Introduction to 3M and the resource based view. Aims and Objectives. Within this report I will be taking a resource based view of 3M. Firstly, I will aim to explain and evaluate the importance of capabilities and how they contribute to gaining a competitive advantage for 3M. I will then go onto evaluate 3M’s strategic capabilities using different tools and frameworks, leading onto a conclusion stating how 3M use resource based view to gain competitive advantage, considering implications of the resource based view and is possible to guarantee success for 3M. Introduction. 3M are fundamentally a science-based company (3M, 2014). Who produce a range of imaginative products, being a market leader in scores of markets from healthcare and highway safety to office products and abrasives and adhesives. 3M’s success begins with the ability to apply their technologies – often in combination – to an endless array of real world customer needs (3M, 2014). At yearend (2012) 3M had global sales of $30 billion, operating in more than 70 countries with customers in almost 200 countries employing 88,000 employees globally (3M, 2014). 3M’s is currently trading at 134.73p per share (London stock exchange, 2014). Capabilities, strategy, competitive advantage and resource based view. In relation to this report a businesses capabilities will be referring to the organisations, in this case 3M, ability to use their resources, expertise and capacity to perform core functions (Elgar, 2005, pp. 17-21). (Woods, 2012, pp. 2-5) State that strategy is the long-term direction of an organisation, furthermore strategic capability is the capabilities that contribute to long term survival or competitive advantage (Woods, 2012, pp. 50-52). Competitive advantage is... ... middle of paper ... ... RBV on its own to continue this competitive advantage for 3M; or any organization, is not enough. The RBV, as summarized throughout this report is causally ambiguous and retrospective. When using the RBV it is very difficult to decipher exactly what has created competitive advantage and if a resource has had any impact on performance at all. The RBV seems to use the past, creating a distorted view of how competitive advantage was created. (K, Evans 2014) says that external marketing communication allows companies to stay in touch with customers and provides a channel for customer input while also indentifying and exploiting sales opportunities. The writer would recommend that 3M either improve their marketing or hire an outside marketing team to aid them, the company is currently performing very well but the writer feels there is room for improvement in this area.
When testing if a corporate strategy is leading the company to success, there are techniques that can be used to project data collected from the company. Long term attractiveness, competitive strength, and the nine cell industry attractiveness/business strength matrix are used to highlight strategic positions of each business in a diversified company. The industry attractiveness gages the prospects for long-term performance. Competitive strength measures how strong the units are positioned in a business in their industry. Lastly, the nine cell industry attractiveness/business strength matrix merges information on attractiveness and competitiveness to show where in the industry does a unit fit when it comes to long-term success. Walt Disney
Resources are being classified into tangible and intangibles assets as the followings: *Resources of *Virgin Group Tangible Resources Intangible Resources Capabilities of Virgin Group are established by the integrated resources that assisted it to stay competitive and to outdo its competitors. Valuable capabilities will aid Virgin Group to effectively tap and explore spotted opportunities as well as to minimize threats in the external environment. Should capabilities are consistently and effectively utilized, they will turn significant and be difficult to be imitated or substituted. With the resources discussed above, 3 capabilities of Virgin Group are identified as follows: - *Capabilities 1: Unique C*ulture of *"Making difference and creating uniqueness"* (*Contributed Resources: *Financial, Organizational, Human, Innovation*, Technological*) Creativity, Innovation are the foundations to Virgin and Richard Branson’s success! Technology push is the spine for innovation and likely to simulate process innovation in how service is provided when looking into Virgin. Technology is more likely to simulate process innovation. Every turn and businesses Branson venture has been with some kind of innovation or creativity element if not something unique, something that has not been seen or heard of before in the relevant market. Virgin Group has achieved a competitive advantage among its competitors by uniformly followed its culture in all business in serving good value and service to the customers in different ways. The basic and the core competence of all Virgin Group's business ventures are to do things just a little bit differently from the rest. And also they always tried to add value by adding a little fun to the business. By differentiating in strategy itself to fit of the activities and the ways of doing business have also differentiated itself from the rivals and make it difficult to imitate Virgin’s strategy. Hence, they have established their business to an untouchable position. How would you characterize the corporate strategy of Branson's Virgin Group? The answer to that question will not be so different from the ones above. However to better understanding we can characterize the corporate strategy of Virgin Group as "Making difference and creating uniqueness" in any kind of customers' service. They are not stuck to any business field so that makes them flexible of thinking and creating new ideas for their customers and the whole consumers around the world who need (or will need) Virgin's service.
Porter, Michael E. "From competitive advantage to corporate strategy." Harvard Business Review (1987): 43-59. Print. May 2014.
Numerous definitions of strategy exist, in most circumstances strategy can loosely be explained as an overall plan of deployment of resources to ascertain a favourable position within a market (Zablah, Bellenger and Johnston 2004; Grant 1994, p 14). Further, imbedded in many successful organisations are strategies, the importance of which is to remain relevant in the market, and successful in the various attributes of business; profiteering, employee motivation, maintaining sustainable core competencies, effectiveness in operation, or efficiency in the conduction of operations. Therefore challenges involved in the formulation and implementation of a strategy can revolve around the overall external market, as well as internal
Thompson, A. A., Strickland, A. J., & Gamble, J. E. (2008). Crafting & executing strategy: The quest for competitive advantage (16th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin.
Throughout the global economic environment the desire to out-perform the competition is always present. In every situation, the companies who do better are the ones with superior strategy (Rothaermel, 2013). Strategic management is therefore important in every company, no matter what industry or market they operate in; and as stated by M. Carpenter and G. Sanders, 2013, is described as "The process by which a firm manages the formulation and implementation of its strategy". Strategic management is a constant topic under discussion with different schools of theorists with different beliefs and attitudes which is described as "A tense array of disagreement" (Rees, 2012).
3M's innovation culture comes from the times when the five entrepreneurs who created a company to explore a mine of what they thought being corundum, realized that all they had was a low grade anorthosite, which would not meet the requirements of the booming abrasive industry as they initially believed. Quickly they had to adapt and focus on producing sandpaper products. But it was with McKnight, who joined the company in 1907 has a bookkeeper and later would become Chairman for more than 40 years, that 3M really developed a culture towards systematic innovation. Since then, 3M has been characterized by McKnight's principles of supportive management which encourages employee initiative and innovation:
S, Tywoniak 2007, Making sense of resource based view, Academy of Management Conference, University of Technology, Australia.
Thompson, A.A., Strickland, A.J., & Gamble, J. E. (2010). Crafting and executing strategy: The quest for competitive advantage: Concepts and cases: 2009 custom edition (17th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill-Irwin
It is also perhaps not feasible to evaluate the attractiveness of an industry independent of the resources a firm brings to that industry. It is thus argued that this theory be coupled with the Resource-Based View (RBV) in order for the firm to develop a much more sound strategy. It provides a simple perspective for accessing and analysing the competitive strength and position of a corporation, business or organisation.
Lynch (2012) asserts that it is necessary for an organization to carry out an analysis of its resources and capabilities as it help it in identifying the places where value can be added by the organization. This also helps the company in finding out ways to gain competitive advantage in the market. The given case on Nintendo showed that by 2005, Nintendo appeared to be heading towards an end as its rivals Microsoft and Sony has captured the market through Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 respectively. In this scenario, Nintendo innovated Wii which changed the market scenario in 2007. The case showed that innovative new strategy by Nintendo with its Wii games machine has transformed the industry and revived the profitability of the company. Since the release of the Wii, Nintendo is the leader in the video game industry. By introducing a totally new, one of a kind console, Nintendo has set clearly its goal and objectives, i.e. to reach an unexplored market share by introducing new gaming experiences, and therefore being the leader over its two main competitors, Sony and Microsoft. The case thus highlights the need to take a resource based view of the capabilities of the company so that such resources can be exploited to generate higher value for the firm.
Marketing is a very broad term, which encompasses all the activities that help businesses in identifying their customers and needs of their target market, utilising all the communication resources in order to target their target market, eventually persuading them to purchase the organisations products and services. It is much broader than the concept of selling, as selling just includes techniques of direct communication used to persuade the customers to buy the products and services of an organisation. In fact, sales are the integral part of marketing. Marketing also helps organisations to utilise all resources in an efficient way to gain customer satisfaction, which will eventually help in the growth of the company. While, on one hand, marketers tend to focus on the needs and preferences of the customers, they also need to keep a close eye on their competitors (Gillespie, 2010). Companies always look to beat down their competition with providing better products and/or services, or by providing less-expensive goods to the customers than their competitors, in order to achieve or maintain the leading position in the industry. The core focus of this paper is to identify and discuss the core aspects how managers could maintain the marketing activities of the organisation in the global context.
A different perspective of approaching competitive advantage is its relationship with different business models, the degree of innovation and the information systems present. A competitive advantage is imminent if the current strategy of a company is value adding and is not in the present moment being implemented by its would-be competitors. The sustainability of a competitive advantage
Strategic management is the “identification of one or more sustainable competitive advantages a firm has in the markets it serves (or intends to serve), and allocation of resources to exploit them” (Business Dictionary, 2016). In order for industries and organizations to thrive, they must have strategies in place and strategic management processes to stay competitive, profitable, attractive to stakeholders, and to sustain advantages that set them apart from other competitors (Barney & Hesterly, 2015). The strategic management process involves a set of procedures that lead to choosing a strategy that will eventually lead to competitive advantage (Barney & Hesterly, 2015). The six steps of the strategic management process involves defining
Hitt, M., Ireland, and Hoskisson, R. (2009).Strategic management: Competitiveness and Globalization, Concepts and Cases. In M. Staudt & Stranz (Ed.