Competitive advantage of the company. Part 2

Competitive advantages of the company are external and internal.

External competitive advantages include those indicators that characterize the company's advantage in meeting certain consumer needs. Thus, external competitive advantages form value for the consumer.

External competitive advantages include: product quality, service, company image, consumer knowledge, high level of innovation, and more.

Internal competitive advantages include those indicators that characterize the company's advantages in the price aspects of competition. Thus, internal competitive advantages characterize the value for the manufacturing company and the advantages based on the production and organizational know-how of the company.

Internal competitive advantages include: technology, production efficiency, economies of scale, management efficiency, effective contacts with suppliers, etc.

Competitive advantage of the company. Part 1

A company's competitive advantage is an indicator that characterizes its superiority over competitors in the target market.

Forming a competitive advantage is the basis of a marketing strategy that ensures the company achieves a level of growth and profitability above the average in the market.

The strength of the company turns into a competitive advantage, provided that the indicator has the highest rank.

There are three main areas of competitive advantage:

organizational;

functional;

benefits that are based on relationships with external organizations.

Organizational advantages include the following indicators: high level of company mobility, company size, acquired experience, financial strength, management efficiency.

Functional advantages include indicators of the company's functional services (marketing, production, personnel): company image, size and number of target markets, consumer knowledge, effective pricing strategy, effective promotion strategy, effective distribution and movement of goods strategy, effective sales staff, benefits of service policy , knowledge of competitors, advanced technology, production efficiency, product quality, production mobility, economies of scale, highly qualified personnel.

The benefits, which are based on relationships with external organizations, cover a number of indicators that reflect the image and acquired experience of the company with financial institutions, resellers, political organizations, competitors, suppliers.

Analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the company

The strengths (advantages) of the company are its features that make it possible to identify and form competitive advantages.

Weaknesses (weaknesses) of the company are those indicators that determine its competitive vulnerability.

The object of the analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the company are its internal factors. The process of this analysis is shown in the figure below:

At the stage of formation of indicators by which the strengths or weaknesses of the company are determined, five main sections are used - marketing, production, finance, organization, personnel.

Analysis of marketing opportunities and threats

A company's marketing capabilities are the favorable external aspects of a company's marketing activities that can achieve competitive advantage in the sales market.

Marketing threats are unfavorable trends in the development of the marketing external environment that can negatively affect the company's position in the market.

Marketing opportunities and threats are determined based on the analysis of the external marketing environment.

Depending on the ratio of the nature of marketing opportunities and threats of strategic business units, companies are placed in the squares of the matrix:

The ideal strategic business unit encompasses a type of business characterized by high marketing opportunities and low threats.

An attractive strategic business unit has significant marketing opportunities, but also great threats.

A mature strategic business unit is characterized by few marketing opportunities and few threats, which is typical of the maturity stage of the product life cycle.

A dangerous strategic business unit has large marketing threats with little marketing opportunity.