There are several factors that can contribute to a firm’s ability to be competitive in its industry. Building blocks of a competitive advantage include efficiency, quality, innovation, and responsiveness to customers. A firm with a competitive advantage may experience higher profits than the average profit in the industry while competing for the same customers. In the case of Honda, this is true. Honda has many distinctive competencies based on its resource and capabilities that allow it to have a competitive advantage in the auto manufacturing industry. Three areas that give Honda a competitive advantage in the auto industry include Honda’s engineering and design, research and development, and brand equity.… Read the rest
Management Case Studies
Management case studies are real-life examples of issues and problems found in particular workplaces or business organisations. Case study assignments give the opportunity to relate theoretical concepts to practical situations. Most case studies are written in such a way that the reader takes the place of the manager whose responsibility is to make decisions to help solve the problem. In almost all case studies, a decision must be made, although that decision might be to leave the situation as it is and do nothing.
Case Study on E-Business Transformation: Cisco Systems
Cisco Systems is the network vendor for many institutions — yet they now also provide products and services for home networking. At the beginning history of Cisco Systems, the corporation’s goals were to build-up easiness in accessing the information using various electronic information channels, especially computer, inside the Stanford campus. Along with the growth of the firm, the management hired many talented employees. They formalized their business plan covering four strategic goals (provide complete solution for businesses, make acquisitions a structured process, define the industry-wide networking protocols, and form the right strategic alliances). Based on that strategy, they want to become “e-business” leaders in their industry.… Read the rest
Case Study on Information Systems: Cisco Systems
Cisco Systems advertises itself as the company on which the Internet runs, and this San Jose, California, company does dominate the sale of network routers and switching equipment used for Internet infrastructure. Under the leadership of CEO John Chambers, it has been so successful that it even briefly became the most valuable company on earth in early 2000, reaching a valuation of $555 billion and a stock price of more than $80 per share. One key to its success is that Cisco uses information systems and the Internet in every way it can. However, by April 2001 the stock closed below $14, a decline of more than 80 percent, while the company value fell to around $100 billion.… Read the rest
Case Study: The International Growth of Zara
The emergence of global fashion has transformed the way fashion is perceived in the contemporary world. In the recent years, there has been a surge of global fashion brands; triggered by the intensive involvement of internationalization processes in the fashion industry. Large retailers in search of sustained growth increasingly decide to expand overseas, responding and contributing to the globalization process.
Operating internationally is an increasingly common option for organisational growth. The process becomes a necessity when the domestic market shows increasing levels of competition and commercial saturation. Incidentally, there are increasing numbers of born-global companies deciding to internationalize their businesses from the beginning of their activities, regardless of the domestic market situations.… Read the rest
Case Study: Zara’s Entry into Indian Retail Fashion Market
Zara is an extremely renowned brand, known for its latest designs and is among the top 100 best global brands in 2010 .It uses the unusual strategy of zero advertising and instead invests the revenue in opening new stores across the world. Zara is popular amongst old and young generations too because it is affordable fashion. It is crystal clear that Zara is successfully living upto the standard of its two winning retail trends firstly, it is fashionable and secondly it is low in price thus resulting in a very effective mixture out of it.
The first store of Zara was opened in a central street in Spain in 1977 by Amancio Ortega who also owns, other brands such as Massimo Dutti, Pull and Bear and many others.… Read the rest
Case Study of Maggi: Brand Extension and Repositioning in India
The industrial revolution in Switzerland in the late 1800s created factory jobs for women, who were therefore left with very little time to prepare meals. This wide spread problem grew to be an object of intense study by the Swiss Public Welfare Society. As a part of its activities, the Society asked Julius Maggi miller to create a vegetable food product that would be quick to prepare and easy to digest. Born on October 9, 1846 in Frauenfeld, Switzerland, Julius Michael Johannes Maggi was the oldest son of an immigrant from Italy who took Swiss citizenship. Julius Maggi became a miller and took on the reputation as an inventive and capable businessman.… Read the rest