Different Ways to Compete in the Soft Drink Business - Case Study Example

Different ways to compete in the soft drink business The most relevant managerial task (POLC) that the manager had to perform to address the challenges was to make a proper business plan and to come up with a good strategy for implementation. The basis of identifying a business that is more appropriate and has a reasonable strategy is to enable the organization to attain its goal and mission. However, the main challenge faced by the manager is to put the identified strategies in to action. In this context, the CEO of Cisco system, John Chambers, had led the company for a long period of time as the company dealt on internet routers whereby the World Wide Web is built. Through the sales of internet routers, the company managed to raise high revenue of approximately ten billion dollars. However, this was brought to an end in the year 2008 when the demand of products from the company such as internet hardware dropped. At this point, the best action to be taken by any manager who wants to save the company from collapsing is to make adjustment on the business plan and strategies so as to fix the problem. John Chambers was very wise and keen on the issue; after realizing that the market of internet router could not raise the great profits that were required to match the standards of the company, he embarked on another business plan. The plan was to shift in to very new markets and industries. One of the strategies was to expand in a rapid way from the software business and the core internet hardware to the consumer electronic industry. His first step to implement the plan was to associate with companies that were already producing products related to the internet. The CEO sought to get hold of the companies that dealt with internet bandwidth products so as to increase the consumer demand since this would result in to a high demand for the Cisco`s products. Through John Chambers, Cisco made an announcement in the year 2009 that it would make a payment of $590 for purchasing pure digital for making video camcorders that are more colorful and are pocket sized. This further increased the financial status of Cisco due to the fact that over two million people could access and share the video through the web (Jones & George, 263-264). If I were the manager of Cisco system, I could have done the same things he did or come up with a plan with strategy for implementation that would end up in high performance. It is always believed that better plans always reflects on a bright future for the business and that lack of a business plan results in to hesitations , mistaken business decisions and false steps. Having this in mind, I would make a plan for a good number of reasons. It`s importance is to give the company proper direction for the right purpose since the plan contains the objectives that the organization has to achieve and the strategies to be used. I believe this would have a great impact on the company so that as soon as the demand of the Internet s products provided by the Cisco Company goes down, then the strategies of the plan would help save the company from collapsing. This could be done by linking the company to other industries that produce items that are the same as the ones produced by Cisco to come up with a better opinion to help increase the consumer demand (Covey, 162). The challenge of proper planning and formulating a proper strategy to implement it was well overcomed by the CEO of Samsung electronics, Lee Kun. In the year 2000, the company which was mainly based in Korea emerged to be in the second position in terms of profit among the companies in global technology coming just after the Microsoft. There were strategies and steps that were followed by the organization which enabled them to attain their targeted goal. Under the guidance of Lee Kun, Samsung electronics developed and built competencies as the first step in the manufacturing of low-priced products. The second step was to put all the efforts in the manufacture of R&D. At the end, the organization used those products in the manufacture of other products that were of high quality which were later supplied to customers all over the world (Covey, 172). The consumer electronics industry was Samsung`s hub industry. In early 1990s, the engineers from the industry made a research on how other industries like Sony, Panasonic, Nokia and Motorola had successfully made innovation in various products like the home video recorders, walkman, cell phones and televisions of very high quality. The CEO decided to borrow the knowledge in technology and used their low-cost benefit to make products that resembled those from other companies but ended up selling them at a very low price thus reaching a large number of people due to the fact that they could easily afford the price. As a result, Samsung became the cost leader globally. Since Samsung was acquiring large profits in the market, it started producing products inform of digital such as storage devices, cameras, and printers. Its strategy was of corporate level for the correlated diversification with its goal being to better the profit through the use and development of the core competencies so as to enable it to enter in to the new industries for the purpose of producing many products that were of high quality and attractive to the consumers all over the world. The strategy adopted by Samsung was more successful and recorded high level of profits thus increasing the financial status of the company. However, the CEO decided to establish other new strategies so as to enable the company to overcome the pressure of competition from other global electronic companies. Its new goal was to become the leader in global technology worldwide; Samsung shifted from copying the technology that had already been innovated by other companies such as Sony and Nokia. The manager directed the engineers to put their full concentration on the development of the R&D skills since it was essential for the development of the technologies that were of leading-edge like the LCD displays. The strategy could enable the company to produce more advanced products as compared to their competitors thus recording high number of sales. As a result, within a period of ten years, Samsung emerged to be the leading supplier in terms of LCD screens and flash memory chips that were more advanced. In global marketing, Samsung went ahead developing core competence that was brand new in the market such as establishing the manufacture of cell phones with color screen used for playing games. It also discovered the production of the built-in-cameras that are mainly used to send photographs to other people. Samsung became in the second position in terms of making the cell phones just after Nokia. Currently, Samsung is one of the most innovative companies among the global electronic makers. The most important lessons learnt from the different ways of competing in the soft drink business is noting down the proper strategies that are necessary for an organization in promoting its products favorably to enable it challenge the aspect of competition from other firms. Another lesson learnt is that, due to the presence of more advanced IT, the IT lowers the cost of products and enables the manufactured items to reach the consumer at the right time. This further favors the companies that are much smaller in size since it is easier for them to pursue strategies that are focused thus enabling them to compete with large companies that are more powerful, differentiated and the ones that operates at a low-cost in a successful manner (Bennis, 83). Zara, who is a manufacturer from Spain, deals with clothes that are fashionable noticed a rise in terms of sales in the recent pas t through the use of IT. This is an excellent illustration to show how companies that are much smaller in size such as mortar and brick companies can use the IT to follow a strategy that is focused and offer a stiff competition globally. In conclusion, for the business to compete favorably in the soft drink business globally, the manager has to formulate corporate-level strategies. This is very important since it enables the companies to defeat their competitors depending on the strategy put in place. The company is likely to register high profits if the plan put in place becomes successful. Works cited Bennis, Warren, Leaders: Strategies for Taking Charge. Harper Business, 2007. Print Covey, Stephen. Principle-Centered Leadership. Fireside, 2003. Print. Jones & George. Different ways to compete in the soft drink business, 2012. Print. Read More