Chapter 08 - Business Strategy

Chapter 8

Business Strategy

Chapter Summary

This chapter examines how managers in businesses that have a single or dominant product or
service evaluate and choose their company’s strategy. The two critical areas deserve their
attention: (1) their business’s value chain, and (2) the appropriateness of 12 different grand
strategies based on matching environmental factors with internal capabilities.

Managers in single-product-line business units examine their business’s value chain to identify
existing or potential activities around which they can create sustainable competitive advantages.
As managers scrutinize their value chain activities, they are looking for three sources of
competitive advantage: low cost, differentiation, and rapid response capabilities. They also
examine whether focusing on a narrow market niche provides a more effective, sustainable way to
build or leverage these three sources of competitive advantage.

Managers in single- or dominant-product/service businesses face two interrelated issues: (1) They
must choose which grand strategies make best use of their competitive advantages. (2) They must
ultimately decide whether to diversify their business activity. Twelve grand strategies are
identified in this chapter along with three frameworks that aid managers in choosing which grand
strategies should work best and when diversification or integration should be the best strategy for
the business. The next chapter expands the coverage of diversification to look at how
multibusiness companies evaluate continued diversification and how they construct corporate
strategy.

Learning Objectives

1. Determine why a business would choose a low-cost, differentiation, or speed-based

strategy.
2. Explain the nature and value of a market focus strategy.
3. Illustrate how a firm can pursue both low-cost and differentiation strategies.
4. Identify requirements for business success at different stages of industry evolution.
5. Determine good business strategies in fragmented and global industries.
6. Decide when a business should diversify.

Lecture Outline

I. Introduction

A. Strategic analysis and choice is the phase of the strategic management process in which
business managers examine and choose a business strategy that allows their business to
maintain or create a sustainable competitive advantage.

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1. Their starting point is to evaluate and determine which competitive advantages

provide the basis for distinguishing the firm in the customer’s mind from other
reasonable alternatives.

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2. Businesses with a dominant product or service line must also choose among
alternate grand strategies to guide the firm’s activities, particularly when they are
trying to decide about broadening the scope of the firm’s activities beyond its core
business.

B. Strategic analysis and choice in single- or dominant-product/service businesses can be

addressed with two basic issues:

1. What strategies are most effective at building sustainable competitive advantages

for single business units?

2. Should dominant-product/service businesses diversify to build value and

competitive advantage?

II. Evaluating and Choosing Business Strategies: Seeking Sustained Competitive Advantage

A. Business managers evaluate and choose strategies that they think will make their
business successful. Businesses become successful because they possess some
advantage relative to their competitors.

1. The two most prominent sources of competitive advantage can be found in the
business’s cost structure and its ability to differentiate the business from
competitors.

2. Businesses that create competitive advantages from one or both of these sources
usually experience above-average profitability within their industry.

a) Businesses that lack a cost differentiation advantage usually experience

average or below-average profitability.
b) Two well-recognized studies found that businesses that do not have either
form of competitive advantage perform the poorest among their peers, while
businesses that possess both forms of competitive advantage enjoy the
highest levels of profitability within their industry.

3. Initially, managers were advised to evaluate and choose strategies that emphasized
one type of competitive advantage.

a) Often referred to as generic strategies, firms were encouraged to become

either a differentiation-oriented or low-cost-oriented company.
b) In so doing, it was logical that organizational members would develop a clear
understanding of company priorities and, as these studies suggest, likely
experience profitability superior to competitors without either a
differentiation or low-cost orientation.

4. The studies mentioned here, and the experience of many other businesses, indicate
that the highest profitability levels are found in businesses that possess both types
of competitive advantage at the same time.
a) In other words, businesses that have one or more sources/capabilities that let
them operate at a lower cost will consistently outperform their rivals that
don’t.

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b) So the challenge for today’s business managers is to evaluate and choose

business strategies based on core competencies and value chain activities that
sustain both types of competitive advantage simultaneously.
c) Exhibit 8.1, Top Strategist, shows how Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg
and COO Sheryl Sandberg are charting a course for the company that
includes both low-cost and differentiation strategies.

B. Evaluating Cost Leadership Opportunities

1. Business success built on cost leadership requires the business to be able to

provide its product or service at a cost below what its competitors can achieve.

a) Through the skills and resources identified in Exhibit 8.2, Evaluating a

Business’s Cost Leadership Opportunities, a business must be able to
accomplish one or more activities in its value chain activities—procuring
materials, processing them into products, marketing the products, and
distributing the products or support activities—in a more cost-effective
manner than that of its competitors or it must be able to reconfigure its value
chain so as to achieve a cost advantage.
b) Exhibit 8.2 provides examples of such low-cost strategies.
c) Strategists examining their business’s value chain for low-cost leadership
advantages evaluate the sustainability of those advantages by benchmarking
their business against key competitors and by considering the effect of any
cost advantage on the five forces in their business’s competitive
environment.

2. Low-cost activities that are sustainable and that provide one or more of these
advantages relative to key industry forces should become a key basis for the
business’s competitive strategy.

a) Low-cost advantages that reduce the likelihood of pricing pressure from

buyers

(1) When key competitors cannot match prices from the low-cost leader,
customers pressuring the leader risk establishing a price level that
drives alternate sources out of business.

b) Truly sustained low-cost advantages may push rivals into other areas

(1) Intense, continued price competition may be ruinous for all rivals, as
seen occasionally in the airline industry.

c) New entrants competing on price must face an entrenched cost leader without
the experience to replicate every cost advantage

(1) easyJet, a British startup with a Southwest Airlines copycat strategy,

entered the European airline market with much fanfare and low-priced,
city-to-city, no-frills flights.

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(2) Analysts caution for some time that, British Airways, KLM’s no-frills
offshoot Buzz, and Virgin Express will simply match fares onf easyJet’s
key routes and let high landing fees and flight delays take their toll on
the British upstart. Yet easyJet has survived and solidified its leadership
position in Europe.

d) Low-cost advantages should lessen the attractiveness of substitute products

(1) A serious concern of any business is the threat of a substitute product in

which buyers can meet their original need.
(2) Low-cost advantages allow the holder to resist this happening because it
allows them to remain competitive even against desirable substitutes,
and it allows them to lessen concerns about price facing an inferior,
lower-priced substitute.

e) Higher margins allow low-cost producers to withstand supplier cost increases

and often gain supplier loyalty over time

(1) Sudden, particularly uncontrollable increases in the costs suppliers face

can be more easily absorbed by low-cost, higher-margin producers.
(2) Once managers identify opportunities to create cost advantage-based
strategies, they must consider whether key risks inherent in cost
leadership are present in a way that may mediate sustained success.
(3) The key risks with which they must be concerned are discussed next.

f) Many cost-saving activities are easily duplicated

(1) Computerizing certain order entry functions among hazardous waste

companies gave early adopters lower sales costs and better customer
service for a brief time.
(2) Rivals quickly adapted, adding similar capabilities with similar effects
on their costs.

g) Exclusive cost leadership can become a trap

(1) Firms that emphasize lowest price and can offer it via cost advantages
where product differentiation is increasingly not considered must truly
be convinced of the sustainability of those advantages.
(2) Particularly with commodity-type products, the low-cost leader seeking
to sustain a margin superior to lesser rivals may encounter increasing
customer pressure for lower prices with great damage to both leader and
lesser players.

h) Obsessive cost cutting can shrink other competitive advantages involving key
product attributes

(1) Intense cost scrutiny can build margin, but it can reduce opportunities
for or investment in innovation, processes, and products.
(2) Similarly, such scrutiny can lead to the use of inferior raw materials,
processes, or activities that were previously viewed by customers as a
key attribute of the original products.

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i) Cost differences often decline over time

(1) As products age, competitors learn how to match cost advantages.

(2) Absolute volumes sold often decline.
(3) Market channels and suppliers mature.
(4) Buyers become more knowledgeable.
(5) All of these factors present opportunities to lessen the value or presence
of earlier cost advantages.
(6) Put differently, cost advantages that are not sustainable over a period of
time are risky.

3. Once business managers have evaluated the cost structure of their value chain,
determined activities that provide competitive cost advantages, and considered
their inherent risks, they start choosing the business’s strategy. Those managers
concerned with differentiation-based strategies, or those seeking optimum
performance incorporating both sources of competitive advantage, move to
evaluate their business’s sources of differentiation.

a) Evaluating differentiation opportunities

(1) Differentiation requires that the business have sustainable advantages

that allow it to provide buyers with something uniquely valuable to
them.

(a) A successful differentiation strategy allows the business to provide

a product or service of perceived higher value to buyers at a
“differentiation cost” below the “value premium” to the buyers.
(b) The buyer feels the additional cost to buy the product or service is
well below what the product or service is worth compared with
other available alternatives.

(2) Differentiation usually arises from one or more activities in the value
chain that create a unique value important to buyers.

(a) A business can achieve differentiation by performing its existing

value activities or reconfiguring in some unique way.
(b) The sustainability of that differentiation will depend on two things:
a continuation of its high perceived value to buyers and a lack of
imitation by competitors.

(3) Exhibit 8.3, Evaluating a Business’s Differentiation Opportunities,

provides examples of the types of key skills and resources on which
managers seeking to build differentiation-based strategies would base
their underlying, sustainable competitive advantages.

(4) Strategists examining their business’s resources and capabilities for

differentiation advantages evaluate the sustainability of those
advantages by benchmarking their business against key competitors and
by considering the effect of any differentiation advantage on the five
forces in their business’s competitive environment.

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(a) Sustainable activities that provide one or more of the following

opportunities relative to key industry forces should become the
basis for differentiation aspects of the business’s competitive
strategy.

b) Rivalry is reduced when a business successfully differentiates itself

c) Buyers are less sensitive to prices for effectively differentiated products

d) Brand loyalty is hard for new entrants to overcome

3. Managers examining differentiation-based advantages must take potential risks

into account as they commit their business to these advantages. Some of the more
common ways risks arise include:

a) Imitation narrows perceived differentiation, rendering differentiation

meaningless

b) Technological changes that nullify past investments or learning

c) The cost difference between low-cost competitors and the differentiated

business becomes too great for differentiation to hold brand loyalty

(1) Buyers may begin to choose to sacrifice some of the features, services,
or image possessed by the differentiated business for large cost savings.
(2) The rising cost of a college education, particularly at several “premier”
institutions, has caused many students to opt for lower-cost destinations
that offer very similar courses without image, frills, and professors who
seldom teach undergraduate students anyway.

C. Evaluating Speed as a Competitive Advantage

1. Speed-based strategies, or rapid response to customer requests or market and

technological changes, have become a major source of competitive advantage for
numerous firms in today’s intensely competitive global economy.

a) Speed is certainly a form of differentiation, but it is more than that.

b) Speed involves the availability of a rapid response to a customer by
providing current products quicker, accelerating new-product development or
improvement, quickly adjusting production processes, and making decisions
quickly.
c) While low cost and differentiation may provide important competitive
advantages, managers in tomorrow’s successful companies will base their
strategies on creating speed-based competitive advantages.
d) Exhibit 8.4, Strategy in Action, describes how Michael O’Leary built
Ryanair using a speed-based competitive strategy, while Exhibit 8.5,
Evaluating a Business’s Rapid Response (Speed) Opportunities, describes
and illustrates key skills and organizational requirements that are associated
with speed-based competitive advantage.

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2. Speed-based competitive advantages can be created around several activities:

a) Customer responsiveness

(1) All consumers have encountered hassles, delays, and frustration dealing
with various businesses from time to time.
(2) The same holds true when dealing with business to business.
(3) Quick response with answers, information, and solutions to mistakes
can become the basis for competitive advantage—one that builds
customer loyalty quickly.

b) Product development cycles

c) Product or service improvements

(1) Like development time, companies that can rapidly adapt their products
or services and do so in a way that benefits their customers or creates
new customers have a major competitive advantage over rivals that
cannot do this.

d) Speed in delivery or distribution

(1) Firms that can get you what you need when you need it, even when that
is tomorrow, realize that buyers have come to expect that level of
responsiveness.

e) Information Sharing and Technology

(1) Speed in sharing information that becomes the basis for decisions,
actions, or other important activities taken by a customer, supplier, or
partner has become a major source of competitive advantage for many
businesses.
(2) Telecommunications, the Internet, and networks are but a part of a vast
infrastructure that is being used by knowledgeable managers to rebuild
or create value in their businesses via information sharing.

3. These rapid response capabilities create competitive advantages in several ways.

a) They create a way to lessen rivalry because they have availability of

something that a rival may not have.
b) It can allow the business to change buyers more, engender loyalty, or
otherwise enhance the business’s position relative to its buyers.
c) Particularly where impressive customer response is involved, businesses can
generate supplier cooperation and concessions because their business
ultimately benefits from increased revenue.
d) Finally, substitute products and new entrants find themselves trying to keep
up with the rapid changes rather than introducing them.

4. While the notion of speed-based competitive advantage is exciting, it has risks

managers must consider.

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a) First, speeding up activities that haven’t been conducted in a fashion that

prioritizes rapid response should only be done after considerable attention to
training, reorganization, and/or reengineering.
b) Second, some industries—stable, mature ones that have very minimal levels
of change—may not offer much advantage to the firm that introduces some
forms of rapid response.
c) Customers in such settings may prefer the slower pace or the lower costs
currently available, or they may have long time frames in purchasing such
that speed is not that important to them.

D. Evaluating Market Focus as a Way to Competitive Advantage

1. Small companies, at least the better ones, usually thrive because they serve narrow
market niches.

a) This is usually called market focus, the extent to which a business

concentrates on a narrowly defined market.
b) The narrow focus may be geographically defined, or defined by product type
features, or target customer type, or some combination of these.

2. Market focus allows some businesses to compete on the basis of low cost,
differentiation, and rapid response against much larger businesses with greater
resources.

a) Focus lets a business “learn” its target customers—their needs, special

considerations they want accommodated—and establish personal
relationships in ways that “differentiate” the smaller firm or make it more
valuable to the target customer.
b) Low costs can also be achieved, filling niche needs in a buyer’s operations
that larger rivals either do not want to bother with or cannot do as cost
effectively.
c) Cost advantage often centers around the high level of customized service the
focused, smaller business can provide.
d) And perhaps the greatest competitive weapon that can arise is rapid response.
e) With enhanced knowledge of its customers and intricacies of their
operations, the small, focused company builds up organizational knowledge
about timing-sensitive ways to work with a customer.
f) Often the needs of that narrow set of customers represent a large part of the
small, focused business’s revenues.
g) Exhibit 8.6, Top Strategist, illustrates how China’s Zhang Rumin uses
market focus to enable Haier to enter the U.S. market.

3. The risk of focus is that you attract major competitors who have waited for your
business to “prove” the market.

a) Domino’s proved that a huge market for pizza delivery existed and now faces
serious challenges.
b) Likewise, publicly traded companies built around focus strategies become
takeover targets for large firms seeking to fill out a product portfolio.

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c) And perhaps the greatest risk of all is slipping into the illusion that it is focus
itself, and not some special form of low cost, differentiation, or rapid
response, that is creating the business’s success.

4. Managers evaluating opportunities to build competitive advantage should link

strategies to resources, capabilities, and value chain activities that exploit low
cost, differentiation, and rapid response competitive advantages.

a) When advantageous, they should consider ways to use focus to leverage these
advantages.
b) One way business managers can enhance their likelihood of identifying these
opportunities is to consider several different “generic” industry environments
from the perspective of the typical value chain activities most often linked to
sustained competitive advantages in those unique industry situations.
c) The next section discusses five key generic industry environments and the
value chain activities most associated with success.

E. Stages of Industry Evolution and Business Strategy Choices

1. The requirements for success in industry segments change over time.

a) Strategists can use these changing requirements, which are associated with
different stages of industry evolution, as a way to isolate key competitive
advantages and shape strategic choices around them.
b) Exhibit 8.7, Sources of Distinctive Competence at Different Stages of
Industry Evolution, depicts four stages of industry evolution and the typical
functional capabilities that are often associated with business success at each
of these stages.

2. Competitive Advantage and Strategic Choices in Emerging Industries

a) Emerging industries are newly formed or re-formed industries that typically

are created by technological innovation, newly emerging customer needs, or
other economic or sociological changes.

(1) Emerging industries of the last decade have been the Internet browser,
fiber optics, solar heating, cellular telephone, and online service
industries.

b) From the standpoint of strategy formulation, the essential characteristic of an

emerging industry is that there are no “rules of the game.”

(1) The absence of rules presents both a risk and an opportunity—a wise
strategy positions the firm to favorable shape the emerging industry’s
rules.

c) Business strategies must be shaped to accommodate the following

characteristics of markets in emerging industries:

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(1) Technologies that are most proprietary to the pioneering firms and
technological uncertainty about how product standardization will
unfold.
(2) Competitor uncertainty because of inadequate information about
competitors, buyers, and the timing of demand.
(3) High initial costs but steep cost declines as the experience curve takes
effect.
(4) Few entry barriers, which often spurs the formation of many new firms.
(5) First-time buyers requiring initial inducement to purchase and
customers confused by the availability of a number of nonstandard
products.
(6) Inability to obtain raw materials and components until suppliers gear up
to meet the industry’s needs.
(7) Need for high-risk capital because of the industry’s uncertainty
prospects.

d) For success in this industry setting, business strategies require one or more of
these features:

(1) The ability to shape the industry’s structure based on the timing of
entry, reputation, success in related industries or technologies, and role
in industry associations.
(2) The ability to rapidly improve product quality and performance
features.
(3) Advantageous relationships with key suppliers and promising
distribution channels.
(4) The ability to establish the firm’s technology as the dominant one
before technological uncertainty decreases.
(5) The early acquisition of a core group of loyal customers and then the
expansion of that customer base through model changes, alternative
pricing, and advertising.
(6) The ability to forecast future competitors and the strategies they are
likely to employ.

3. Competitive Advantages and Strategic Choices in Growing Industries

a) Rapid growth brings new competitors into the industry.

(1) Oftentimes, those new entrants are large competitors with substantial
resources who have waited for the market to “prove” itself before they
committed significant resources.
(2) At this stage, growth industry strategies that emphasize brand
recognition, product differentiation, and the financial resources to
support both heavy marketing expenses and the effect of price
competition on cash flow can be key strengths.
(3) Accelerating demand means scaling up production or service capacity to
meet the growing demand.
(4) Doing so may place a premium on being able to adapt product design
and production facilities to meet rapidly increasing demand effectively.

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(5) Increased investment in plant and equipment, in research and

development (R&D), and especially marketing efforts to target specific
customer groups along with developing strong distribution capabilities
place a demand on the firm’s capital resources.

b) For success in this industry setting, business strategies require one or more of
the following features:

(1) The ability to establish strong brand recognition through promotional

resources and skills that increase selective demand.
(2) The ability and resources to scale up to meet increasing demand, which
may involve production facilities, service capabilities, and the training
and logistics associated with that capacity.
(3) Strong product design skills to be able to adapt products and services to
scaled operations and emerging market niches.
(4) The ability to differentiate the firm’s product[s] from competitors
entering the market.
(5) R&D resources and skills to create product variations and advantages.
(6) The ability to build repeat buying from established customers and
attract new customers.
(7) Strong capabilities in sales and marketing.

4. Competitive Advantages and Strategic Choices in Mature Industry Environments

a) As an industry evolves, its rate of growth eventually declines.

(1) This “transition to maturity” is accompanied by several changes in its

competitive environment:

(a) Competition for market share becomes more intense as firms in the
industry are forced to achieve sales growth at one another’s
expense.
(b) Firms working with the mature industry strategies sell
increasingly to experienced, repeat buyers who are now making
choices among known alternatives.
(c) Competition becomes more oriented to cost and service as
knowledgeable buyers expect similar price and product features.
(d) Industry capacity “tops out” as sales growth ceases to cover up
poorly planned expansions.
(e) New products and applications are harder to come by.
(f) International competition increases as cost pressures lead to
overseas production advantages.
(g) Profitability falls, often permanently, as a result of pressure to
lower prices and the increased costs of holding or building market
share. Exhibit 8.8, Strategy-in-Action, looks at how Milliken
minimizes its environmental impact while also saving costs.

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b) These changes necessitate a fundamental strategic reassessment. Strategy

elements of successful firms in maturing industries often include the
following:

(1) Product line pricing, or dropping unprofitable product models, sizes,

and options from the firm’s product mix.
(2) Emphasis on process innovation that permits low-cost product design,
manufacturing methods, and distribution synergy.
(3) Emphasis on cost reduction through exerting pressure on suppliers for
lower prices, switching to cheaper components, introducing operational
efficiencies, and lowering administrative and sales overhead.
(4) Careful buyer selection to focus on buyers who are less aggressive,
more closely tied to the firm, and able to buy more from the firm.
(5) Horizontal integration to acquire rival firms whose weaknesses can be
used to gain a bargain price and that are correctable by the acquiring
firms.
(6) International expansion to markets where attractive growth and limited
competition still exist and the opportunity for lower-cost manufacturing
can influence both domestic and international costs.

c) Business strategists in maturing industries must avoid several pitfalls.

(1) First, they must make a clear choice among the three generic strategies
and avoid a middle-ground approach, which would confuse both
knowledgeable buyers and the firm’s personnel.
(2) Second, they must avoid sacrificing market share too quickly for short-
term profit.
(3) Finally, they must avoid waiting too long to respond to price reductions,
retaining unneeded excess capacity, engaging in sporadic or irrational
efforts to boost sales, and placing their hopes on “new” products, rather
than aggressively selling existing products.

5. Competitive Advantages and Strategic Choices in Declining Industries

a) Declining industries are those that make products or services for which
demand is growing slower than demand in the economy as a whole or is
actually declining.

(1) This slow growth or decline in demand is caused by technological

substitution, demographic shifts, and shifts in needs.

b) Firms in a declining industry should choose strategies that emphasize one or

more of the following themes:

(1) Focus on segments within the industry that offer a chance for higher
growth or a higher return.
(2) Emphasize product innovation and quality improvement, where this can
be done cost effectively, to differentiate the firm from rivals and to spur
growth.

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(3) Emphasize production and distribution efficiency by streamlining

production, closing marginal production facilities and costly
distribution outlets, and adding effective new facilities and outlets.
(4) Gradually harvest the business—generate cash by cutting down on
maintenance, reducing models, and shrinking channels and make no
new investment.

c) Strategists who incorporate one or more of these themes into the strategy of
their business can anticipate relative success, particularly where the
industry’s decline is slow and smooth and some profitable niches remain.

F. Competitive Advantage in Fragmented Industries

1. Fragmented industries are another setting in which identifiable types of

competitive advantages and the strategic choices suggested by those advantages
can be identified.

a) A fragmented industry is one in which no firm has a significant market

share and can strongly influence industry outcomes.
b) Fragmented industries are found in many areas of the economy and are
common in such areas as professional services, retailing, distribution, wood
and metal fabrication, and agricultural products.
c) Business strategists in fragmented industries pursue low-cost, differentiation,
or focus competitive advantages in one of five ways:

2. Tightly managed decentralization

a) Fragmented industries are characterized by a need for intense local

coordination, a local management orientation, high personal service, and
local autonomy.
b) Recently, however, successful firms in such industries have introduced a high
degree of professionalism into the operations of local managers.

3. “Formula” facilities

a) This alternative, related to the previous one, introduces standardized,

efficient, low-cost facilities at multiple locations.
b) Thus, the firm gradually builds a low-cost advantage over localized
competitors.
c) Fast-food and motel chains have applied this approach with considerable
success.

4. Increased value added

a) The products or services of some fragmented industries are difficult to

differentiate.
b) In this case, an effective strategy may be to add value by providing more
service with the sale or by engaging in some product assembly that is of
additional value to the customer.

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5. Specialization

a) Focus strategies that creatively segment the market can enable firms to cope
with fragmentation. Specialization can be pursued by:

(1) Product type. The firm builds expertise focusing on a narrow range of
products or services.
(2) Customer type. The firm becomes intimately familiar with and serves
the needs of a narrow customer segment.
(3) Type of order. The firm handles only certain kinds of orders, such as
small orders, custom orders, or quick turnaround orders.
(4) Geographic area. The firm blankets or concentrates on a single area.

b) Although specialization in one or more of these ways can be the basis for a
sound focus strategy in a fragmented industry, each of these types of
specialization risks limiting the firm’s potential sales volume.

6. Bare bones/no frills

a) Given the intense competition and low margins in fragmented industries, a

“bare bones” posture—low overhead, minimum wage employees, tight cost
control—may build a sustainable cost advantage in such industries.

G. Competitive Advantage in Global Industries

1. Global industries present a final setting in which success is often associated with
identifiable sources of competitive advantage.

a) A global industry is one that comprises firms whose competitive positions

in major geographic or national markets are fundamentally affected by their
overall global competitive positions.
b) To avoid strategic disadvantages, firms in the global industries are virtually
required to compete on a worldwide basis.

2. Global industries have four unique strategy-shaping features:

a) Differences in prices and costs from country to country due to currency

exchange fluctuations, differences in wage and inflation rates, and other
economic factors.
b) Differences in buyer needs across different countries.
c) Differences in competitors and ways of competing from country to country.
d) Differences in trade rules and governmental regulations across different
countries.

3. These unique features and the global competition of global industries require that
two fundamental components be addressed in the business strategy: (1) the
approach used to gain global market coverage and (2) the generic competitive
strategy.

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4. Three basic options can be sued to pursue global market coverage:

a) License foreign firms to produce and distribute the firm’s products.

b) Maintain a domestic production base and export products to foreign
countries.
c) Establish foreign-based plants and distribution to compete directly in the
markets of one or more foreign countries.

5. Along with the market coverage decision, strategists must scrutinize the condition
of the global industry features identified earlier to choose among four generic
global competitive strategies:

a) Broad-line global competition—directed at competing worldwide in the full

product line of the industry, often with plants in many countries, to achieve
differentiation or an overall low-cost position.
b) Global focus strategy—targeting a particular segment of the industry for
competition on a worldwide basis.
c) National focus strategy—taking advantage of differences in national markets
that give the firm an edge over global competitors on a nation-by-nation
basis.
d) Protected niche strategy—seeking out countries in which governmental
restraints exclude or inhibit global competitors or allow concessions, or both,
that are advantageous to localized firms.

6. Competing in global industries has become a reality for most businesses in

virtually every economy around the world. Exhibit 8.9, Strategy-in-Action,
profiles how a French steelmaker responded to global competition.

IV. Dominant Product/Service Businesses: Evaluating and Choosing to Diversify to Build Value

A. Many dominant product businesses face the question of whether to focus its core
business using the grand strategies of concentration, market development, and product
development or to diversify into related businesses and vertical integration as the best
grand strategy to build long-term value.

1. What grand strategies are best suited to continue to build value?

2. Under what circumstances should they choose an expanded focus (diversification,
vertical integration); steady, continued focus (concentration, market or product
development); or a narrowed focus (turnaround or divestiture)?
3. This section examines two ways you can analyze a dominant product company’s
situation and choose among the 15 grand strategies identified in Chapter 7.

B. Grand Strategy Selection Matrix

1. One valuable guide to the selection of a promising grand strategy is called the
Grand strategy selection matrix shown in Exhibit 8.10.

a) The basic idea underlying the matrix is that two variable s are or central
concern in the selection process: (1) the principal purpose of the grand
strategy and (2) the choice of an internal or external emphasis for growth or
profitability.

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2. In the past, planners were advised to follow certain rules or prescriptions in their
choice of strategies.

a) Now, most experts agree that strategy selection is better guided by the
conditions of the planning period and by the company strengths and
weaknesses.
b) It should be noted, however, that even the early approaches to strategy
selection sought to match a concern over internal versus external growth with
a desire to overcome weaknesses or maximize strengths.

3. The same considerations led to the development of the grand strategy selection
matrix.

a) A firm in quadrant I, with “all its eggs in one basket,” often views itself as
over-committed to a particular business with limited growth opportunities or
high risks.
b) One reasonable solution is vertical integration, which enables the firm to
reduce risk by reducing uncertainty about inputs or access to customers.
c) Another is conglomerate diversification, which provides a profitable
investment alternative with diverting management attention from the original
business.
d) However, the external approaches to overcoming weaknesses usually result
in the most costly grand strategies.
e) Acquiring a second business demands large investments of time and sizable
financial resources.
f) Thus, strategic managers considering these approaches must guard against
exchanging one set of weaknesses for another.

4. More conservative approaches to overcoming weaknesses are found in quadrant II.

a) Firms often choose to redirect resources from one internal business activity
to another.
b) This approach maintains the firm’s commitment to its basic mission, rewards
success, and enables further development of proven competitive advantages.
c) The least disruptive of the quadrant II strategies is retrenchment, pruning
the current activities of a business.
d) If the weaknesses of the business arose from inefficiencies, retrenchment can
actually serve as a turnaround strategy—that is, the business gains new
strength from the streamlining of its operations and the elimination of waste.
e) However, if those weaknesses are a major obstruction to success in the
industry and the costs of overcoming them are unaffordable or are not
justified by a cost-benefit analysis, then eliminating the business must be
considered.
f) Divestiture offers the best possibility of recouping the firm’s investment, but
even liquidation can be an attractive option if the alternatives are bankruptcy
or an unwarranted drain on the firm’s resources.

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5. A common business adage states that a firm should build from strength.

a) The premise of this adage is that growth and survival depend on an ability to
capture a market share that is large enough for essential economies of scale.
b) If a firm believes that this approach will be profitable and prefers an internal
emphasis for maximizing strengths, four grand strategies hold considerable
promise.
c) As shown in quadrant III, the most common approach is concentrated
growth, that is, market penetration.
d) The firm that selects this strategy is strongly committed to its current
products and markets.
e) It strives to solidify its position by reinvesting resources to fortify its
strengths.

6. Two alternative approaches are market development and product development.

a) With these strategies, the firm attempts to broaden its operations.

b) Market development is chosen if the firm’s strategic managers feel that its
existing products would be well received by new customer groups.
c) Product development is chosen if they feel that the firm’s existing customers
would be interested in products related to its current lines.
d) Product development also may be based on technological or other
competitive advantages.
e) The final alternative for quadrant III firms is innovation.
f) When the firm’s strengths are in creative product design or unique
production technologies, sales can be stimulated by accelerating perceived
obsolescence.
g) This is the principle underlying the innovative grand strategy.

7. Maximizing a firm’s strengths by aggressively expanding its base of operations

usually requires an external emphasis.

a) The preferred options in such cases are shown in quadrant IV.

b) Horizontal integration is attractive because it makes possible a quick
increase in output capability.
c) Moreover, in horizontal integration, the skills of the managers of the original
business often are critical in converting newly acquired facilities into
profitable contributors to the parent firm; this expands a fundamental
competitive advantage of the firm—its management.

8. Concentric diversification is a good second choice for similar reasons.

a) Because the original and newly acquired businesses are related, the
distinctive competencies of the diversifying firm are likely to facilitate a
smooth, synergistic, and profitable expansion.

9. The final alternative for increasing resource capability through external emphasis
is a joint venture or strategic alliance.

a) This alternative allows a firm to extend its strengths into competitive arenas
that it would be hesitant to enter alone.

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b) A partner’s production, technological, financial, or marketing capabilities can

reduce the firm’s financial investment significantly and increase its
probability of success.

C. Model of Grand Strategy Clusters

1. A second guide to selecting a promising strategy is the grand strategy cluster

shown in Exhibit 8.11, Model of Grand Strategy Clusters.

a) The figure is based on the idea that the situation of a business is defined in
terms of the growth rate of the general market and the firm’s competitive
position in that market.
b) When these factors are considered simultaneously, a business can be broadly
categorized in one of four quadrants:

(1) Strong competitive position in a rapidly growing market

(quadrant I)
(2) Weak position in a rapidly growing market (quadrant II)
(3) Weak position in a slow-growth market (quadrant III)
(4) Strong position in a slow-growth market (quadrant IV)

c) Each of these quadrants suggests a set of promising possibilities for the

selection of a grand strategy.

2. Firms in quadrant I are in an excellent strategic position.

a) One obvious grand strategy for such firms is continued concentration on their
current business as it is currently defined.
b) Because consumers seem satisfied with the firm’s current strategy, shifting
notably from it would endanger the firm’s established competitive
advantages.
c) Either forward or backward integration helps a firm protect its profit margins
and market share by ensuring better access to consumers or material inputs.
d) Finally, to diminish the risks associated with a narrow product or service
line, a quadrant I firm might be wise to consider concentric diversification;
with this strategy, the firm continues to invest heavily in its basic area of
proven ability.

3. Firms in quadrant II must seriously evaluate their present approach to the

marketplace.

a) If a firm has competed long enough to accurately assess the merits of its
current grand strategy, it must determine (1) why that strategy is ineffectual
and (2) whether it is capable of competing effectively.
b) Depending on the answers to these questions, the firm should choose one of
four grand strategy options: formulation or reformulation of a concentrated
growth strategy, horizontal integration, divestiture, or liquidation.

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4. In a rapidly growing market, even a small or relatively weak business often is able
to find a profitable niche.

a) Thus, formulation or reformulation of a concentrated growth strategy is

usually the first option that should be considered.
b) However, if the firm lacks either a critical competitive element or sufficient
economies of scale to achieve competitive cost efficiencies, then a grand
strategy that directs its efforts toward horizontal integration is often a
desirable alternative.
c) A final pair of options involves deciding to stop competing in the market or
product area of the business.
d) A multiproduct firm may conclude that it is most likely to achieve the goals
of its mission if the business is dropped through divestiture.
e) This grand strategy not only eliminates a drain on resources but also may
provide funds to promote other business activities.
f) As an option of last resort, a firm may decide to liquidate the business.
g) This means that the business cannot be sold as a going concern and is at best
worth only the value of its tangible assets.
h) The decision to liquidate is an undeniable admission of failure by a firm’s
strategic management and, thus, often is delayed—to the further detriment of
the firm.

5. Strategic managers tend to resist divestiture because it is likely to jeopardize their

control of the firm and perhaps even their jobs.

a) Thus, by the time the desirability of divestiture is acknowledged, businesses

often deteriorate to the point of failing to attract potential buyers.
b) The consequences of such delays are financially disastrous for firm owners
because the value of a going concern is many times greater than the value of
its assets.

6. Strategic managers who have a business in quadrant III and expect a continuation
of slow market growth and a relatively weak competitive position will usually
attempt to decrease their resource commitment to that business.

a) Minimal withdrawal is accomplished through retrenchment; this strategy has

the side benefits of making resources available for other investments and of
motivating employees to increase their operating efficiency.
b) An alternative approach is to divert resources for expansion through
investment in other businesses.
c) This approach typically involves either concentric or conglomerate
diversification because the firm usually wants to enter more promising arenas
of competition than integration or concentrated growth strategies would
allow.
d) The final options for quadrant III businesses are divestiture, if an optimistic
buyer can be found, and liquidation.

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7. Quadrant IV businesses (strong competitive position in a slow-growth market)

have a basis of strength from which to diversify into more promising growth areas.

a) These businesses have characteristically high cash flow levels and limited
internal growth needs.
b) Thus, they are in an excellent position for concentric diversification into
ventures that utilize their proven acumen.
c) A second option is conglomerate diversification, which spreads investment
risk and does not divert managerial attention from the present business.
d) The final option is joint ventures, which are especially attractive to
multinational firms.
e) Through joint ventures, a domestic business can gain competitive advantages
in promising new fields while exposing itself to limited risks.

D. Opportunities for Building Value as a Basis for Choosing Diversification or Integration

1. The grand strategy selection matrix and model of grand strategy clusters are useful
tools to help dominant product company managers evaluate and narrow their
choices among alternative grand strategies.

a) When considering grand strategies that would broaden the scope of their
company’s business activities through integration, diversification, or joint
venture strategies, managers must examine whether opportunities to build
value are present.
b) Opportunities to build value via diversification, integration, or joint venture
strategies are usually found in market-related, operating-related, and
management activities.
c) Such opportunities center around reducing costs, improving margins, or
providing access to new revenue sources more cost effectively than
traditional internal growth options via concentration, market development, or
product development.
d) Major opportunities for sharing and value building as well as ways to
capitalize on core competencies are outlined in the next chapter, which
covers strategic analysis and choice in diversified companies.

2. Dominant product company managers who choose diversification or integration

eventually create another management challenge.

a) That challenge is charting the future of a company that becomes a collection

of several distinct businesses.
b) These distinct businesses often encounter different competitive
environments, challenges, and opportunities.
c) The next chapter examines ways managers of such diversified companies
attempt to evaluate and choose corporate strategy.
d) Central to their challenge is the continued desire to build value, particularly
shareholder value.

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Discussion Questions and Case

Questions for Discussion

1. What are three activities or capabilities a firm should possess to support a low-cost
leadership strategy? Use Exhibit 8.2 to help you answer this question. Can you give an
example of a company that has done this?

Exhibit 8.2 portrays the organizational capabilities, the skills, and the value chain to support a
cost leadership strategy. Key skills include: process engineering skills, low-cost distribution
system, products or service designed for ease of manufacture or delivery. A good use of
these skills is seen at Southwest Airlines. It keeps its operations simple and is highly
efficient at execution.

2. What are three activities or capabilities a firm should possess to support a differentiation-
based strategy? Use Exhibit 8.3 to help you answer this question. Can you give an example
of a company that has done this?

From Exhibit 8.3 it is clear that to support a differentiation strategy an organization should
possess skills such as strong marketing capabilities, product engineering, strong capabilities
in basic research, etc. Rolex (watches) is a good example to use in this context.

3. What are three ways a firm can incorporate the advantage of speed in its business? Use
Exhibit 8.5 to help you answer this question. Can you give an example of a company that has
done this?

To support speed as the basis for competitive advantage, qualities that a firm must possess
include process engineering skills, high levels of automation, flexible manufacturing
capabilities, etc. Dell Computers excels in the area of speed in customer service.

4. Do you think it is better to concentrate on one source of competitive advantage (cost versus
differentiation versus speed) or to nurture all three in a firm’s operation?

A firm that has multiple advantages (cost and differentiation and speed, for example) is
obviously better off than one that has a single source of advantage. However, in looking at
Exhibits 8.2, 8.3, and 8.5, it is clear that the skills required to support each strategy are quite
different. It may be difficult for a firm to compete on all three.

5. How does market focus help a business create competitive advantage? What risks
accompany such a posture?

Companies that use a market focus strategy identify underserved niches and compete in those
niches on cost, differentiation, or speed. In their selected niche, such companies appeal to
customers because their products are better suited for their target market.

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The risk of this strategy is that such a company attracts major competitors once the niche
becomes large enough to be profitable. Second, companies using this strategy may think that
their job is done once they identify their niche. It is wrong because the company has to come
up with a way to compete in that niche.

6. Using Exhibits 8.10 and 8.11, describe situations or conditions under which horizontal
integration and concentric diversification would be preferred strategic choices.

According to Exhibit 8.10, the strategies of horizontal integration and concentric

diversification make sense when the firm wants to maximize its strengths and seeks an
external solution to this. Thus, a firm may have a strong distribution network (e.g. Coca-
Cola) and leverages this by buying another company in the same industry that could benefit
from its distribution network.

Similarly, according to Exhibit 8.11, horizontal integration makes sense when the firm finds
itself in a weak competitive position in a rapidly growing market. The company would
choose concentric diversification when it is in a weak competitive position and the market is
growing slowly.

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