Strategy

I hobbled as fast as I could across the moor. I didn’t look back and I didn’t look down – the former because I didn’t want to know just how close it was, the latter because I didn’t want to see the blood spurting from my foot. It was chasing me. I didn’t turn round, but with each limped and painful step I knew it was right behind me, ready to pounce and end any futile hope of survival. It was so near, at my shoulder, on top of me, right through my brain. I could feel its breath pushing against my neck, salivating in hunger. Why didn’t it just finish me off?

Maybe it wanted me to turn, maybe the moment I looked it would be there. Its red eyes shining into mine, its wide mouth ready to make an aperture of my throat. The temptation to turn was immense. If I turned it would be over, I wouldn’t have to run – hobble, limp, stagger – anymore. I heard it growl, ready to pounce. My arms flailed, my mangled foot slipped in a coating of my own blood – but still, I ran, still, I refused to look back. I kept thinking of survival, thinking there’d be a future, thinking I’d live – and it was with that thin slice of hope that my legs disappeared from under me.

I screamed, but it was a sound of surprise rather than pain – and it was lost in a terrible scream from across the moor. Who was that? Was it Mark? Was it Pete? We’d run together, separated – thinking it couldn’t hunt down all three of us across these moors. But was that right? It was a long way to run and we had no idea how swift it was. I closed my eyes and listened. It was Mark. It was Mark screaming into the night. It was Mark being torn apart. I opened my eyes, slowly, and looked behind me. There was nothing. There were no red eyes, there were no bloodied teeth. Yet I could hear its breath so close, smell its disgusting raw hunger. But it wasn’t there, Mark’s cries told me that. It had followed Mark – the fattest one – meat on the carcass for a good feast. But I could still hear its breath, trapped in my mind, telling me it was near, that despite Mark’s cries it was still hunting me.

I steadied myself and looked around. I’d tumbled into a crimson ditch, a jagged hole covered in blood. Every inch of grass, every patch of mud was smeared red. I blinked a couple of times and gagged as the stench beat its way through my nostrils – and then, under the moonlight, I saw them. There were a dozen rabbit carcasses in the hole with me, each of them dissected and eviscerated by teeth. This is where it was before the bar, this is where it started before it came to us for the main course. I pulled myself up, scared I’d vomit. Mark’s cries had stopped.

Mark had been stopped. It was silent again, so I couldn’t retch. If I threw up it would know where I was, it would find me easy. I crawled from the ditch, away from the blood and the smell. I lay on the grass, keeping my face pressed down, hoping the aroma of night time freshness would remove all others. I was tempted to just stay there, but the pain in my heel was too much. I had a knife in my shack, a good sharp blade. I could cut out the wound, remove the infection. The shack wasn’t far. I knew this land, knew how to navigate these moors – I just prayed I could move fast enough it wouldn’t catch me.

I stood up, putting my weight on my right foot, only gingerly using my left. I took my bearings. Mark’s cries had come from the east. What was it doing now? Was it feasting? Was it burrowing its nose into Mark’s blubber? Or was it going to use the darkness to hunt down me and Pete as well?

It had started in the bar – what? Half an hour earlier? A lifetime ago? ‘The Bar At The End Of The World’ we called it. There had been three of us in, and Paul the bar-keep. No matter who else was there, the three of us – and Paul the bar-keep – were always there. We were single men, away from civilisation, glad – in the absence of any other human companionship – to have a kind of family to go to of an evening. It wasn’t exclusive, we never made anyone feel an outsider. When others came in from the moors they were welcomed, they were old friends. Even strangers received a cheery greeting. We’d had lost English motorists, Scotsmen in kilts, even once a Japanese coach party. We always treated strangers kindly, we always wanted the stranger to leave as a friend. We weren’t a bar which looked shifty and suspicious at every unknown who walked in. We smiled, we cheered, we brought another round.

The stranger who walked in that night was different. He looked cold, distant, unfriendly. He looked like a man who wouldn’t appreciate smiles or cheers or any warm welcome. He was huge, the size and shape of a bear – near seven foot of him. He lowered his head through the doorway and then straightened, standing dead still, staring at us on our bar-stools. Pete – the friendliest, youngest and lithest – tended to pounce forward and shake the hand of whoever came in, he didn’t with this guy. This man just stood and glared at us, like he was ready to growl if we came near.

We were in the wild, we ourselves were part of the wild – but he looked like he was born of it. His hair was greasy and matted to his simian shaped skull, his beard was torn and tangled, his skin was red and lined from exposure. His long jacket was the brown of every kind of dirt, his trousers were stained and short on his bruised calves, his torn shirt was only buttoned once – showing off a scarred and lined torso.

It was Paul who spoke. Paul was the custodian and was never scared of confronting the unruly elements – his shotgun was never far from reach below the bar.

“Can I help you?” he asked.

The man did nothing, just continued to stare with passive venom.

“Can I help you?” said Paul.

The man moved. He turned his head, slowly, towards the bar-keep.

“Whisky.” said the man, his voice as dark as earth.

“You got money for that?” asked Paul.

It was never usually a problem. Once or twice we’d had a tramp stray out that far and we’d brought them drinks – tramps have stories too. No one seemed willing to volunteer this time.

The man took three strides, three strides which seemed to dent and echo against the floor. He grabbed a bar stool and swooped it under him. It was amazing those rickety old stools could take such a weight.

“Whisky.” said the man.

“You got money for that?” said Paul.

They stared at each other. Paul kept his hand beneath the bar, clutching the gun. There was music on the jukebox, an old pop hit of the nineteen-seventies, but even though it played it was like silence had come and crushed it.

The man brought his hand up, a brutal weapon of a fist – huge, scarred, and red. He opened it, dropping a dozen coins down onto the bar. He smiled at Paul or gave what passed for a smile on that face.

Paul let go of the gun and pulled out a clean glass.

“What kind?” he asked.

“Whisky.”

Paul shrugged and reached for a bottle – the cheapest – and poured out a measure.

The whiskey made itself at home at the bottom of the glass, but the man just stared at it in disapproval.

“Whisky,” he said.

Paul poured another measure.

Again the man stared at it with disgust strained across his wrinkled, bruised face.

“Whisky.”

Paul shrugged again and poured it so the glass was brimming with brown liquid.

Helicopters! I could suddenly hear choppers. They were up there, more than one – patrolling the night-sky. I dropped to the grass and looked up, but couldn’t see them despite the moonlight. How did they know about it? Who had called them? It took a long time to get a helicopter out here – helicopters were city. They must have been hunting this thing awhile, must have tracked it down here. But what were they going to do now? It was an animal, it had natural senses – they didn’t know this moor, they didn’t know where things were. It was ridiculous, what were city men in helicopters going to do against a beast like that?

I lay still. They were on my side. The police, the army, the protection authorities – whoever they were – we all wanted the same thing, we wanted it gone. But I knew they wouldn’t be as careful as I would. They’d come to the moors before looking for things, other animals roaming these parts. They’d found them, they’d got them – and so what if a local got in the way of their sharpened bullets? It was collateral damage, it didn’t matter. After all, we were too far away from the cities and the towns and the newspapers and the television cameras for anyone to care what actually happened. We were too far away for the death of a few yokel innocents to matter. But we knew. We knew it was as just as dangerous encountering a city man sent with a gun as it was encountering a beast.

I got up slowly. What would I look like to them? A man limping in darkness across the moor, smeared with dirt and remains – how was I going to appear to them?

I tried to figure out where they were – the sound of propellers said they were close, but I could also hear that breathing. I shuddered. I had to keep moving, I had to get safe. My shack, with heavy bolts on the doors and windows, was still a mile away. There was nowhere else though. Nowhere between where I stood and my shack. Nowhere in that direction between the bar and my shack. It was all so desolate. I had to get home – I could lock himself in, I had weapons, I’d be able to treat my ankle and give myself a chance of a tomorrow. I just had to get off the moor. I didn’t want to die out there from either sharpened teeth or sharpened bullets.

The man had just stared at that glass of whisky. Rain fell, records changed on the jukebox and still the man watched that glass with slow contemplation. All human sound had died. Before the man walked in Pete was regaling us with a childhood story we’d all heard three hundred times, Mark nevertheless could not stop sniggering at it – now there was only silence. We stared at the man – anxious of what he was going to do, scared of what he was going to do. Paul’s hand was below the bar, tight on the gun. Maybe the man would just drink and leave. Maybe he’d drink and start a conversation. Maybe.

His hand reached quick for the glass. One moment it was lying still in his lap, the next it was dropping the brown liquid down his throat. He took it in one gulp, then slammed the glass back to the bar and stared at it disappointed. He seemed to wonder if that was it. Paul reached his free hand to the bottle, to offer a refill, when the man jerked himself over the glass. He hunched his body over as if about to vomit the contents back in, his head so close he could have snapped the rim with his teeth. But he didn’t. Instead he unfurled his tongue, pushing it into the empty glass so it curled at the bottom and piled up on itself.

The tongue was long, dark, thick – it had two black veins running and pulsing up the back. He pushed it into the glass and filled it. The receptacle crammed full with purple flesh spilling over the top Then he made a slurping sound, like his tongue was a paper-straw reaching for the last drop of liquid. He slid it out, but stayed hunched forward and unfurled it again, wrapping his tongue around the base of the glass. He lifted it from the bar, tilting his head back and shaking whatever atoms of whisky might be left into his wide eager mouth. He dropped the glass back to the bar carelessly, so it landed on its side and rolled. The man grunted as it came to a stop right at the edge.

I wasn’t far now, but still far from safe. The helicopters had moved away, but there were men on the moors. I could hear them communicating, I could hear the static of their walkie-talkies. They were armed and scared in the moonlight, and it didn’t matter what they saw – man, sheep, deer, great big beast – they’d all get the same treatment. I kept moving, conscious of them, conscious of the salivating breath, conscious that one wrong turn and I’d be exposed for all in the moonlight. I rounded a ridge, and there – close enough to see – was my shack. I felt so much relief I nearly wept, but then I heard them on the bank right above me. I hit bank-side and listened, they were chatting about vectors and shut downs and containing the area. All the time the beast was getting nearer.

It was so dark out there – even with the moon – that it could have pounced from five feet and surprised me. Even with armed city men so close, it would still have time to tear out my throat before taking them too. They were above me so I couldn’t move, but I could hear the beast and knew I had to move. The sound of its hunger was louder when I stopped. It seemed like it could attack from all sides, like I could be ripped apart by more than one of them. It was everywhere. What were those idiots doing? Why were they advertising themselves? I held my breath and listened to them and listened to it, and figured I was in for a bloody death.

Then there were screams. From across the moor came dreadful cries, that even through the wind I recognised as Pete. I lurched forward from the bank, but then reality knocked me back again. Even if I knew where to run it would be too late. The screams swirled in the wind, they echoed, so it seemed that each death throe was repeated again and again across the moors. The men primed their weapons, but what were they going to fire at? It could be miles off, it could be bursting up from just over the next hillock. Finally there was movement, orders were given, the men raced away. I could still hear the breathing, rattling between my ears even with the screams. I could hear the helicopters swooping back. The men had gone, the helicopters weren’t near enough yet and it was as close as it had ever been. If I looked to my left I could make out the brickwork of my shack. I moved hastily towards it.

With the empty glass in front of him, the man closed his eyes and became still. Why hadn’t Paul shot him then? Why didn’t he just blast him one? What had gone through Paul’s mind to make him wait?

But then the opportunity was gone, his eyes opened and he spoke.

“I get so lonely,” he said. “I get so very, very lonely.” His voice was quiet, a growled monotone. “I know the kind of life I lead isn’t meant to have company, but still I am lonely. I think it’s an odd thing for me to have become lonely – I wasn’t born lonely, I didn’t grow up lonely, there was nothing in my life that suggested loneliness. But now I am alone. I don’t miss the people I knew, I don’t miss the people who loved me – some of them I can’t even remember – but I do miss the sensation of somebody else, I do miss there being another.

I talk to myself a lot, I talk to myself and try to make sense of it, because after all – who else is there to talk to? Sure, there are people like you. There’s the welcome of strangers when I can get it. But you’re not my friends, you’re not even my friends for the hours I spend here. You’re just people I meet. You don’t like me and you don’t trust me – and I’ll be honest with you, you have no reason to do either. You know what I am, or you have a good idea what I am. You know what I have to do, you know what will happen next. And later on when I’m alone I might regret it, but for now…”

And there it was – an angry mass of hair, claws and teeth. It went for Mark first – the most meat – but Mark was strong and pushed it back. It was only for a second, knocking it off balance, but enough for the three of us to get passed. We scrambled, had almost reached the outside, when it clamped me in a hungry vice. I looked to my foot and saw its horrible mutated face, growling and supping at my flesh. I screamed and it was answered by a gunshot. Paul put both barrels into its back. It roared and let go of my heel, and I hobbled out as fast as I could. There was another shot, and then a scream from Paul.

I reached my shack, fumbling in the darkness as I tried to open the door. I had to be quicker – my blood was in the air, surely I was going to be next. It was so near, its breath seemed to bruise the back of my neck. Finally, the door opened. I slammed it behind me, bolted it, pushed the furniture to block the windows. Outside were choppers, men running – but they weren’t going to get near it. It was coming for me, stalking me.

I opened the table drawer and pulled out my revolver, then went to my book shelves and cracked open a little box. It was a present, given to me as a keepsake, a lucky charm, in case I ever needed it. A silver bullet. I looked to the door and with shaking fingers slipped it into the chamber. The full moon shone on me despite the furniture. I could hear growling, panting, a nearby and desperate salivating. But then I heard a chopper, I heard men. It receded, cowering, taking a tactical retreat. The sound of breathing softened in my head. I took a gulp of relief and vomited on the floor. The vomit was blood red.

I sat down, shaking with tears. I reached to the drawer and pulled out a carving knife, bringing it to my heel. But it was no good. The wound was deeper than I’d realised, the teeth had sunk in further than I thought, meeting below my flesh. There was no way I could just cut it out, the infection was in me, rampant in my blood.

I put the gun to my temple. Why not? Anyone who passed as my friend had already died that night. But then the moonlight touched me and I realised just how powerful I felt. I could hear the breathing again, friendlier now though. There was a new smell in the night air – warm, welcoming. The beast was just the other side of the door, I could sense it. I could smell it, it could smell me. I put the gun down and smiled. I guessed neither of us would be lonely for a little while.

Wharton School of Business is part of the University of Pennsylvania. The school publishes books on various business topics. Specifically, a book was written in 1997 called Dynamic Competitive Strategy. The book was written by George S. Day, David J. Reibstein and Robert E. Gunther with the Wharton School of Business and published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. The book addresses an approach to remaining dynamic in regards to competitive strategy. In the nine chapters assigned, the book can be broken down in four sections.

First it analyzes strategy, addresses external forces, provides two different theories and ultimately presents a solution for creating and maintaining a dynamic competitive strategy. The book provides a very logical and analytical approach creating an effective strategy for a company to work off of. Having the ability and knowledge to adapt to an ever-changing business environment is crucial to success. Through in-depth research in strategy the book presents theories developed around the formulation and implementation of such strategies and can be used as a tool for business managers. The book begins by assessing competitive arenas and maintaining the competitive edge.

These two subjects can be categorized as the analysis part of the book. This section contributes to the readers ability to analyze a situation. Specifically, the authors challenge the reader to identify the arena in which handle. There are two types of arena, customer and competitor defined arenas. Once you have identified the arena, the next step is to identify a way to maintain that competitive edge. The book then present the competitive advantage cycle. This describes how a company can have a competitive advantage in the market, but it ultimately goes through a cycle and will change over time. In some cases, such as Dell Computers, companies go through numerous shifts in the market and must change their approach regularly in order to keep their advantage.

The book then presents how a company’s strategy can be influenced by outside forces. Two of these outside forces in the book are public policy and technology. Public policy can also be used to help shape a company’s strategy and develop practices of integrating such forces to their advantage. Traditional theories on strategy development do not take into account public policy when building out the strategy. In figure 3.1 in the book, the authors show how while these strategists do not incorporate public policy, the strategies they create are affected by them. Figure 3.1 – Policy Trends and Dynamic Advantage

Personally, I found this chart to be very helpful. It helped me understand how public policy can be better integrated into the company’s strategy. For example, a college may want to seriously consider how they integrate public policy into their strategic plan since many of the financing is done through federal grants. By being aware and even getting involved in how public policy is shape would be a large part of the strategic plan. The second part of the outside forces is technology. Technology is constantly changing and evolving. The book has an example of a bank in Hong Kong in which they did not see a competitor enter the market because it didn’t think it needed to explore the more technical side of banking. As in the first chapter where you identify the arena in which you are working in, these arenas can change and new ones are developed easily by how the technology changes. This bank in Hong Kong started to see their best customers leave to Citibank because the new bank was able to offer features that the Hong Kong bank did not. By not being aware of this outside force, a company can see a decline in business from competitors pilfering customers. Read about HP competitive advantage

In the next section the book presents two types of theories: game theory and behavioral theory. Game theory was created over 2,500 years ago by the Chinese military (Ho & Weigelt, 1997). It has only entered the business environment recently but still uses the same concepts and is a tool for doing strategic analysis. Game theory is essentially a way to make decisions. How will it affect your company? How will it affect your competitor? It takes into account cause and effect, considering all possibilities and what resources will be needed. The second theory offered is behavioral theory. This theory investigates why it is that managers often make irrational decisions that may negatively affect the future of the organization. Often, managers make decisions based on their own biases and not necessarily rational like the game theory.

In the seventh chapter, the book makes its point through coevolution. Coevolution focuses on interdependent adaptation, the race to adapt to new conditions, and the importance of initial advantage and conditions (Johnson & Russo, 1997). By taking the game theory and the behavioral theory, coevolution bridges the gap and makes the connection between the two theories. Over the course of the first and second section, the book has been building to provide the tool to help managers make better decisions regarding their competitors, the markets in which they compete and outside forces that can affect the organization. I found the book to have a very approachable structure of presenting the research and findings. It is important that managers in their organization consider all the factors that go into creating a competitive strategy. When considering your competitors, it is imperative that one be able to truly identify and understand the situation.

By arming the manager or executive with the tools to make sound decisions, it only sets the organization up for success. This book provides a leader in an organization with those tools and in a way that is easy to understand. It was very clear to me where they went with their research and how they got there. It is also a book that can stand the test of time since they stayed away from very specific situations. We always know that public policy and technology will always be part of the market as outside forces. In addition, The outside forces that the authors selected to include in their book are two things that will remain constant. Government and technology have existed for centuries and will continue to be part of the development of companies.

In conclusion, the book addressed the idea of dynamic competitive strategy in a way that was easy to understand and useful to leaders of organizations. The authors provided ways to assess the market, outside forces that can change how the market acts, theories to address competitors and ultimately brought it all together with coevolution. With these tools in place, organizations can look forward to a strategy that not only propels the company, but also manages and controls the competition.

References

1. Day, G., Reibstein, D. and Gunther, R. (1997). Wharton on dynamic competitive strategy. New York: John Wiley.

It may be difficult to imagine that a comment on social media, or ad campaign, graphic, misquote or argument could cost your organization immeasurably in terms of sales and brand favor. 

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But these events do occur, increasingly. With communications now moving nationally and internationally at the speed of IOT, compromises can occur, and it is essential to have a solid social media-crisis strategy in place, and ready to implement.

What contributes to a social media crisis?

Digital marketing teams and community managers deal with small problems and minor incidents on a daily basis. One of the most important aspects of social media management is handling negative or inappropriate comments and images and ensuring channel security and customer-service responses that enhance consumer’s experience and with its brand and your image.

Of course, a social media crisis is something far larger than a negative comment or two. It is an incident where something that your business has said or done has caught negative national or even global attention. Sometimes the brand is not at fault in any way, but is still in a position where it has to defend against a substantial social media public backlash, one that can cost millions in lost sales and customer retention, if your representatives do not handle things in an appropriate way.

Looking for some examples of social media brand crises in 2016? Who could forget the staff member at Kitchenaid who tweeted insensitively about President Obama’s deceased grandmother? The tweet was sent, mistakenly, on the official account by an internal staffer who thought that he or she was using a personal account. 

Kitchenaid respectfully the tweet, apologized to the Obama family and indicated how the error had happened. The company also confirmed that the individual who had made the comment would no longer be managing its social media activities. 

That quick and appropriate response probably saved the brand.

In some instances, however, it is not an internal staff member who is responsible for tweeting something offensive, but rather a deliberate hack of the social media account. That happened to in February 2013, when hackers replaced the burger chain’s official branding with a McDonald’s logo, and began to tweet offensively. 

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Fans quickly caught on, however, that the account had been hacked, and in subsequent weeks (after Burger King changed its password), the chain’s Twitter account gained more than 30,000 new followers.

Creating your social media crisis plan in four steps

Like any other emergency strategy, a social media crisis plan is designed to offer a quick and appropriate response and funnel correct information to anyone looking to access it, including customers, employees and the media. Here are four steps.

1.  Assign a team.

While the best-practices guidelines for your social media crisis plan should commence with your marketing department, the implementation of these procedures will touch a variety of departments, including customer service staff, sales, human resources and senior leadership officials within youre organization. Create a team with at least one representative from each impact department who will be trained to respond, and one back-up person from every essential communication group.

2. Delegate and designate.

Define the core message that your brand needs expressed in the event of a negative online backlash or public relations fallout. The most successful businesses in the world, in a state of emergency publicity, fall back to their core values to assure the public, customers, shareholders and employees of their commitment and integrity.

Delegate core spokespeople for your brand. Controlling who comments on behalf of your business is essential to resolving the problem. Letting multiple employees comment, perhaps inappropriately, can fan a small flame into a forest fire, from a public relations perspective.

3. Document it.

Your crisis strategy for managing communication through social media should be thoroughly documented, and there should be printed copies available in key areas, as well as digital ones. Keep in mind that some social media crises can stem from a corporate hacking incident (like the event with in 2014), in which case intranet and other resources may not be immediately available. Have a back-up location specifically separate from your main network.

4. Practice the plan.

Having a social media crisis strategy buried somewhere in the marketing archives does little to ensure that your response will be prompt when it’s needed. So, practice it twice per year, and ensure that as staff members change in key roles, new staff are trained with the appropriate protocols

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The ability that a brand has to pivot in the face of determines its ability to find a fast resolution, and minimize collateral damage to the brand and its reputation. With luck, your business may never need it.

Abstract
Firms that effectively use the cost leadership strategy earn above the normal returns regardless of the existence of strong competitive forces. A cost leadership firm generates and maintains a valuable competitive advantage when that strategy is rare and expensive to emulate. The most important focus in successfully implementing a cost leadership strategy is all about cost reduction and efficiency in spite of value-creation. Cost leadership firms usually keep the number of corporate staff low, have sustained access to capital and capital investments as well as process engineering skills. In addition, these firms have product designs that are easy to manufacture, taut cost control systems, cost leadership philosophy and rewards for cost reduction as well as incentives based on improved or maintained quality. Despite the competitive advantages of cost leadership strategy, there are some competitive risks that accompany it. Firms that attain the highest possible results from cost leadership strategy primarily focus on a wide market where their cost leadership can create competitive advantage.

1.0        Introduction
The intention of firms that utilize the cost leadership strategy is to target a large group of customers. Cost leadership strategy refers to an integrated set of measures that are taken to produce goods and services with characteristics that are acceptable to customers at a lowest cost, relative to that of competitors. Firms that employ the cost leadership strategy usually sell standardized goods and services to the most typical customers of the industry (Hitt, Ireland and Hoskisson, pp.106). These goods and services ought to have competitive levels of quality and differentiation in terms of characteristics and features which consequently creates value for the customers. Cost leaders concentrate at getting ways of lowering the cost of their goods and services below that of their competitors while maintaining the competitive levels of differentiation. They do this by revisiting the means on how to complete key and support activities in an effort to lower their costs.

Large portions of the total cost of production of goods and services in a firm are accounted for by the key activities which are both inbound and outbound logistics. Inbound logistics include handling of materials, warehousing and the control of inventory. On the same note, outbound logistics include collection, storage and distribution of finished products to the customers. Having a competitive advantage in terms of these logistics creates more worth for a firm that uses a cost leadership strategy rather than the differentiation strategy. Therefore, these firms may want to concentrate on these logistics in order to lower the costs of their goods and services. Firms that effectively use the cost leadership strategy more often than not, earn above the normal returns regardless of the existence of strong competitive forces (Hitt, Ireland and Hoskisson, pp.106).

2.0        Organizational attributes for cost leadership firms
Cost leadership firms usually keep the number of corporate staff low. Besides, they have sustained access to capital and capital investments as well as process engineering skills. In addition, these firms have product designs that are easy to manufacture, taut cost control systems and cost leadership philosophy. Moreover, rewards for cost reduction and incentives based on improved or maintained quality are part and parcel of these firms (Grant, pp.243). Such entities usually seek economies of scale, preferential market access and original technologies. Their main objective is to improve operational competence through cost reduction.

3.0        Strategies for cost leadership firms
Firms that wish to effectively follow a cost leadership strategy ought to maintain constant effort at reducing their cost below that of their rivals in addition to creating value for their customers. Strategies for cost reduction include putting up facilities with high efficiency levels. Additionally, the firm in question should establish taut control of overhead and production costs (Jalan, pp.328). Furthermore, the costs of product research and improvement have to be adequately minimized along with that of sales made and services provided. Another beneficial strategy with respect to cost leadership is to invest in the most effective and efficient manufacturing technology (OpenLearningWorld.com, para.2).

4.0        Sources of cost advantage
A cost leadership firm generates and maintains a valuable competitive advantage when that strategy is rare and expensive to emulate. Such firms stress on cost reduction in all activities that they undertake. The competitive advantage of such cost leadership firms is that customers are price sensitive and not keen on value differentiation. In addition, their rivals find it an uphill task to match lower prices immediately in case the cost leadership firms decide to reduce the cost of their products. The cost advantage of a firm prevails due to factors such as economies of scale, learning curve, disparities in access to low-cost inputs, technological advantages as well as policy choices (Eldring, pp.8).

4.1 Economies of scale and the learning curve
The size of a firm is the primary source of its cost advantage. A correlation exists between the size of a firm based on the volume of production and the costs measured based on the average costs for each unit of production (English, pp.85). It bears noting that there are a number of aspects that result in economies of scale. A case in point is the relationship between volume of production and the manufacturing machines. The level of production dictates the type of machines to be used. Moreover, volumes of production are directly proportional to degree of employee specialization. Employee specialization results in division of labor and this is linked with cost advantages.

A firm with a high level of production has the economic ability to purchase and maintain specialized production machines which small firms cannot afford. In addition, a high level of production allows for the building of larger production operations. These firms are therefore in a position to put up lower-per-unit cost production operations which eventually reduces the average production costs. Besides, large volumes of production enable a firm to stretch its overhead costs over more units. Unlike economies of scale, the learning curve focuses on the correlation between the cumulative level of the level of production and average costs of each unit over time (Eldring, pp.8).

4.2 Disparity in access to low-cost inputs
Differences in access to low-cost inputs may result in cost differences between firms producing similar goods. These inputs include resources such as capital, land, raw materials and human resource (Grant, pp.243). Cost leaders may utilize the alliances formed with their suppliers so that they may get resources or raw materials that hold their general costs low. As a result, cost leadership firms are usually in a better position to use low-cost raw materials which therefore accounts for the low prices of their finished products.

4.3 Technological advantages and Policy choices
Technological advantages and Policy choices are potential sources of cost advantage which are independent of economies of scale. These technologies are not only the hardware but also the software technologies of a firm (Drury, pp.572). Software technologies include quality of management, interpersonal relationships as well as the culture of an organization. All these affect the overall economic costs of a firm.  Cost leadership firms opt to produce simple standardized goods that are sold at relatively lower prices than those produced by other firms with corporate strategies (Grant, pp.242).

5.0 Sustainability of competitive advantage
Through cost leadership, competitive advantage can be sustained if consumer tastes remain constant. Moreover, this can be sustained if there are no changes in the cost of technology as well as the exogenous costs. In addition, it can be adequately maintained if the processes taken to attain low costs are rare and expensive for any other firm to copy. The sources of cost advantage that are likely to be rare include learning curve, disparities in access to low cost inputs and technological software (Wit and Meyer, pp.272). On the same note, sources of cost advantage that are unlike to be rare are economies of scale, technological hardware, policy choices and diseconomies of scale. Even when a certain source of cost advantage is rare, it must be costly to be emulated for it to sustain competitive advantage. Forms of emulation include copying and replacement.

Economies and diseconomies of scale are sources of cost advantage that may be cheaper to duplicate. On the other hand, learning curve economies, policy choices as well as technological hardware may be expensive to duplicate. Cost advantage sources that are usually expensive to duplicate are differentials low cost access to inputs and technological hardware. A firm that has a costly and rare cost advantage technology to emulate usually has a higher potential to earn above average profits (Wit and Meyer, p.272).

6.0 Competitive strengths of a low-cost firm
A firm that seeks success in the implementation and maintenance of cost leadership strategies must put into consideration the value chain of key and minor activities. The cost leader should effectively and efficiently connect these activities. The most important focus in successfully implementing a cost strategy leadership is cost reduction and efficiency in spite of value-creation (OpenLearningWorld.com, para.3). A cost leadership firm works best when there are limited ways of achieving product differentiation valuable to buyers. It is equally effective when many customers use a similar product to satisfy like needs, they go for the best price as well as when the bargaining power of customers is significant. Moreover, it is more efficient when price competition is a principle competitive force among rivals (Kozami, pp.229).

6.1 Rivalry with existing competitors
The low-cost value of goods and services is a very crucial way of dealing with competitors. The competitor will not attempt to compete with the firm that applies this strategy in terms of lowering the costs of their goods and services (Kozami, pp.230). On the other hand, the discount retailer is able to achieve strict or tight control of the cost of products in a number of ways (Hitt, Ireland and Hoskisson, pp.107). The low cost will therefore enable the cost leader to earn more profits because their rivals are more likely to quit the market.

6.2 Bargaining power of customers
Although powerful customers can pressurize cost leaders to lower prices of goods and services, these costs cannot go below the price at which the next most efficient competitor of the firm will earn average profits. On the same note, powerful customers may be able to force down the prices of the next most efficient firm. These low prices can impede the next most efficient competitor from getting average profits thus forcing the competitor to leave the market. The firm is therefore left with less competition and in a stronger position than before. Consequently, the entity attains a monopoly position forcing the customers to pay more for goods and services since it has no competitor (Hitt, Ireland and Hoskisson, pp.107). However, the most important outcome is that the customers will loose their bargaining power thus making the business entity to realize increased profits.

6.3 Bargaining power of the suppliers
The limits of operation of a cost leadership firm are higher than those of the competitors. This makes the firm flexible enough to absorb the substantial price increases by their suppliers (Eldring, pp.8). This is because the cost leadership firm is the only one that may be able to pay for the increased prices and continue earning either average or above-average returns. Alternatively, cost leaders may reduce the power of their suppliers by forcing them to hold down their prices as a consequence they reduce the margins of the suppliers. Furthermore, these leaders may use alliances with their suppliers to access resources that would lower their general costs (Hitt, Ireland and Hoskisson, pp.109).

6.4 Potential entrants
While trying to hold down the costs of goods and services, the cost leader becomes progressively efficient which increases the profit limits as they serve as a vital access barrier to potential rivals. The new entrants ought to tolerate the average returns before they get the obligatory know-how to approach the efficiency of the cost leader. The limited profit margins of the new entrants make the cost leader to increase sales which in turn enables the firm to earn above average returns (Hitt, Ireland and Hoskisson, pp.109). Alternatively, new entrants may enter in to business using a different strategy so as to avoid competing on cost with a cost leader (Jalan, pp.328).

6.5 Product substitutes
A cost leader is more flexible than the rivals in case they are faced with possible product substitutes. These substitutes may be potentially attractive in terms of differentiation and cost to the customers of the firm. As a result, a cost leader is in a better position to retain customers by lowering the prices of goods and services offered (Hitt, Ireland and Hoskisson, 109). In addition to the above strengths, cost leadership organizations charge reduced prices for their products yet they make equal amounts of profit. Besides, these firms are less affected by very powerful buyers and sellers, thus they win in the cost war and are well protected from competitors (Kozami, pp.230).

7.0 Competitive risks of cost leadership strategy
Despite the competitive advantages of cost leadership strategy, there are some competitive risks that accompany it. For instance, rivals may become technologically innovative and make the processes used by the cost leader outdated (Kozami, pp.231). These innovations may enable the competitor to produce at much lower costs than the normal costs of production incurred by the cost leader. This therefore eliminates the competitive advantage of the cost leader. On the same note, the rival may produce goods with additional differentiated features and characteristics without affecting the cost of product to customers. Besides, the cost leader may focus too much at cost reduction thus failing to address the perceptions and changing preferences of customers on the levels of differentiation (Jalan, pp.328). Finally, rivals of the cost leader may fruitfully emulate the strategy of the cost leader. Unless the cost leader increases the value that the products provide, the rivals are bound to catch up with the cost leadership firm (Hitt, Ireland and Hoskisson, pp.109).

8.0 Conclusion
Firms that attain the highest possible results from cost leadership strategy primarily focus on a wide market where their cost leadership can create competitive advantage. This usually involves defining their position in the market as one of having a low-cost products compared to other similar products in the market. Therefore, firm managers have to decide whether to compete on the prices of products or on differentiating their products and services. After decision making, they should progress so as to shun from competitive disaster. It is important to consider the fact that, a firm can adopt both cost leadership as well as the differential strategy but this is only circumstantial.

Work Cited:

Drury, Colin. Management and Cost Accounting. London: Cengage Learning EMEA, 2008.

Eldring, Jan. Porter ?s (1980) Generic Strategies, Performance and Risk: An Empirical Investigation with German Data. Gutenbergring: BoD – Books on Demand, 2009.

English, James R. Applied equity analysis: stock valuation techniques for Wall Street professionals. New York: McGraw-Hill Professional, 2001.

Grant, Robert M. Contemporary strategy analysis. New york: Wiley-Blackwell, 2005.

Hitt, Michael A, R Duane Ireland and Robert E Hoskisson. Strategic management: competitiveness and globalization : concepts & cases. London: Cengage Learning, 2008.

Jalan, P K. Industrial sector reforms in globalization era. New Delhi: Sarup & Sons, 2004.

Kozami, Azhar. Business policy and strategic management. New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill, 2002.

OpenLearningWorld.com. “Cost-Leadership Strategy.” 2010. 3 June 2010 < http://www.openlearningworld.com/olw/courses/books/Business%20Strategies/Business%20Strategy/Cost-Leadership%20Strategy.html >.

Wit, Bob De and Ron Meyer. Strategy: Process, Content, Context. London: Cengage Learning EMEA, 2010.

What does Porter mean by operational effectiveness? For Michael Porter, operational effectiveness means performing similar activities better than rivals perform them. Porter says operational effectiveness includes but is not limited to efficiency. Operational effectiveness then refers to any number of practices that allow a company to better utilize its inputs by, for reducing defects in products or by developing better products faster. Why is operational effectiveness not a strategy?

Operational effectiveness is not a strategy because OE is doing similar business better than others, while strategy is simply making a difference. Operational effectiveness is more than just a competitive way of doing business; it means outperforming rivals in terms of the quality of services and products. In this sense, operational effectiveness cannot be a strategy because, “Strategy is nothing more than a marketing slogan that will not withstand with competition” (Porter, p. 43). It is simply deliberately choosing a different set of activities to deliver a unique set of value.

However, Porter emphasized that both operational effectiveness “are essential to superior performance” (p. 49). Does identifying and focusing on core competencies and unique advantages suggest that only focus strategies (in the generic sense) are truly sustainable? I should say yes in the context of competencies. If focus strategies means something like what the Southwest airline has been doing, (the airline initiated activities that are different from others to attract passengers), then, only focus strategy is truly sustainable. Read also about focused low cost strategy

It means, strategies that provides advantages and enhances the company’s operational effectives are a focus strategy and it must be sustain in view of its positive impact on the business. Does Porter’s example of Southwest Airlines (SWA) contradict the claim that operational effectiveness is not a strategy? Why or why not? No! What Porter was talking regarding the example of Southwest airline was that the airline simply made their services different from their rivals. It was not a similar activity. You may also be interested in reading “Are entrepreneurs born or made essay”

They offered low cost, more convenient, and standardized services which were not done by others. They installed automated ticketing at the gate for passengers to easily purchase tickets. Because of such activity, they were able to provide low cost and convenient services because don’t have to pay commission to travel agencies. That is, they simply have chosen a different set of activity to deliver a unique set of value.

Reference Porter, M. (1998) On Competition (What is Strategy Chapter2) USA: Harvard Business Press

“Reflecting on My Group” Yuvakumar Naga Sindhura (n6994059) The purpose of this essay is to understand the development of strategy for a five star resort hotel. The process of development within the team and the understanding of the conflicting ideas. The strategy was meant to be developed for a fictitious resort hotel which consists of 150 rooms, with no specific location. A group consists of two or more individuals who work and interact with each other to achieve a common goal (Bartol, Tein, Mathews, & Martin, 2005).

I worked with Ehsan, Armeen, in order to brainstorm and discuss possible strategies that could be possibly developed for the upcoming resort hotel. As a group we were unproductive as my members were unable to move without a location in mind and hence stagnated in formulating a strategy, which proved to be a major issue. Hence leading Inkpen (1996) (as cited in Bauerschmidt, 1996) to demonstate the presence in the absence of strategy. Mintzberg (1973) as cited in (Selveg, 1987) focuses mainly on the purpose of the decisions, who is involved in making them, how preferences are evaluated, and types of environments ideal for the mode.

Therefore Mintzberg thus laid prominence on the process by which strategies surface, rather than on their content. But a personal strategy has been developed providing a direction for growth and success. My personal strategy formulated is an all-season resort destination of choice for visitors and residents, specializing in world-class alpine skiing and recreation facilities with a local historic and cultural focus, nestled amongst pristine forest terrain and rugged mountain ranges. This essay discusses and reflects upon our collective involvement and the processes and stages that we progressed.

In this essay we shall explore Tuckmans(1965) stages of group development (forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning), also defining the inputs, practices, processes and outcomes of working together in a group, along with the explanation and application of group cohesiveness, relevant member roles and leadership values which were supposed to be apparent within my group but lacked as everyone had opinions to what the leader had to say. As group members begin carrying out tasks and activities, eventually a team is evolved. Teams go through five stages of development as identified by Tuckman (1965), as cited in (Miller, 2003).

Mostly all our meeting were held in class, our group had five undeceive individuals who only spent time discussing and brainstorming on what should be done first like the strategy, mission, vision or the values, rather than making a beginning. Therefore no progress was seen, even though worksheets were given during every class to guide us accordingly. Strategy was anticipated but was not fully present in the conflict of making one and it is believed that in this process the notion of strategies are in transition (Bauerschmidt, 1996).

Therefore identifying group tasks and goals and building relations with each other was minimal. Tuckman(1965), as cited in (Miller, 2003) states that during this stage it is important that team members learn about each other, recognise the attitudes of other members and establish the goals and purpose of the group. During the regular interactions in the group meeting, we developed a positive relationship with each other, which is one of the key points suggested by (Tiosvold, Hui, Ding, & Hu, 2003) who supports the traditional idea that relationships are crucial for effective team performance.

As a group we had different attitudes, values and cultural backgrounds, which could have thought to cause conflict within the team, but indecision was the highlight throughout, as some others in the group were skeptical of whether they were going the right direction, hence their opinions were not voiced and ideas were not shared both ways. It became a one way flow of ideas or discussion. But we experienced positive and friendly attitudes and exchange of ideas on varied topics, mostly apart from the topic of presentation and the assignment, thereby increasing our knowledge. As a group we experienced minimal cohesiveness.

Cohesion in a group involves the level of purpose and commitment to the team among members (Dwyer, 2005). But due the difference in understanding and the mode of communication, the group ended up splitting into half, getting into sides where individuals understood each other. Cohesion is also linked to the input of knowledge and skills in a group, a group should have similar cultural backgrounds in order to be effective, to which I agree as all the members of our group came from different cultural backgrounds, with different values, efficiency and effectiveness, hence direction lacked in rder to achieve our goal. Groups with diverse attitudes and backgrounds are alternatively said to be more creative and flexible and make better decisions (Bartol et al. , 2005). I further refined the personal strategy formulated previously to develop a clearer direction for the growth and development of the organisation. The revised version of the strategy is an all-season resort destination of choice for visitors and residents, specializing in world-class alpine skiing and recreation facilities with a local historic and cultural focus, nestled amongst pristine forest terrain and rugged mountain ranges.

Offering personalised attention and facilities to physically unwind. It has been found in literature that the content and process of strategy emerge as two distinctly separate, but related concepts, and there appears to be no direct underlying relationship between strategy content and the process of strategy making but there is rather a relationship arising from and which is attributable to the holistic nature of an open social system (Van de Ven 1979 as cited by Seveg, 1987). Next stage of group development is storming; this is the stage when intra-group conflict and hostility can arise.

All members of our group worked well together, but with a lot of challenging conflict. I believe we lacked the values of leadership skills, which did not give us the reinforcement to perform better. The ability to influence and develop individuals of a team, in order to achieve a worthwhile vision which meets the current needs of everyone and everything required by the form of work (Cacioppe, 2001 as cited in Volckmann 2005). Leadership skills portrayed at least by a member is required for a team to stay focused and move towards their goals.

Leaders appear everywhere, depending on the circumstances that require them to exert leadership (Wheatley, 2005). This was least reflected by the chosen leader or the other members of the team. A self-managed team is an unsupervised group of people responsible for a task; they are given complete control over group membership and behaviors. Our self-managed team as in all other teams consisted of differing group-task roles, group roles fall into three categories; task, maintenance and self-orientated.

Group-task related members help the group develop and accomplish its tasks and goals; and the group-maintenance, members within my group provided differences of opinions constantly but had a good level of interpersonal relationships with members, which to a level fostered group harmony but still resulted in ineffective group work (Bartol et al. , 2005). As my group progressed to the norming stage our relationships, goals and plans were still unclear, but we had to head off our ways to complete the assignment.

Even though most of everything that we were supposed to do was unclear for us, we came to a consensus decision where the expression of cognitive conflict among members of the group is encouraged without allowing an explicit group interaction (Priem, Harrison and Muir, 1995). We then progressed to the performing stage of group development. This stage entails the development of interpersonal relationships, problem solving and achievement of performance, but was our performance a successful one?

It is evident that there was lack of clarity throughout, but good level of interpersonal skills were maintained, however problem solving as a team lacked. At this stage I personally thought of revising my strategy for th resort management as it was long. The all-season resort destination specializing in world-class alpine skiing and recreation facilities with historic and cultural focus, nestled amongst pristine forest terrain and rugged mountain ranges away from the hustle bustle of daily life.

Offering our customers personalised attention and facilities to physically unwind. After trying to put our heads to the requirements of our assignment we tried one last time to gather thoughts together thereby entering the adjourning stage, this involves goal accomplishment and the ultimate movement away from the group (Miller, 2003). We met together for the final time and reflected upon what we gathered and if what we gathered was sufficient and appropriate for our assignment.

Overall, as a group we came to the mutual agreement that we as a team had no goal to achieve and our time was insignificantly wasted as we lacked an understanding of what we were to do and how we were to go about it. In conclusion the final strategy personally created was what remained for the organisation. As a group we departed our directions in order to formulate a strategy for the upcoming resort hotel. According Tuckman (1965) as cited by (Miller,2003) stages of team development we were unable to fit as we really did not understand our task at hand.

The acquisition of the PepsiCo is one of the main strengths of the company. Aside from this the string image of the brand and reputation in the international market is also a strengthening factor for the business. The main product provided by the company is chicken, which is now a healthy alternative to beef and other meets, making it a positive strength for the company.

Weaknesses

The weakness that are present for the company pertain top the establishment, and expansion of retail outlets, the availability of good quality supply of chicken from local vendors and supplies as well as the conflicts between the managers and the local employees in the region. There is also a complaint that in international markets the native staff is usually alienated form decision making in the company. Aside from this the management of human resources in China is a difficult task (KFC human resources).

Opportunities

The going population china presents an opportunity for KFC in terms of the increasing market for its products. Aside from this the growth in the economy also brings about prosperity and financial freedom in terms of increase in purchase power parity of the people. This again increases the target market for the company. The poultry industry in China is one of the strongest industries and KFC can attain support form this to solve the problem pertaining to lack or and unavailability of chickens.

Threats

The threats that are present to the company take the form of uncertainty in the region of China. The opportunities identified above pertain to different cities in varying degrees. Aside form this the complex legal system in China also poses a potential threat for the business. Moreover, the competition is also being raised form other fast food chains and franchises in China. The corporate strategy for the KFC in China would be focused on maximizing the penetration by offering high quality products to the consumer.

The scoring point of the strategy would be to be continuously providing the customers with what they need and require in such a manner which provides for long term growth and profitability of the business whereby increasing the return of the investment for the shareholders of the corporation The marketing Strategy for KFC China would focus on deriving a customized menu which caters to both the signature dishes as well as those preferred and demanded by the consumes in the local market.

Here again the main goal i the end it to achieve profitability and the achievement of the specific marketing objectives and goals. The specific objective of the marketing strategy for KFC China will pertain to: Increasing the profitability of the operations in China Creating a specific positive image in the minds of the consumers, i. e. establishing a strong brand name. However, this is already present so it needs to be reinforced upon. Establishing associations of the brand of KFC with the customers and reward the long term customers of the company in order to retain the loyal customers and attract new customers

A socially and environmentally responsible image for the company has to be develop which supports the rehabilitation and protects the natural environment while contributing to the increased standards of living for the communities where its is operating. Establishing the image of the company as an entity which respects the culture of the target market and is not operating in order to pose a threat to it. KFC marketing mix (7Ps)-Place, Price, Promotion, Product, people, process, physical evidence. The marketing mix for the company in China is as follows:

1. Place: The placement of the product will be at all high end streets and locals of the market as well as in these areas which are highly frequented by people for recreational, transport, study or even residential purposes.
2. Price: The product will be charged a premium price due to its unique quality and standard of service offered in keeping with the strategy of the company’s international operations.
3. Promotion: The promotion for the company will be conducted through sales material used in the stores as point of sale promotion. Aside from this a strong advertising campaign and new product launches will need to be conducted. Emphasis will also be put on BTL brand activation based promotion.
4. Product: The product would pertain to the product its elf, which is the food, the ambiance of the retail outlet, the service provided and the additional service of home delivery and takeaway.
5. People: The people and staff will need to be specifically trained and motivated to be customer oriented.
6. Process: The process for the marketing would take the form of brand marketing