Quote to affirm
‘A good strategy helps an organization to achieve competitive advantage’ Chapter 7 (page 161)
I totally agree with the above quote because the essence of designing business strategies is to enable firms to gain the upper hand in offering customers greater value. This position enables businesses to not increase their profit generating abilities, but also to maintain sustained market influence over extended periods. With a sound and workable strategies, a business can enjoy a competitive edge over its competitors. Strategies provides consumers with a compelling reason to transact with the business. For instance, new product developments mean that a business entity is capable of retaining the current customer base in addition to attracting a new customer base. A good strategy involves making alterations on various attributes that relate to the business. These elements include price, operational procedures, benefits, and product features among others. Changes on these aspects are made in such a manner that it outperforms similar features offered by the rivals. The longer the duration of competitive advantage, the longer the duration of relevancy and sustainability of the business.
Chapter 7 (161) identifies strategies on three different levels; corporate level; business level, and functional level. Corporate level strategies determine the markets or business levels where businesses can use to compete. Corporate level strategies are common among complex organizations. Business level strategies offers a competitive advantage within a single business unit or through a single product line. Alterations in product or service attributes are done on a single line. Lastly, functional level strategy defines competitive advantage based on elements of a particular functional area. This involves identifying ways and resources that the organization can use to enhance things such as operational efficiency, customer service, product quality, or even the level of organizational innovativeness (Chapter 7 161).
Quote to challenge
‘International business offers a variety of growth opportunities’ Chapter 7 (pg. 164)
While most multinational corporations have managed to generate massive returns from engaging in international operations, expansion into international territories does not necessarily offer increased growth opportunities. This can be attributed to the complexity of conducting business in new environments coupled with the myriad of challenges associated with the international market. If a business entity does not have enough capital requirements and financial resources to fund international operations for considerable duration of time, international ventures would not be a viable opportunity. On the other hand, a company that has succeeded in the domestic market is not guaranteed to succeed in the international market. Cultural variations, different organizational cultures, competition from local firms, stringent regulations, and lack of a distinguished brand are some of the factors that might affect growth opportunities in international markets.
Firms pursuing a globalization strategy are forced to undertake extensive research to identify the advertisement channels to use, product customizations to design, and learn the local cultures. Besides, every international market has its product standardization rules and conforming to these rules calls for the implementation of various customizations. These factors explain why globalization strategies are divided into transnational and multi-domestic strategies (Chapter 7 164).
Based on the above explanations, I do not agree that pursuing global strategies offer growth opportunities. The statement might be true in the long run, but in the short, a business should be prepared to deal with various challenges and factors that inhibit success in the international market.
Work Cited
Exploring Management. 4th Edition. Chapter 7. Strategy and Strategic Management, Pp. 160 -178
