1. Introduction 1.1. Introduction to firm’s competitive advantage “Strategy is concerned with matching a firm’s resources and capabilities to the opportunities that arise in the external environment.” (Grant, p. 114, 2016). In basic sense, a firm is a place where a product or service originates. A firm is a place where a group of people co-operate and co-ordinate with each other to frame a product or services as per the taste of the customers to reach the organizational goal of profitability. There is mixture of a lot stakeholders like, suppliers, customers, manufacturers, distributers, etc. in a firm. “A firm is a legal entity - one that signs contracts with its suppliers, distributors, employees and often customers.” (Chandler, 1992). Competitive advantage is a very general but genuine term in the present business market. The business market is very competitive. One has to be very unique as well as customer satisfying in order to sustain in the market for the long run. “A competitive advantage is an advantage gained over competitors by offering customers greater value, either through lower prices or by providing additional benefits and service that justify similar, or possibly higher, prices” (Ehmke, 2008). (Porter, 2008) “Competitive Advantage introduces the concept of the value chain, a general framework for thinking strategically about the activities involved in any business and assessing their relative cost and role in differentiation.” It can be in various aspects of
2.Competitive Advantage – It includes the best product of an Organization in the competitive market.
The company markets its unique products to youth markets which it feels are underrepresented and inadequately reached by its competitors. The company uses innovative and creative, and it effectively set Jones Soda apart from the competition. By allowing consumers to assist in package design, Jones Soda became a brand that concerned itself more with the consumer than with the actual product. This has made consumers feel more relevant, has given them a sense of ownership over the brand, and has encouraged customer loyalty. Due the field is so competitive with several ways to stay competitive in their designated field. Through distribution, brand name, brand image, price, labeling and packaging, advertising, quality of the beverage, and new ideas they have accomplished this. Jones Soda competes for customer appreciation, retail shelf space and for marketing focus by their distributors, who also distribute other beverage brands. Jones Soda currently distributes their products in several retail outlets. These outlets include Barnes and Noble, Panera Bread Company, Cost Plus World Markets, Starbucks and Target Corporation. As well as these mature locations, Jones Soda also distributes to other independent vendors.
Competitive advantage exists when a firm has strategy, product or an attribute that makes the firm capable of delivering similar benefit to that of competitors at a cheaper cost. Having competitive advantage is not enough the company should be capable of sustaining that particular competitive advantage for a longer period of time.
It is the wish of every business to be able to achieve and maintain a competitive advantage. A competitive advantage can be considered to be an advantage, a condition or even a position that will make a firm to be able to operate efficiently and also be able to produce products or services that are of a higher quality than the previous ones or than the other competing firms. When a firm is able to achieve increased earnings as compared to the costs it incurred, then it can be said to have achieved a competitive advantage according to Michael Porter, a
Competitive advantage – competitive advantage is the ability of one organization to outperform other organizations because it produces desired goods or services more efficiently and effectively than its competitors. The four building blocks of competitive advantage are superior efficiency, speed, flexibility, innovation, and responsiveness to customers.
To survive and thrive, an organization must create a competitive advantage. A competitive advantage is a product or service that an organization’s customers place a greater value on than similar offerings from a competitor. Unfortunately, competitive advantages are typically temporary because competitors often seek ways to duplicate the competitive advantage. In turn, organizations must develop a strategy based on a new competitive advantage.
A Competitive Advantage is a peculiarity for an organization between it's competitors . It's achieved either by lowering prices or by greatening the value of the product or by offering luxury service and benefits to cope with high prices .
Competitive advantage is that a company has better ability in earning profit and profit growth compared to its competitors for the same group of customers in one industry.
1- Innovation is important because it allows differentiation from competitors, manufacturing is easier and more flexible, the bar for competition is raised, and there is greater market segmentation.
Competitive advantage(CA) is an advantage competitors gain by providing or offering customers or consumers greater value for their money through product and service differentiation or through lower prices. Maintaining competitive advantage is crucial to many businesses or organizations' success in order to survive in the market. Competitive advantage is characterized by superior performance which could be an attribute to outperform the competitors whether current or potential; or gaining a higher market share in a particular industry thereby ensuring market leadership; or ultimately, maximization of profit.(JOBBER 2010)
Competitive advantage is a position of a company in a competitive landscape that allows the company earning return on investments higher than the cost of investments. Competitive advantage should be relevant, unique and sustainable. Therefore sustainable competitive advantage, it’s a long-term competitive advantage that a company own over others in the same sector that is not easily duplicated or surpassable by its competitors (wikipedia, 2009). Competitive advantage can also be seen as a superiority gained by an organization when it can provide the same value as its
Competitive advantage is explained by Mahoney and Pandian (1992) as the function of industry analysis, organizational governance and the firm’s effects in the form of resource advantages and strategies. In order for a firm to be competitive it must adapt to the volatile business environment and through strategic management decisions establish a competitive advantage that will ultimately produce superior performance relative to its competitors (Akimova 2000).
In order to achieve competitive advantage, a firm must perform one or more value-creating activity that is more superior compared to other competitors. Superior value is created through lower costs or superior benefits to the buyers.
Competitive advantages are conditions that permit an organization or nation to deliver a decent or administration at a lower cost or in a more alluring manner for clients. These conditions permit the gainful element to produce a bigger number of offers or unrivaled edges than its opposition. Competitive advantages are ascribed to an assortment of components, including cost structure, mark, nature of item offerings, dispersion and system, licensed innovation and customer support. Samsung had settled on the choice to receive design as a wellspring of competitive advantage in the 1990s. Prior, the company 's items had been unsatisfying and undifferentiated. In the mid1990s, the Group administrator, Kun-Hee Lee, started Samsung 's change from a low-end OEM into a world-class gadgets organization. Honing the company 's design aptitudes was a critical part of the activity. Be that as it may, this required significant changes in culture, procedures, and frameworks inside the organization. Samsung understood that competitive advantage can be accomplished through the design innovation. Samsung 's voyage toward design greatness began in 1993. That year, Lee supposedly went by a gadgets store in Los Angeles, USA. He saw, sadly, that the Samsung items in plain view looked ugly, while the results of Sony and some different organizations looked a great deal all the more engaging. He discovered too that the business staff at the store were themselves overlooking the Samsung
* A competitive advantage is one that distinguishes a firm or a business from the competitors in the minds of the customers. It also refers to the state or condition that make a business more successful than the businesses it is competing with, or a particular thing that makes it more successful such as having a higher sales through offering low or affordable goods and services.