Question

Define and briefly explain the differences between the concepts “Plant-within-aplant” and “Straddling”.

Answer 1

Plant-within-a-plant - This concept comes into the picture when different locations of a facility are dedicated to different product lines. Each location operates as if it is a dedicated plant having a separate operational strategy. There is no mix-up or strategic shift between or within the location. This ensures that the locations do not alter their own strategy often influenced by other locations or product lines.

Straddling - Straddling happens when a firm tries to implement what its competitors are doing. This can include capacity upgrade, installing new technology, adding new service lines, or growing in a new market.

The main difference between these two strategies is that while the plant-within-a-plant strategy focuses on having separate strategy and operation and least interdependence, straddling is more of following a particular trend which the rest of the competition is doing. This is the reason straddling is often a problematic approach because not all firms can have the same strategy and each have their own trad-offs. Straddling fails to capture this trade-off and reduces to simple replication.