Question

Until recently, Woodbest Limited has been the leading producer of wood furniture in Malona city. Following the arrival of a major competitor in the city, Woodbest is seeking to explore innovative ways of maintaining its position in the market. In the meantime, it is relying on its competencies in the acquisition of materials, production, transportation of finished products and installations. The perfect coordination of these activities and its five-year maintenance-free policy for customers have so far kept the company in competition but it has to use strong strategic initiatives to stay ahead of the new competitor.

As a consultant in Operations Management, you are to:

1. Describe, with an example each, any six (6) competitive operations strategies that can be used by Woodbest to stay ahead of the competition.                       
2. Describe any six (6) growth strategies that can be used by the company to increase its capacity of operations.                                                                                 
3. Draw a value chain to illustrate the activities of Woodbest Limited.         

Answer 1

Here in this assessment we can discuss about the various questions :-

1) The companies always strive to stay ahead of their competitors. It is the only way to sustain in the market. Companies tend to make innovative products to attract customers. The companies also redesign the product to keep pace with the innovation. There are six strategies to stay ahead of the competition. The first strategy is to improve. The company can move ahead of its competitors by just improving the product more effectively. The second strategy is innovation. It defines the company’s ability to make changes in the product with the changes in technology. The next strategy is sensing the weakness. The company should assess its weakness in the coma petit or and external environment. The next strategy is cost-effectiveness. The companies should maintain the cost of their products to increase the demand for the product. The next factor is the responsiveness. It defines the ability of the company to respond to external threats and opportunities. The last strategy is sustainability. The company should always use a sustainable form of production. It is because this type of production reduces the load on resources. For example, a manufacturing firm can quickly move ahead of the competitors by improving its manufacturing and quality of the raw materials.

2) There are many strategies for the growth of a company. The first is a market penetration strategy. The company uses this strategy to grow in the same market by advertising the product more so that consumers buy more. The second strategy is market expansion. Under this strategy, the companies decide to go into a new market. It decides to spread its reach to more customers. The next strategy is product expansion. The companies establish one more line of product to expand and grow the business. It also extends its sales and purchase functions. The next strategy is diversification. Now here, the company decides to market the new products in the new target audience. The next strategy is acquisition. Many companies, such as Facebook, acquire the other companies and expand their business operations. The last strategy is the alternative channels. Under this strategy, the companies use alternative means to market their products.

3) The value chain includes adding additional features to the products. The chain includes the purchase of raw materials, manufacturing, packaging, selling, and distributing. The value here is that there can be improvements in packaging. The company can also use sustainable methods to manufacture the product.