Competitive Strategy Expertise and Seveloping

Question: Discuss about the Competitive Strategy for Expertise and Seveloping. Answer: Introduction: Strategy, the word was originated from the Greek word strategos. It means the art of the general in war. As stated in the subject material business is considered as the modern day war. The business executives lead these wars with their expertise and developing strategies. Understanding the proper meaning of the word strategy is vital as it is used in every turn of a business. Many famous organizations misunderstood the meaning of strategy which cost heavily. The goals of the company, objectives, tactics, and descriptions are not strategies. These help the business executives in making the strategies for companies. A strategy helps a business executive in understanding which market has to be chosen, what uniqueness of the company will bring customers, what resources have to be used to reach to the business aim, and how the business can be sustaining. To win over the rivals, an organization first has to identify the competitors. It has to create something unique which will add to the organizations value. It will give the company the edge to win over the competitors. The available resources to a producer have to be used efficiently. This will minimize the cost of production for the company and maximize its profit. As stated by Verbeke (2013), the business executive has to find a strategy such that the organization becomes sustaining, that means the company has to stay ahead of its competitors over time. In the view of Henry Mintzberg (2013), there are three types of business strategies existing in the market which can be categorized as intended, emergent, and realized. In reality, the applied strategies tend to change its course. The intended strategy may change the path when applied in reality, which gives space for the emergent strategy. It gives the business the required push to realize its goals. For this purpose a strategy has to be timed perfectly. The ideas mentioned above has been applied by the Australian Pharmaceutical Industries (API), an Australian health and beauty company, which is renowned for pharmaceutical distribution, manufacturing, and retailing. The local competitors failed to compete with the APIs production design and selling strategies. API has a market specific strategy which hits the right demographic. API uses company owned franchise operations and stores all over the country. It reduces the shipping charges and the cost of production. According to Beh, Mammucari and Foster (2016), this simple, yet complicated process of API depends on the interdependence of all the manufacturing levels. It makes imitation difficult for the rival firms. In the agricultural sector, the GrainCorp Limited has achieved a high position in the market. The rival firms are required to change their whole production process in order to imitate GrainCorp Limited. According to Jeston and Nelis (2014), it will be costlier than the overall gain which the competitors can possibly earn after a successful imitation process. It was a government administered board, later privatized. The storages of the company are well linked through extensive rail network. It helps the company to reach its customers all over Australia. This clear and sophisticated strategy of business helped GrainCorp Limited to stay ahead of its rivals since 1992. 5th weeks subject material: CAGE Distance Framework of Pankaj Ghemawat. In the view of Pankaj Ghemawat, international trade between two nations depends on various attributes. These attributes are required in measuring the similarity and differences between two trading nations. According to Ghemawat (2013), more trade between two nations can be followed by more similarities. On the other hand, more differences lead to a dampening trading situation between two nations. The similarities can through various sources like similar language, same border, geographic location, similar per capita income, and many more. He divided these attributes into four categories named CAGE framework. Here, C stands for Cultural, A stands for Administrative/political, G stands for Geographic and E stands for Economic similarity indicators. He argued that the companies should keep this framework in mind while creating strategies for international market. The trade, capital, information, and people flow are used for creating the CAGE framework. It will give the traders the idea o f what can possibly dampen the trade between the two nations engaged in trade. The multinational corporations will be benefited by this framework. It measures the differences between two nations and thus shows the potential profit from a trade. He also argued that the more there are commonalities between two nations; trade becomes a lucrative option as it becomes more profitable. The cultural differences can come in the form of climate, time zone, and others. The economic differences can come in the form of the resources available, position in development indexes, and others (YouTube 2016). Australian Pharmaceutical Industries (API), an Australian health and beauty company, should keep the CAGE framework in focus while analyzing the pattern of trade and during market expansion. According to Moore (2015), the geographical position of Australia gives API the access to the neighbour New Zealand and other Asia-Pacific countries. The products that the company sells have demand in the later country as well. According to API (2016), the company can make profit by producing the same kind of products for both the countries. It means API only has to increase its production capacity. The company acquired Interpacific and Interpharma businesses in New Zealand, which shows the Pankaj Ghemawats CAGE framework, can be applied to the international trade. Bulla dairy Foods, a dairy firm from Australia produces dairy based products for the domestic market. The products are of export quality. The management of the company can consider selling the products in the international market like New Zealand, which has many similarities with Australia in the form of economy, geographical location, and others. It will increase the size of the market for the company. Reference: API, (2016). Our History - API. [online] API. Available at: https://www.api.net.au/about-us/our-history/ [Accessed 15 Dec. 2016]. Beh, C.C., Mammucari, R. and Foster, N., 2016. Process intensification and sustainability in chemical engineering. Chemeca 2016: Chemical Engineering-Regeneration, Recovery and Reinvention, p.453. Ghemawat, P., 2013.Redefining global strategy: Crossing borders in a world where differences still matter. Harvard Business Press. Jeston, J. and Nelis, J., 2014.Business process management. Routledge. Mintzberg, H., 2013.Simply managing: What managers doand can do better. Berrett-Koehler Publishers. Moore, D., Matosin, N., Rook, H. and Weber, J.C., 2015. Strategic think piece on pharmaceutical margins. Verbeke, A., 2013.International business strategy. Cambridge University Press. YouTube. (2016). Pankaj Ghemawat about the Global Connectedness Index. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1XewrFrKRA [Accessed 17 Aug. 2016].