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Competitive Advantage
For Philip Morris International, the Competitive Advantage is measured with the following five factors and a rating from -6(worst) to -1(best):
• Product Quality
• Market Share
• Brand and Image
• Customer Loyalty
• Product Lifecycle
Philip Morris International focuses on providing high-quality products. The firm is known for selling some of the best tobacco products in the world. PMI earned a score of -1 on the Product Quality factor. Having the highest revenue and profit of the top tier transnational firms (this excludes CNTC who sells nearly all of their products in China), a score of -1 is given to PMI on the Market Share factor. The Brand and Image factor is scored as -1 since the Marlboro brand is one of the most recognizable brands in the world and Philip Morris is the most recognizable company of "The Big Five". PMI also earned a -1 on the Customer Loyalty factor as customers are satisfied with the product quality, consistency, safety and, ultimately, are loyal to the PMI brand they smoke. The slowing of revenue growth and the age of the
• Return on Assets
• Leverage
• Liquidity
• Revenue
• Profit
PMIs Return on Assets percentage is 20.43%, which is nearly double of the next highest ROA of the top tier tobacco product firms, British American Tobacco. The Leverage factors measured debt to equity with PMI having the lowest at -2.33 as a result of negative stockholder’s equity. It nearly has an ideal current ratio of 1.02 which measures the Liquidity factor. The Revenue and Profit are also the highest of "The Big 5," at 80.1 billion and 19.3 billion respectively. PMI scores a 6 across all of these factors.
Environmental Stability
The Environmental Stability is measured with the following five factors and a rating of -6(worst) and -1(best).
• Inflation
• Technology
• Demand Elasticity
• Competitive Pressure
•
Newport Menthol 100s are a convenience product. Menthol cigarettes are developed correspondingly for non-mentholated cigarettes, with menthol included at any of a few stages amid the assembling procedure. The Newport cigarette is been positioned as the top brand for African-Americans and being promoted and advertised on numerous billboards. Also, there is convincing proof that tobacco organizations, not just publicize lopsidedly in groups with vast African-Americans, they additionally make publicizing particularly focused to these groups. Promoting cigarettes runs quite frequent in highly dominant African-American groups and distributions are regularly portrayed by trademarks, important and particular messages and pictures. In opposition to
Borio, Gene, “Tobacco Timeline: The Twentieth Century 1900-1949—The Rise of the Cigarette.” Chapter 6. 1993-2003.
As part of bankruptcy restructuring, General Motors (GM) launched an ad campaign that revealed glimmers of a streamlined GM: fewer brands (Cadillac, Buick, Chevrolet, GMC) and fewer models within each brand. In order to properly determine the measurement of which vehicles should be continued and which should not, one would need to determine all the aspects of the vehicles to determine the best options. Cooper and Schindler state that, “measurement in research consists of assigning numbers to empirical events, objects or properties, or activities in compliance with a set of rules” (Cooper & Schindler. p. 246). This is a case where it would be important to measure the numbers of car sales with brands and types of the vehicles in question.
Aéropostale, Inc. is a mall-based, specialty retailer of casual apparel and accessories, principally targeting 11 to 18 year-old young women and men. The company provides customers with a focused selection of high-quality, active-oriented, fashion basic merchandise at convincing values. Aéropostale maintains control over its proprietary brands by designing, marketing and selling all of its own merchandise. Aéropostale products are currently purchased only in its stores, on-line thorough its website (www.aeropostale.com) or at organized sales events at college campuses. The first Aéropostale store was opened in 1987 and as of June 2006 has over 700 stores nationwide.
The tobacco industry consists of many competitors trying to satisfy a specific customer need. Companies such as Philip Morris, RJ Reynolds, Brown and Williamson, and Lorillard hold almost the entire market share in the tobacco industry. While each company has different advertising and marketing techniques, they all target the same customer group. Tobacco companies try their best to generate interest in their particular brand or brands. Companies market a number of attributes that usually include, but are not limited to: taste, flavor, strength, size and image in order to distinguish themselves from competitors (Business Week 179, November 29, 1999). However, all tobacco companies are satisfying the same needs. Many long-time smokers are addicted to the nicotine in cigarettes. They smoke because the nicotine is needed to help them feel normal (Focus group). Many addicts go through withdraw without nicotine. All tobacco companies have nicotine in their cigarettes, which fulfills the need of long-time smokers. Other smokers depend on cigarettes in social settings. Many smoke to look sophisticated and mature. Tobacco companies make many kinds of cigarettes that target different groups. Social smokers may perceive certain brands as more sophisticated, and therefore they shy away from other lesser-known brands. For example, a person who smoked generic cigarettes at the bar may be perceived as uncultured. On the other hand, the smoker with the Marlboro Lights may be more socially accepted because they have a brand name product (Focus group). Many types of cigarettes cater to the many markets of smokers who want to portray a certain image in social settings. Tobacco companies do not create the need to smoke, but try to generate interest in their particular brand (Hays, New York Times, November 24, 1999). Overall, the tobacco companies satisfy consumer demand for the millions of adult Americans who choose to use tobacco by providing differentiated products to different target markets of smokers.
Johnson & Johnson was founded in 1886 by the Johnson brothers. It is an American based pharmaceutical, medical and consumer product manufacturer. Since the 1960’s the company has been based out of New Brunswick, New Jersey. In the United States they are ranked third in being one of the most environmentally conscious companies. The company is run on the principals of, according to Johnson & Johnson (1997) as “Broadly Based in Human Health Care, Managed for the Long Term, Decentralized Approach and Our People and Values” (The J&J Strategic Framework). Enterprise Risk Management is a strategic plan which includes the whole company. It is designed to identify risk or events which could affect the enterprise, which allows them to assess and fix
Porter, M. (1987, November). From competitive advantage to corporate strategy. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from http://hbr.harvardbusiness.org/1987/05/from-competitive-advantage-to-corporate-strategy/ar/1
Volkswagen of America (VWoA) over the years has had to adapt many of its processes and business objectives to meet an ever-changing environment. VWoA has been subjected to several iterations of IT management and project guidance solutions changes and is no better for it. More recently, funding for many projects deemed high priority by business units of VWoA was cut or reduced, by selection of a committee that organized, reviewed, and prioritized all projects. With a budget of $60 million not all of the projects, in total $240 million, could be completed but the question remains - is this the right way?
Sears Holdings Corporation is an American holding headquartered in Hoffman Estates, IL. is the parental company of retail brands, Sears and Kmart. It was formed after the merging of Kmart Holdings Corporation and Sears, Roebuck and Co. Besides the Sears and Kmart, the Sears Holdings also own the brands Craftman, Kenmore and DieHard. It has 3,472 retail locations under the operating of Sears, Kmart, and other subsidiaries. The businesses of Sears Holdings cover retail, home services, auto centers, pharmacies etc. Their business reached 49 states in the U.S. Moreover, they also have businesses in Canada. At the same time, Sears Holdings also owns a huge number of real estate(Sears Holdings Company, 2016).
The main outcome of having a competitive strategy advantage is clear. Such an advantage translates into the positive outcomes of a profits earned by our corporation with above average for the industry, instead of a loss less than that earned by others. It does not necessarily mean an above-normal profit since this depends on the nature of our industry. It is easy to recognize when competitive advantage exists, when an our corporation, is competing with another corporation, for the same customers in the same market, is able to earn either a realized, or potential, profit which is higher than that of competitors, or a loss which is smaller. Provided the accounting is accurate, it is not difficult to identify the corporation with a competitive advantage. The result of a better financial performance is made possible by the key characteristic of any competitive advantage, the greater utility or value given to the customer by an enterprise. Customers buy our service either in greater numbers or at a higher price because of this greater advantage. Competitive advantage is then the ability to better satisfy our customers than competitors could.
Our company, Tech Shield, would like to evaluate The Clorox Company for a potential investment opportunity. For years, Tech Shield has built The Clorox Company’s supply chain machines that make the company’s famous household products. It would be ideal to invest a significant amount of capital in a company Tech Shield has done business with before, but evaluation is still necessary of compatible companies. The Clorox Company is a ninety-six-year-old international corporation dedicated to producing home care products such as Clorox Bleach, Green Works, Fresh Step cat litter, Glad products, and much more. The company’s mission is to make life easier for consumers, and is a business that reaches far beyond cleaning products (). The Clorox Company is recognized under the household products industry, the healthcare industry, and food industry. The competitive strategy the corporation has been an industry-wide differentiation approach in all industries. Henceforth, the company tries to make better quality products within the industry the product is associated with. Tech Shield should invest in The Clorox Company because the company has a strong business ethics that assure employees as well as the public of their integrity, they have done a significant amount of research and
Marlboro is currently one of biggest cigarette distributer in the world. Originally, Marlboro was targeted towards women with the slogan “Mild As May” Campaign until Philip Morris repositioned Marlboro at 1950, with the objective of attracting a wide target audience of American men to save their failing brand. The company began to advertise towards men because they wanted to increase customer while hoping to increase their profits. Therefore, in order to attract their targeted audience, Leo Burnett took the initiative to design the new brand image in which they use an American symbol, the cowboy. The Marlboro Man campaign was not successful merely because of the cigarettes that it advertised but instead, “Marlboro Man” represented the ways in which white males defined their status in American society. The “Marlboro Man” transformed from an advertising campaign to a representation of white American men.
In order to better assess the competition a business must recognize the difference between markets. It must identify both direct and indirect competition, both present and future. Once competitors are grouped then analyzing their marketing strategies and identifying their areas of vulnerability by examining their strengths and weaknesses would the next logical step. (Deloitte & Touche, 2003) This will help the business determine and distinguish its competitive advantage. The reasoning behind this step is to have clear who the target market is, what the market position is, and knowing exactly what will make the business unique to stand apart from competitors.
Competitive advantage is another factor in business success. Competitive advantage is a condition or circumstance that puts a company in a favourable or superior business position. There are 3 sectors within this strategy.
We can define competitive advantage as simply what a given company excels best at. This could be the distinguishing factor as to why consumers purchase from your company and not the competition. This could also be understood from the perspective of quality that a business can create for the consumer.