Strategy For Sustainable Competitive Advantage Management Essay

Every organization’s corporate strategies are focused at developing a sustainable competitive advantage that will allow the company to continuously maintain and improve the enterprise’s competitiveness in the industry it is in. This enables the organization to stand strong despite competition or saturation of the market over a long time. An organization’s competitive advantage is said to exist if customers perceive the firm’s product or as superiors or better than that of its competitors. There are various sources of competitive advantage in organization. These sources revolve around an organization internal environment (Dess et al, 2005).

Dyer and Singh (Oct 2005), point out technology as one of the sources of competitive advantage to an enterprise. If the company technology is superior to those of its competitors, then the company can offer quality services and better product at cost effective prices thus retaining its customers for a long time. Its infrastructure like machinery and other production facility likewise can position the company more competitively if they super than the competitors.

Human resource is one of the tools of competitive advantage. When a company’s employees understand and are committed to the vision and objectives of the organization, they will become agents of success in the company. The employees will always be devoted to making the vision and identity stronger for the stakeholders, the customers and themselves (Oliver, 1997).

The quality and the uniqueness of the company’s products can also be a source of competitive advantage. If customers prefer the company’s products or services because of specific qualities such as style, taste, ingredients, comfort, production methods e.g. organic or inorganic then the organization t can utilize this loyalty for strategic purposes. The location of the company could also be a competitive advantage. Companies operating closer to their customers, suppliers or raw materials can be more competitive than their counterparts in the same industries (Dyer & Singh, Oct 2005).

Structural, leadership, and cultural considerations while expanding its global operations

Leadership

Leadership is one of the most fundamental tools for Wal-Mart’s long-term competitive strategy for. The corporate executives of the organization are critically responsible for the direction and successful operations of the all the company’s units. According to Wood (2004), the knowledge economy is proving to be the most valuable and efficient approach for leadership founded strong organizational values that promote constancy in innovation and motivation across all unites of the firm units. The leaders must harness their skills and abilities to lead with their intellect, aligned to the Wal-Mart’s corporate mission and vision.

The leaders must think innovatively about how the company can create a sustained business value even as it enters others foreign markets. The entire corporate leadership must search for synergies and pursue possible successes at the corporate level for new opportunities for growth and expansion (Soderquist, 2005).

Cultural

The Wal-Mart’s organizational culture is another of the key competitive advantages. If the company is able to build and maintain a culture that promotes and appreciates innovativeness, commitment, Wal-Mart is strategically positioned for success. Dyer and Singh, (Oct 2005) describes corporate culture as term that refers to “a collective behavior of people seen in the perspective of shared corporate of vision goals, work language, symbols, beliefs, habits and systems.

Interwoven with the company procedures and technologies, each person including the new employees contributes to this culture’s own uniqueness and composition. The corporate culture includes moral, social, and behavioral norms.

Structural

When entering a new market, corporate bureaucracies often mar smooth expansion programs. Bureaucracy delays implementation of strategies thus becoming a competitive disadvantage. To avoids this situation, Wal-Mart structure of administration and procedures will needs constant review to check any unnecessary or irrelevant procedure that like become obstacles to smooth and successful expansion of company. As the business continues to grow larger and larger, leadership and administration get further. Wal-Mart, management must keep constant battles to keep bureaucracy at bay. They need to regularly scrutinize all branches’ departments to ensure that feedback mechanisms are affective as possible (Soderquist, 2005).

Wal-Mart needs to audit its procedures and structural operations when expanding its Global growths, in order to the negative impact of possible bureaucracies. Decision-making should be process need to be made as short as possible.

Marketing and operational tactics to execute this strategy

With the considerations of leadership, cultural and structural factors, Wal-Mart like any other company ought to come up with supportive marketing and operational programs that execute the competitive strategies. Combining effective marketing programs with its internal strengths such as innovations and leadership, advantage that is more competitive can be created. For retail chain store such as Wal-Mart, it is important that marketing strategies are consistent to the overall strategies and goals of the company. According to Wood (2004), effective marketing strategies will present the products and services offered as delivering the required benefits to consumers making them purchase repeatedly that products or service.

The marketing strategies should not only be consistent with the overall strategy while expanding to other global markets, but also meet the demands of the level of competition in each market. While developing these strategies therefore, Wal-Mart therefore must factor in demands for effective product positioning; the nature of each of the markets it is entering, and the levels of competition with which the organization has to contend. The successful of branding of Wal-Mart franchises and branches has been one of the best sustainable differentiating strategies required of any effective marketing program. Like branding, the, the support marketing programs must be difficult for competitors to match the applied strategies (Oliver, 1997).

Positioning as one of the important strategies that can be utilized to create and sustain Wal-Mart’s competitive strategy involves identifying the targets markets and clearly positioning the brands, their retails stores in those markets. One of the methods the organization can use is the marketing mix, which entails use of the 4’Ps to influences consumer behavior in favor of Wal-Mart Stores. Market segmentation and discriminations is another possible positioning strategy. In the methods, the company will avoid standardizing their brands in totality, but rather customizing them to suit the cultural, economic, or legal requirements in those markets (Wood, 2004).

Revised organizational chart for Wal-Mart Stores

Where:

CEO:-Chief Executive Officer/president

CFO:-Chief Finance officer

COO:-Chief Operation Officer