In fact, C.K. Prahalad and Gary Hamel explained in the Harvard Business Review that the most powerful way for an organization to prevail is for it to “identify, cultivate, and exploit the core competencies that make growth possible” (2000). Lockheed Martin has thoroughly aligned its competencies, business objectives, and key performance indicators, which has undoubtedly contributed to the corporation’s effectiveness.

In order to achieve and sustain competitive advantage, a business needs both resources and capabilities. Resources are assets that are owned or employed by an organization. The organization utilizes and uses these assets to carry out their business operations. Resources can be grouped either tangible assets or intangible assets. Capabilities are complex skills or ability that a firm develops with time to perform business operations competently and utilize their resource effectively.

Like most companies, Tyson Foods is not invulnerable to threats from other companies or external elements that the company can’t control. The company has not been able to tackle the challenges present by the new entrants in the segment and has lost small market share in the niche categories. Tyson Foods has to build internal feedback mechanism directly from sales team on ground to counter these challenges. Financial planning is done improperly and inefficiently. The current asset ratio and liquid asset ratios suggest that the company can use the cash more efficiently than what it is doing at present. High attrition rate in their workforce in comparison to other organizations in the industry, Tyson Foods has a higher attrition rate and have to spend a lot more compared to its competitors on training and development of its employees. Investment in Research and Development is below the fastest growing players in the industry. Even though Tyson Foods is spending above the industry average on Research and Development, it has not been able to compete with

Porter’s five forces interact to shape the competitive landscape facing port authorities and port service providers. The 5 forces are stated below;

They have achieved such a success based on the way they have organized their operations. Competencies are very important for an organization to build up on their own. Competencies can be of two aspects namely core competencies and threshold competencies. A core competence can be identified as a unique set of skills or production techniques that deliver a particular value to the customer. A threshold competence can be identified as a quality that need to maintain by the organization in order to remain competitive in the market (Rohwedder & Johnson,

Based on four attributes, first one is Factor endowments that focus on basic factors natural resources, climate, location, demographics second one is advanced factors such as communication infrastructure, sophisticated and skilled labour, research facilities, and technological know-how. Third one will be advanced factors are a product of investment by individuals, companies, and governments. Porter argues that advanced factors are the most significant for competitive advantage. Lastly demand conditions that look at customer need or the demand on which is being produced, companies will have to produce innovative, high quality products early, which lead to competitive advantage. Relating and supporting industries, if suppliers or related industries exist in the home countries that are themselves internationally competitive, this can result in competitive advantage in the new industry, firm strategy, structure, and rivalry. Different nations are characterized by different management ideologies, which can either help or hurt them in building competitive advantage. If there is a strong domestic rivalry, it helps to create improved efficiency, making those firms better international competitors. Porter also notes that chance (such as new breakthrough innovations) and government policies (such as regulation, investments in education, etc.) can influence