The Sustainability of Competitive Advantage - Essay Example

1. An internal focus is required for the sustainability of competitive advantage. Discuss. A company or organization can have sustainability of competitive advantage, if their product or service meets with the five following criteria: uniqueness, not easy to replicate, superior to competition, sustainable, and can work in multiple situations (Porter 1985). These five criteria are controlled by internal focus. Internal focus is focus on a company’s products, not their competitions. Only company’s can dictate their product. A uniqueness of a product is in the company’s hands. An example of a sustainable competitive advantage that has stood the test of time for uniqueness is Coca Cola. Many competitors have tried to replicate or duplicate the Coca Cola formula, with no success. Most people can tell the difference between a Coca Cola and a generic cola. Coca Cola is unique. A company can also create a product that cannot be replicate or difficult to do so. An example of a product difficult to replicate would be Microsoft Windows. Due to copyright laws Microsoft Windows can never be replicated exactly with out Microsoft’s permission. A product superior to the competition can also be controlled internally. Company’s are in charge of what is used to make their products. Using a lower standard can make a product cheaper, but not have the same quality. Examples can be found in the difference between name brands and store brands. Store brands can be cheaper, but a name brand will have more quality. Sustainability is vital for a product’s success. A sustainable product will address needs for a long period of time. An example would be Nike. Nike makes tennis shoes. Until there is a time when shoes are no longer needed, which is probably not in the near future, Nike will have a sustainable product. Gasoline is not a sustainable product. There is a limited supply, which will someday no longer be around. A product that can work in multiple situations is also a must. Coke can be drunk anytime, for a meal, on the road, or for no reason at all. Nike and Microsoft can also be used for multiple situations. A product like can only work in one situation, might sell, but not as well. All of these factors to make a company or organization have sustainability of competitive are internally controlled. Internal decisions are what make the company’s there own. 2. What are the main features of the rational planning approach to Strategic Marketing? Highlight some of the problems associated with this approach and suggest some alternatives for Strategists. The rational planning model was formulated by John Friedmann. There are three concepts of rationality (Reading 2004). Friedmann describes the three concepts of rationality that have informed planning as market rationality, beans rationality and the third concept. Market rationality is metaphysics of possessive individualism which predicates an individual as they exist before there was a society. Under market rationality, the individual is interested in their satisfaction. Beans rationality is the concept where a social group gives an individual identity through belonging to the group. The whole group’s satisfaction is what matters under this theory. The third concept is a mixture of the first two. This is where capital restraint by governments is necessary for the public good. This is more of social planning, since it deals with social outcomes. There are also six points. The first is verifying. Verifying is recognizing and defining a problem, including gathering information, then setting goals. The second point is establishing evaluative criteria. This is when limits are set in order to learn the success or failure of alternatives. Identifying alternatives to achieve goals is the third point. This is coming to conclusions about the problem. The fourth step is evaluating alternative polices, which means exploring other options for the problem. The fifth point is implementing the alternative chosen. Finally, the last point is monitoring and evaluation on the results of your alternatives. Although thought unique in the beginning, today not many companies use the rational planning methods. Other alternatives are branding, sustainability of competitive advantage, the use of PEST and SWOT, and other strategic marketing options. These options seem to be better suited for today’s business world. Rational planning is no longer rational to business leaders. Evaluations must be made on alternate marketing strategies. 3. Outline the Resource based View. What key marketing resources can help organisation achieve sustainable competitive advantage? The resource based view (RBV) is used to determine strategic resources a company can use. The concepts are: 1) Identify a company’s potential primary resources, 2) Evaluate whether these resources can meet a value, rare, in-imitable, and non-substitutable criteria. 3) Care for and protect resources that possess these evaluations. Resources that help create a product for a company or organization that can have sustainability of competitive advantage, when their product or service meets with the five following criteria: uniqueness, not easy to replicate, superior to competition, sustainable, and can work in multiple situations (Porter 1985). If resources help a company to build this product these is the resources marketing resources can work with to give a sustainable competitive advantage. 4. Discuss the changing nature of Consumption highlighted in the Postmodernist perspective. What do you consider to be the impact of these issues on the strategic Marketing? “For Baudrillard, modern societies are organized around the production and consumption of commodities, while post-modern societies are organized around simulation and the play of images and signs, denoting a situation in which codes, models, and signs are the organizing principles of a new social order where simulation rules. In the society of simulation, identities are constructed by the appropriation of images, and codes and models determine how individuals perceive themselves and relate to other people. Economics, politics, social life, and culture are all governed by the logic of simulation. whereby codes and models determine how goods are consumed and used, politics unfold, culture is produced and consumed, and everyday life is lived Baudrillard’s post-modern world is also one of radical implosion, in which social classes, genders, political differences, and once autonomous realms of society and culture collapse into each other, erasing previously defined boundaries and differences. If modern societies, for classical social theory, were characterized by differentiation.” (Kellner 2003: 10) If Baudrillard’s theory of postmodern consumption is correct, strategic marketing must be focused toward the group, not the individual. For example, marketers would use approaches like if everyone else has a product, you should too. This marketing has worked with iPods, mobile phones, and other modern technology inventions. Today, more and more group dynamics are being used to promote products. Bibliography Kellner (2003) Accessed 9 May 2008 from http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/faculty/kellner/essays/baudrillard.pdf Porter, M.E. (1998) Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance. USA: Free Press. Reading, C. (2004) Strategic Business Planning: A Dynamic System for Improving Performance & Competitive Advantage. USA: Kogan Page. Read More