Capsim Analysis Report Essay

We chose Broad Differentiator as the basic strategy for our company. Through this strategy, our company will attempt to differentiate our product line in several distinct dimensions. By providing products that are vastly superior and unique from our competitors and pricing the products affordably, we can gain customers’ loyalty and awareness.

The team’s unique reasoning behind the choice of strategy that we executed throughout the simulation played a significant role and set the tone toward the effort and attitude that each team member maintained during the process. The strategy of the broad differentiator was the teams choice, because we thought that it would be the most difficult to accomplish, would take the most time, and provide us all with a well rounded learning experience because we would be able to learn how to be successful in both the low and high tech segment with our products instead of just one of the segments. With our previous knowledge about running a business we all were in agreement that if we could sacrifice and work harder to participate in both segments it would lead to some great competitive advantages. As mentioned by Lui, (2013), “the only competitive global business strategies would be based on differentiation by unique specialization in terms of quality, product, service technology, or cost leadership” (p.2824). The great execution of the strategy by our team enabled us to find success and gain different competitive advantages with each of our sensors, in turn accomplishing our goal of meeting the needs and expectations of both the low and high tech segment.

There are many strategies discussed by Jobber and Chadwick (2013) to obtain such competitive advantage, either on broad or narrow or broad scope dimensions, or by different competitive base of differentiation or cost.

I chose a multi-regional, focused differentiation strategy tailored to match the differing competitive conditions and actions of rivals in the North America, Europe-Africa, Asia-Pacific, and Latin America regions. In years 11 through 16, my strategy focused on “upscale buyers wanting products…with world class attributes.” (Thompson, Peteraf, Gamble, & Strickland, 2012) I chose this strategy because the cultures represented in my demographic are radically different, thus I believed we needed a strategy that catered to those differences. This focused strategy concentrates on

The final Competitive strategy Microsoft may consider would be the introduction of a differentiation strategy. Differentiation strategy is defined as an approach under which a firm aims to develop and market unique products for each customer

There are many strategies that organizations can incorporate in today’s business environment. An organization can decide to take on a low-cost provider strategy, a focused low-cost strategy, broad differentiation strategy, focused differentiation strategy, and/or a best-cost provider strategy. While all of them have their own unique features and can offer a competitive advantage over its rivals, Competitive Shoes, Inc. decided to incorporate the best-cost strategy into its organization in order to compete against it rivals. By incorporating the best-cost strategy into its organization, Competitive Shoes Inc. felt that they could stay

The SMART objective is an acronym for the words—specific, measurable, appropriate, realistic, and time-oriented. It is used to help direct a person into making clear objectives/goals and to help them achieve them by setting these characteristics. The first part of the objective is to be specific, in other words, it describes the result of the work that needs to be done. For example, my specific goal is to lose 15 pounds by the end of the summer. The measurable to part of the goal is to weigh myself weekly for the next four months, to see if I am heading in the right direction. It is appropriate to me because that is the goal I set for myself, now it may not be to someone else. Realistic is where someone determines whether or not that goal or objective can be completed in the time given, which it can. Lastly, time-oriented answers the question of when it will be done. In this case, I said it would be done by the end of summer, so in about four months.

There are two different types of competitive advantage: low cost and differentiation. We will develop them in this part I.

Strategies the Company Follows Product Differentiation Product differentiation is a business strategy where the first attempt to gain a competitive advantage by increasing the perceived value of their products or services relative to the perceived value of other firms (Barney & Hesterly, p.130). Between CVS and Walgreens, the biggest difference is that Walgreens is still selling tobacco products where CVS stopped selling them in September 2014 (Ennes, 2016). Even after CVS knew that they would lose revenue when they stopped selling tobacco products they did it anyways, and it was a five percent decrease in non-pharmacy sales in 2015 (Schencker, 2017). Their brand is making the world better, healthier.

There are three steps needed to prepare a financial analysis. The first step is to establish the facts about the organization, which would include reviewing the financial statements such as the balance sheet, statement of operations, statement of changes in net assets and the statement of cash flows. The second step is to compare those facts over time, to the facts of similar organizations and to include vertical, horizontal and ratio analysis in the process. Ratio analysis includes liquidity, profitability, activity and capital structure. The third step in preparing a financial analysis is to use judgement and perspective to evaluate the comparisons and make decisions (Norwicki, 2015).

In 1985 Michael Porter surmised that a market can be subjected into different strategies, thus, three variations of competitive advantage were born. The differentiation strategy is the focus for the purpose of this paper. Furthermore, the differentiation strategy in its most exposed form is a strategy that places prominence toward the brand name and advantage is the prestige that follows. This type of angle draws in a specific high-end consumers which in turn sets its corner of the market apart from its competition. Additionally, in this advantage there is a uniqueness perceived by the consumer, industry wide. The differentiation strategy is distinct in attributes indescribable by price but all the same customers are more than willing to pay a premium for the product or service. Firms that are successful in this advantage are fully equipped with a product development team high in creativity and innovation. Additionally, this strategy is only able to be an advantage if a firm is able to access an unlimited amount of research.

Generic strategies: The differentiation of products builds high uniqueness out of other competitors. The differentiation of services enhances brand involvement and satisfaction with Zappos.

Competitive strategy is the moves and methods that the firm has taken and is taking to appeal buyers, improve its market position, and to endure competitive pressures. The strategy is about what a firm’s capability to try to knock off competitors and attain competitive advantage, which can be offensive or defensive. There are three approaches to competitive strategy, which are low-cost leadership strategy where struggling to be the overall low-cost manufacturer in the in industry. Moreover, pursuing to distinguish one’s product offering from competitors (differentiation strategy), and the last one is focus or niche strategy where aiming on thin portion of the market rather than the whole market (Porter, 1998).

Differentiation is differentiated products and services to meet customer demand, the company can desensitize- price and pay attention to the value that generates a comparatively higher prices and a better profit. So it needs

We have chosen to build our strategy upon a focused strategy, since it allows a much more narrow approach towards the market segment. In this case we have chosen focused differentiation.