Tuesday, December 26, 2017

Competitive Advantage Examples in Business Strategies

Competitive Advantage

Efficient supply chain management and logistics can offer a significant supply of real sustainable competitive advantage. Quite simply a situation of creating brilliance above your market challengers for client satisfaction might be accomplished by greater control over your logistics and supply chain management.

Foundations for business success that are available on the market are wide ranging – clients and competitors – the 3Cs, however a straightforward design relies across the triangular relationship within the value chain of your company.

Seeking a lasting and sustainable competitive advantage is just about the problem faced by any serious business manager – who’s aware of the reality of his/her industry.

At the most elemental level, achievement stems from whether price advantage or even any value advantage are available. Fact is that, most profitable rival in almost any market sector is commonly the low-cost provider.

 

 

Put simply, and – even greater – the combination of two – effective businesses possibly have steady value advantage and they will use it in creating long term business strategies.

 

Cost advantage provides the offering and product a differential plus above competitive offerings.

 

In numerous sectors there will typically be a single competitor that will certainly function as the low-cost producer. When you are looking at price advantage there’s considerable evidence to point out that big is beautiful. This is supported by scale, yet much more especially to the outcome of experience curve, which allow fixed costs being spread on a higher volume.

By improving marketplace presence traditionally it’s been suggested the primary path to price decrease had been through higher product sales. The pursuit of economies of scale by quantity increases might not always result in higher profit for the business. This is because currently much of price of an item is away from the internal company operations and driven by the overall supply chain dynamics.

That is by better supply and logistics management. Logistics and supply chain management can offer numerous methods to boost effectiveness and efficiency and hence lead considerably to decreased overall and unit costs.

For example, these competitive advantages might be intangible as well. The delivered product might be viewed as to outperform the rivals in a few practical aspect, in addition to prices or product quality.

How the competitive advantage might be accomplished?

Essentially the improvement of the methodology based on additional values will certainly usually need a much more divided strategy to marketplace. That you will find distinct value segments when a business scrutinizes marketplaces. Different categories of clients in the market attach various significance to various benefits.

Frequently you will find considerable possibilities with regard to creating appeals for particular segments and the market segmentation should be the very first step in business strategy development.

It is today the actual situation that every business model is accomplished in a number of ways and not based on a single strategic move.

Adding value by being different is really an effective way of attaining an advantage within your market. This is in many cases achieved by strong product portfolios – for example Toyota, Honda, GM and Ford – they all provide a wide targeted selection of product versions positioned at various prices within the market segments that they are after.

This on hte other hand obviously creates challenges with regard to logistics management. This is why competitive advantage is strongly related to supply chain and logistics management these days. It is no longer enough to offer a better product. The power is within the delivery and servicing.

There is really a trend in lots of markets of decline within the power of branding. Equally important in the way of adding customer value is support, logistics and services.

By focusing on support as the way of getting competitive advantage is something a lot of companies have taken care of already. A perfect example for this is Amazon. High on product offering and high on logistics and supply chain performance – it is very very hard for others to compete with Amazon.

Main sources of creating powerful competitive advantage

Next time you work on developing a new business strategy or reviewing your current approaches – focus on the 3 major areas in creating competitive advantage:

  1. Cost advantage
  2. Product advantage
  3. Logistics advantage

Competitive Advantage Examples in Business Strategies

Wednesday, December 20, 2017

China gears up for leap into digitisation of industry

Many sectors in China are ripe for digital disruption because they are fragmented and inefficient, writes Jonathan Woetzel in Financial Times.
China gears up for leap into digitisation of industry

War and peace: Evolving challenges and strategies in the US military

Five experts describe the technological, environmental, and other disruptions that are changing the way the US armed forces manage conflicts and pursue peace initiatives.
War and peace: Evolving challenges and strategies in the US military

Insuring hurricanes: Perspectives, gaps, and opportunities after 2017

A year marked by several devastating hurricanes raises fundamental strategic questions about the readiness of the United States for the next decade of large-scale catastrophes.
Insuring hurricanes: Perspectives, gaps, and opportunities after 2017

9 Simple Ways to Evaluate Manager’s Commitment

Evaluating Managers in Business

These are easy-to-use ways to evaluate managers. You can quickly rate and compare different individuals in management positions or use it to evaluate potential candidates for management.

You can also take this to the next level and create a simple survey questionnaire to better compare people and collect data… 

Typically, just the outstanding people, are able, prepared and capable, to correctly manage the challenges, problems, and pressures, for achieving high-performance management.

Possibly, among most ignored elements, and characteristics, required, would be to regularly and constantly, preserve his/her dedication, to anything and everybody, he’s trusted to guide successfully.

 

Management

 

This calls for a mix of real, personal self-confidence, a good mindset, a very creative ability with established skills, and a number of other issues… yet, without determination, it’s demanding, to properly, regularly, dedicate, to performing the very best, one can do.

With this in mind, this short article would try to quickly analyze, evaluate and review the main elements of truly successful leaders.

Quality

Evaluate quality for somebody personality, by their particular conduct and measures, even if nobody is, clearly, viewing and monitoring.

Would the person state his / her factors, with clearness, and create options, according to a supportive, instead of adversarial method?

Options Available

How must a manager establish and think about the choices and options available?

What he or she sees, listens to, and encounters, must help guide him or her, to pick the very best feasible possibilities in order to attain the planned targets and goals.

Creating Positive Influence

Everybody in almost any placement for management, creates some influence, possibly good or sometimes unfavorable, within the team. Think about how the specific manager concentrates, and if he / she views implications, therefore he or she makes impression, for the very best, feasible result.

Inspiration & Motivation

A really dedicated innovator, understands and knows, the majority of other people, are favorably inspired, whenever they’re described, in a good light. The effective manager communicates and inspires all team members.

 

Management team metrics

 

Creativity & Open Mind for Feedback from Team Members

It is important for any business to have managers, who have complete openness, higher degree of creativeness, that presents and deploys lots of ideas and suggestions, that are synchronized with the philosophy and vision of the business.

Reliable

Why people have confidence in you? Why they believe in you? When people know you are reliable and follow the very best for the team on a consistent basis – they trust you.

Management Skills

Frequently ignored, in analyzing possible managers in organizations, is whether or not they are well organized, motivated, focused and have management skills.

Goals

What are the real priorities and what is the manager dedicated to? The requirements, targets, and goals the manager focuses on.

Acting On Time

Some people simply procrastinate all the time. Timing is important in achieving good business results. Acting on time is critical for success.

Exactly how could you evaluate the leader’s dedication? In the event you choose to follow the duty, how would you obviously show, you have the required needs and characteristics?


9 Simple Ways to Evaluate Manager’s Commitment

Great Ideas Are Getting Harder to Find

Tuesday, December 19, 2017

What successful digital transformations have in common

Technological innovations have radically transformed the business landscape in many ways over the last two centuries, our research shows how digitization can significantly hurt incumbent firms in many industries, write Jacques Bughin and Tanguy Catlin in Harvard Business Review.
What successful digital transformations have in common

An analytics approach to debiasing asset-management decisions

Asset managers can find a competitive edge in debiasing techniques—accelerated with advanced analytics.
An analytics approach to debiasing asset-management decisions

Driving business growth by zeroing in on the consumer decision journey

A big part of driving marketing-led growth is getting into, and remaining part of, consumers’ initial consideration set of brands to shop. Companies can give themselves a leg up by making that a priority.
Driving business growth by zeroing in on the consumer decision journey

Accelerating the shift to a next-generation operating model

Digital-native companies have captured value by mastering the use of next-generation operating models. Now established companies must race to catch up.
Accelerating the shift to a next-generation operating model

The New Economic Benefits of Older Workers

Could AI Be the Cure for Workplace Gender Inequality?

Saturday, December 16, 2017

McKinsey Quarterly 2017 Number 4: Overview and full issue

This issue of the Quarterly, available here as a PDF download, examines AI-driven automation and how it will transform the economy, discusses why lifelong learning should be a corporate priority, and lays out the health imperative for organizations.
McKinsey Quarterly 2017 Number 4: Overview and full issue

Thursday, December 14, 2017

Why Your Marketing Strategy Is So Important?

Having effective marketing strategy is as important as having a good business strategy in general. Because your marketing strategy makes all the difference in the marketplace. The most essential elements of growing the business are part of your marketing strategy.

Firms that fall short to make a progress with their marketing strategies will be determined to possibly fall short and struggle indefinitely these days. Nevertheless, just merely generating a good strategy by itself – won’t guarantee business success!

Here are several important elements that could make and break the marketing strategy in your business. While building marketing plan can be at first overwhelming – you should begin by inputting your insight you already know – even if it seams like all your details are unrelated and don’t fall in place…

Start by figuring out your client demographics. You can’t go wrong when you start by looking at your typical customer or customer segments. What makes them unique and identical at the same time? This is a great start in developing your marketing strategy and crafting your marketing plan.

By starting with your customer in mind you will accidentally start a process of identifying most important drivers for your business such as your offering, delivery system, support processes, product and service development, purchasing….

 

Few examples in creating your customer persona or profile are location, age, status, gender and income for B2C and SIC code, business size and decision makers for B2B businesses. However regardless of the kind of business – the flow in creating marketing strategy is the same.

The thing is that you should absolutely know where and how to focus in your market, how your typical customers, leads and prospects behave and of course what is important for them.

All this will make sure for you that you are communicating the right message. You have to obviously outline precisely what your product or service offers and why is the best fit for your clients’ needs.

The better job you do with the planning – the easier the execution will be. Having and tracking the right marketing and sales metrics and performance indicators is a must-have for successful implementation. There is absolutely no excuse for not maintaining up to date information on your customers, sales and marketing campaigns. After all if you are not measuring – you are not managing!

Fact is that failure to invest time needed to look at information could mean the failure of your whole marketing strategy. Business is really a long-term investment you have to discover a powerful motivator at the start of your marketing plan.

Insufficient enthusiasm will certainly hurt your marketing and sales. Keep this in mind before you even start to plan. This is important to consider and plan so you approach your marketing and sales meetings with a purpose. Start with the goal in mind and work backwards. Communicate this with your sales people and marketers.

Successful marketing requires working with all your departments not just sales and marketing people. Research and development, purchasing, supply chain, etc. they all need to understand your purpose in order to support you.


Why Your Marketing Strategy Is So Important?

Coping with success: Managing overcrowding in tourism destinations

McKinsey and the World Travel & Tourism Council examine how destinations can reap the benefits of tourism while preserving their unique qualities.
Coping with success: Managing overcrowding in tourism destinations

Why digital transformation is now on the CEO’s shoulders

Big data, the Internet of Things, and artificial intelligence hold such disruptive power that they have inverted the dynamics of technology leadership.
Why digital transformation is now on the CEO’s shoulders

Seeking Scale? Think Old

Tuesday, December 12, 2017

How the auto industry is preparing for the car of the future

Autonomous and electric cars, connectivity, and ridesharing are changing the way auto industry players think about value chains, data analytics, and manufacturing.
How the auto industry is preparing for the car of the future

Reducing churn in telecom through advanced analytics

A comprehensive, analytics-driven approach to base management can help telecom companies reduce churn by as much as 15%.
Reducing churn in telecom through advanced analytics

Monday, December 11, 2017

Cashing in on the US experience economy

The time may be right for private equity to reach for experiences.
Cashing in on the US experience economy

Sustainability’s deepening imprint

Companies are more active than ever in pursuing sustainability to align with values and engage stakeholders, a new survey shows. To see financial returns, though, integrating sustainability into core functions is key.
Sustainability’s deepening imprint

Getting personalization to work for your company and your customers

Personalization may seem complex, but the best companies know how to use it to drive growth quickly.
Getting personalization to work for your company and your customers

What to Expect From Agile

The Trouble With Homogeneous Teams

The Truth About Hierarchy

A New Approach to Designing Work

Drivers of student performance: Insights from North America

Our analysis of OECD PISA results from North America highlights four insights on student mindsets, teaching practices, instructional time, and early childhood education.
Drivers of student performance: Insights from North America

AI in storytelling: Machines as cocreators

Computers don’t cry during sad stories, but they can tell when we will.
AI in storytelling: Machines as cocreators

Thursday, December 7, 2017

How China became a digital leader

More businesses in China are putting digital technologies at the heart of their operations and strategy. These digital forces can potentially shift and create 10% to 45% of industry revenue in China by 2030, write Jonathan Woetzel, Jeongmin Seong, and Kevin Wei Wang in Fortune.
How China became a digital leader

The four questions to ask when serving on a nonprofit board

Directors need to probe, nudge, and prod to make sure the organization achieves its full potential.
The four questions to ask when serving on a nonprofit board

Building Scalable Business Models

Planning for the Future of Work

A foundation for value in capital markets

Digital capabilities can fulfill their promise in the industry only if companies build them on a solid foundation: a strong data and application architecture.
A foundation for value in capital markets

Subscription myth busters: What it takes to shift to a recurring-revenue model for hardware and software

The benefits of moving to flexible subscription pricing are closer than they appear, but common misconceptions hold companies back.
Subscription myth busters: What it takes to shift to a recurring-revenue model for hardware and software

Reimagining the bank branch for the digital era

Even in an increasingly digital arena, the branch network can play a critical role in building trust and credibility, providing financial advice, offering convenience, and easing the transition to digital channels.
Reimagining the bank branch for the digital era

Tuesday, December 5, 2017

Driving Operational Cost Savings With the Internet of Things

Commercial drones are here: The future of unmanned aerial systems

Investment in unmanned aerial systems is soaring, but challenges remain. Here’s what stakeholders need to know about the evolving landscape.
Commercial drones are here: The future of unmanned aerial systems

How airlines can gain a competitive edge through pricing

Most airlines have optimized their core ticket costs. But as ancillary purchases represent an increasing percentage of customer spending airlines must rethink their revenue-management practices.
How airlines can gain a competitive edge through pricing

Five Fifty: The organic path to growth

What’s the best way to grow a company? Many executives gravitate toward mergers and acquisitions. But organic growth, done right, delivers long-term value, too.
Five Fifty: The organic path to growth

Recovery gains pace

A rise in oil prices to two-year highs should further stimulate a recovering OFSE sector, despite lower-than-expected activity in US shale.
Recovery gains pace

Sunday, December 3, 2017

Digital China: Powering the economy to global competitiveness

China, already a global force in digital technologies, is set to experience huge shifts in revenue and profits as businesses digitize, boosting the economy’s international competitiveness.
Digital China: Powering the economy to global competitiveness

Friday, December 1, 2017

A virtuous cycle for growth: Finding profit after the initial sale

Advanced analytics can extend the profit lifecycle for carmakers who know how to use it.
A virtuous cycle for growth: Finding profit after the initial sale

The first step to fixing U.S. manufacturing

New research from the McKinsey Global Institute analyzes firm-level financial results and finds a stark contrast in performance between the biggest U.S. manufacturing multinationals and the small and midsize firms that make up most of the sector’s establishments and employment, write Gary Pinkus, Katy George, and Sree Ramaswamy in Harvard Business Review.
The first step to fixing U.S. manufacturing

Women in the food industry

Where does the sector stand when it comes to gender equality? We look closely at employee experiences as well as policies and programs the industry has implemented to promote diversity.
Women in the food industry

Readiness for agricultural transformation

What makes a country ready to implement a good agricultural transformation plan?
Readiness for agricultural transformation

What is the future of work?

A new podcast series from the McKinsey Global Institute explores how technologies like automation, robotics, and artificial intelligence are shaping how we work, where we work, and the skills we need to work.
What is the future of work?

Fueling growth through data monetization

A new survey finds that many companies are launching data-focused businesses. But few have achieved significant financial impact, which requires the right combination of strategy, culture, and organization.
Fueling growth through data monetization

Applying stress tests beyond banking

The technique can provide important insights to many companies operating under uncertainty.
Applying stress tests beyond banking

Fighting portfolio complexity

Many consumer-packaged-goods companies are placing too many bets. Greater simplicity and agility increase the odds of higher performance.
Fighting portfolio complexity

We Must Rescue ‘Win-Win’ From Its Buzzword Status