LECTURE 7 (29 OCTOBER 2013)

The eighth week of lecture...

Chapter 7

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim...

Firstly,i'm sorry for not attending this lecture because i had to seat for speaking MUET examination. But i'm just want to make a doodle for this entry. 

The topic of chapter 7 is " strategies for competing in international markets ". The point that be highlighted :

POLITICAL RISKS

What is political risks?

Political stem from instability or weaknesses in national governments and hostility to foreign business.

ECONOMIC RISKS

What is economic risks?

Economic risks stem from the stability of a country's monetary system, economic and regulatory policies, the lack of property rights protections.

GREENFIELD VENTURE

What is greenfield venture?

A subsidiary business that is established by setting up the entire operation from the ground up.

COLLABORATIVE STRATEGIES

What is collaborative strategies?

Collaborative strategies involving alliances or joint ventures with foreign partners are a popular way for companies to edge their way into the markets of foreign markets.

CROSS-BOARDER ALLIANCES

What is cross-boarder alliances?

Cross-boarder alliances enable a growth-minded company to widen its geographic coverage and strengthen its competitiveness in foreign markets, at the same time, they offer flexibility and allow a company to retain some degree of autonomy and operating control.

INTERNAL STRATEGY

What is internal strategy?

Internal strategy is a strategy for competing in two or more countries simultaneously.

MULTIDOMESTIC STRATEGY

What is multidomestic strategy?

Multidomestic strategy is one in which a firm varies its product offering and competitive approach from country to country in an effort to be responsive to differing buyer preferences and market conditions. It is a think-local, act-local type of international strategy, facilitated by decision making decentralized to the local level.

GLOBAL STRATEGY

What is global strategy?

Global strategy is one in which a company employs the same basic competitive approach in all countries where it operates, sells much the same products everywhere, strives to build global brands, and coordinates its action worldwide with strong headquarters control. It represents a think-global, act-global approach. 

TRANSNATIONAL STRATEGY

What is transnational strategy?

Transnational strategy is a think-global, act-local approach that incorporates elements of both multidomestic and global strategies.

PROFIT SANCTUARIES

What is profit sanctuaries?

Profit sanctuaries are country markets that provide a firm with substantial profits because of a strong or protected market position.

CROSS-MARKET SUBSIDIZATION

What is cross-market subsidization?

Cross-market subsidization supporting a competitive offensive in one market with resources and profits diverted from operations in another market. Can be a powerful competitive weapon.

                                                                                                    tq...:)

LECTURE 6 (22 OCTOBER 2013)

The seventh week of lecture...
Chapter 6

" STRENGTHENING A COMPANY'S COMPETITIVE POSITION: STRATEGIC MOVES, TIMING AND SCOPE OF OPERATIONS "

BLUE-OCEAN STRATEGY

• offers growth in revenues and profits by discovering or inventing new industry segments that create altogether new demand.

- Because of first-mover advantages and disadvantages, competitive advantage can spring from when a move is made as well as from what move is made.

HORIZONTAL SCOPE

• the range of products and service segments that a firm serves within its focal market.

VERTICAL SCOPE

• the extent to which a firm's internal activities encompass one, some, many or all of the activities that make up an industry's entire value chain system, ranging from raw-material production to final sales and service activities.

VERTICALLY INTEGRATED FIRM

• one that performs value chain activities along more than one stage of an industry's value chain system.

BACKWARD INTEGRATION

• involves entry into activities previously performed by suppliers or other enterprises positioned along earlier stages of the industry value chain system.

FORWARD INTEGRATION

• involves entry into value chain system activities closer to the end user.

OUTSOURCING

• involves contracting out certain value chain activities to outside vendors. 

STRATEGIC ALLIANCE

• a formal agreement between two or more separate companies in which they agree to work cooperatively toward some common objective.

JOINT VENTURE

• a partnership involving the establishment of an independent corporate entity that the partners own and control jointly sharing in its revenues and expenses.

                                                                                                                                                                                                               tq...:) 
Addition :

The example of blue ocean company.



FedEx Federal Express
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/fedex-express-recognizes-employee-heroes-for-exceptional-customer-and-community-service-2013-10-17

courier-journal.com
http://www.courier-journal.com/viewart/20131015/BUSINESS/310150077/

http://www.courier-journal.com/viewart/20131023/BUSINESS/310230130/

LECTURE 5 (8 OCTOBER 2013)

The fifth week of lecture...
Chapter 5

ASSALAMUALAIKUM everyone... We continue the entry of my blog...

This time the chapter is about THE FIVE GENERIC COMPETITIVE STRATEGIES : WHICH ONE TO EMPLOY ?

The core concept of this chapter :

- A low-cost provider's basis for competitive advantage is lower overall costs than competitors. Successful low-cost leaders, who have the lowest industry costs, are exceptionally good at finding ways to drive costs out of their businesses and still provide a product or service that buyers find acceptable.

- A cost driver is a factor that has a strong influence on a firm's costs.

- Differentiation enhances profitability whenever a company's product can command a sufficiently higher price or produce sufficiently greater unit sales to more than cover the added costs of achieving the differentiation.

- The essence of a broad differentiation strategy is to offer unique product attributes that a wide range of buyers find appealing and worth paying for.

- A uniqueness driver is a factor that can have a strong differentiating effect.

- Best-cost provider strategies are a hybrid of low-cost provider and differentiation strategies that aim at providing desired quality/ features /performance/ service attributes while beating rivals on price.
                                                                                                    tq...:)

Addition :

From the star online about Air Asia Bhd.
http://www.thestar.com.my/Business/Business-News/2013/11/08/Exec-chairman-AirAsia-still-an-aggressive-animal.aspx

LECTURE 4 (1 OCTOBER 2013)

The forth week of lecture...
Chapter 4

This chapter is about "evaluating a company's resources, capabilities, and competitiveness".
RESOURCE---> a competitive asset that is owned or controlled by a firm
.
CAPABILITY or COMPETENCE---> the capacity of a firm to perform and internal activity competently through deployment of a firm's resources
.
COMPETITIVE ASSETS---> when a firm represents its resources and capabilities and are big determinants of its competitiveness and ability to succeed in the marketplace.

RESOURCE BUNDLE---> a linked and closely integrated set of competitive assets centered around one or more cross-functional capabilities. The VRIN tests for sustainable competitive advantage ask if a resource is Valuable, Rare, Inimitable, and Non-sustainable.

SOCIAL COMPLEXITY---> ( company culture, interpersonal relationships among mangers or R&D teams, trust-based relations with customers or suppliers ) and causal ambiguity are two factors that inhibit the ability of rivals to imitate a firm's most valuable resources and capabilities. Causal ambiguity makes it very hard to figure out how a complex resources contributes to competitive advantage and therefore exactly what to imitate.

DYNAMIC CAPABILITY---> the ongoing capacity of a firm to modify its existing resources and capabilities or create new ones by:
1- improving existing resources and capabilities incrementally.
2- adding new resources and capabilities to the firm's competitive asset portfolio.

SWOT ANALYSIS---> simple but powerful tool for sizing up a company's strengths and weaknesses, its market opportunities and the external threats to its future well-being.

COMPETENCE---> activity that a firm has learned to perform with proficiency (capability)

CORE COMPETENCE---> activity that a firm performs proficiently that is also central to its strategy and competitive success.
DISTINCTIVE COMPETENCE---> a competitively important activity that a firm performs better than its rivals (competitively superior internal strength)

STRENGTH---> represents its competitive asstes.
WEAKNESSES---> shortcomings that constitute competitive liabilities.

VALUE CHAIN---> identifies the primary activities are related support activities that create customer value.

BENCHMARKING---> a potent tool for improving a company's own internal activities that is based on learning how other companies perform them and borrowing their " best practices ".

                                                                                                   

                                                 tq...:)
Addition :

The example of SWOT + TOWS analysis

I think the news story about the resource. So I'm just sharing to you..

http://seekingalpha.com/article/1814692-penn-west-petroleums-ceo-discusses-q3-2013-results-earnings-call-transcript