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Running head: VALUE CHAIN AS COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
Value Chain as Competitive Advantage
Unit 3 Assignment
Lola Todd
GB570 Managing the Value Chain
Professor John Craddock
Kaplan University
September 23, 2012
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VALUE CHAIN AS COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
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Value Chain as Competitive Advantage
Dealing with and understanding what a Value Chain as Competitive Advantage stands for
goes in to great detail and a process. We have to look at things in a manner as if to say we are
trying to create a product for someone else. “Transforming of inputs into products is long-linked.
First, is the development and refinement of the chain by providing product specifications and
volume. Second, simulate the required level of demand for the chains output to ensure stable
operations and capacity utilization.” Knowing that a business is setup to work for the better of a
business there should be a Value Chain set up so that people who invest in the company will
know where they will profit from and what the business will do over the years to make sure that
they are giving investors, consumers and customers what it is they are expecting to get out of that
business. They need to see what the financial level is, what if any part of the business needs to be
improved upon or will the value chain that they have only work to help them profit for the first
year and then fail the rest of the time. Strategic Management by John Wiley & Son’s Ltd Vol.
19 pg. 413.
Review of Concepts
Reviewing the critical concepts when thinking about how the value chain creates
competitive advantage, there are different level for which they are to follow, Cost Advantage,
Value Advantage and Logistics. These different levels show that a business can’t run without
going through this type of process. People are a big part of that chain to make sure that whatever
is created or made will be evaluated by the people who will be purchasing that product.
Businesses also have to consider the amount they will be spending, what people think of that
product and the different levels it will take to make that product beneficial to the company.
Value Chain
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A value chain gives people an opportunity to work as a group, either in a business or as
the customers themselves trying to find a product that they are looking for at a reasonable price.
By using a strategic plan or an operational plan to better suit them or the business. The
competitiveness of an individual firm depends upon the competitive of the value chain. Meaning
if we don’t know how to set up a value chain and use it to help with the business we are not
looking at what is important and how it will keep the business safe from takeover or even failing
in less than a year.
Competitive Advantage
Having a competitive advantage takes a lot of work. You have to know what you are
doing. Owning a business such as Wal-Mart it took them some time to get where they are in the
world today. They had to find the funding, property, product and have a plan that would give
them the profit needed to continue on as one of the top rated fortune 500 companies all over the
world. Today they are able to compete with other superstores, but in the same since they are still
at the top with a competitive advantage; due to the fact that they started out small with the idea
of how they would increase with the help of the people and different investors all over the world.
Customer Delight
When it comes to customer delight different businesses look at what they have to offer
the people, that are looking to always find a bargain and also to profit from what they are
purchasing even if it is in bulk. Some people tend to search from store to store in order to get
what will make them happy as well as them taking care of themselves and their families. The
look on the website as well and they consider what it is they need most before they make the
purchase in order they want. Customers are the center of any business, because without
customers what do you have just a business that is sitting with nobody to purchase whatever it is
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they are selling. They will be buying an purchasing things that are not needed and wasting
money that could go toward things that are needed in so many different areas. If we can’t count
on the customers who can we depend on.
Inter-relationship of Concepts
The way that the value chain, competitive advantage and customer delight work together
in an inter-relationship, they combine what they have together as a whole they consider what it
is that will benefit one for the other. For example with the value chain you have to consider the
customers and what it is they bring to the business, then you look at the competitive advantage of
a business and how they work as a whole to make sure they can provide for you what other
companies that are similar have for you, but at a better price. As for the delight of the customer if
we can’t give them what they want then what is the point of trying to make sure they are happy
with what they purchase and from whom they purchase from.
Examples of Successful Companies
The companies that come to mind that have been successful in the world today are: WalMart, because they consider what it is the customer wants and what it is they can do differently
on a yearly basis to make sure that they provide them with the best service and product possible.
Wal-mart had come to believe that if you give people what they want they will continue to shop
at your store and they will always be loyal to that business, for which they will make sure to shop
at on a daily basis or at least two or three times a week. Another store is Target, because even
with the examples that they show in their commercials they find a way to make thing brighter
and more accessible for those who want to shop at their store especially during the holiday
season they have some of the most upbeat commercials that get the attention of their customers
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and others around them. Especially during Christmas the people who go from what they see to be
credible and viable to them, that they will buy what they want and get what is needed for them.
Example of Unsuccessful Company
K-mart, because even though they still have a few stores that are still open they had to
combine with Sears to become a whole business and become successful in the financial area and
in a way that customers and investors would believe in them enough to keep them from closing
completely. Even though K-mart has stores in many states they have to rely on Sears to keep
them going, because now they sale things that they would not normally sell like appliances, beds
and washers & Dryer’s. These things are normally only sold at Sears but because of the merger
they have had the opportunity to sell these things in K-mart.
Conclusion
This paper was a challenge in itself, trying to figure out how a business can work with the
people and its investors. Knowing how to set up a business making sure that it will provide
others with the things they need and giving individuals the opportunity to get what they need and
not feel that they are being taken advantage of in the process. Looking at what is expected of a
business and the process of communication, planning and profit as a business and it takes people
and finances to create a profitable and successful business. Each company as a whole work to
help keep the business from failing and they make sure that they will stay on top for many years
to come.
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References
Walters, D., & Rainbird, M. (2007). Strategic operations management: A value chain approach.
New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Strategic Management. John Wiley & Sons Ltd Vol. 19 pg. 413
The Value Chain Lu & Hung 2010 pg. 1155