Application of Porter's Competitive Strategy
Stacie sighed. Her general manager had just left after giving her the latest assignment- readdress the competitive advantage of their company. By Friday's meeting, Stacie was to have developed three differing strategies the business could use in order to maintain its competitive advantage. Its computer business was slowly losing market share to its competitors, and everyone realized something needed to be done. Stacie glanced through the article by Michael Porter that her manager had left with her. According to Porter, there were three differing types of strategies they could choose from. Stacie began wondering if there was a way they could make their computers cheaper, which would allow them to then sell at a lower price. If they could reduce price by $100 a machine, they would be the industry leaders in price. Stacie wondered if they could find any lower- priced suppliers for the more expensive parts of their computers. She knew that their computers appealed particularly to small business owners due in part to price. They were able to offer the lower price because their computers were not as powerful or fast as some machines, but did contain the necessary word processing, database, and spreadsheet capabilities necessary for a typical small business owner. The lack of frills with the solid three program capabilities, plus their known reputation for quality had worked for them in the past. Stacie wondered if perhaps they needed to look at a smaller segment of the market, maybe small businesses with large accounts receivables that would fully utilize their specific database. She knew that would cut their market by 1/8 but maybe achieving a definite market niche would help. Stacie began compiling her report for Friday's meeting.
-Stacie knew that the strategy management would depend on the organization's and its competitors' ___________ .
A)strengths; threats
B)weaknesses; strengths
C)strengths; weaknesses
D)opportunities; threats

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Porter's Competitive Strategy emphasizes leveraging an organization's strengths to exploit competitors' weaknesses. Stacie's considerations about making their computers cheaper and targeting a specific market niche are examples of using their strengths (cost efficiency, quality, and specific features) against competitors' weaknesses (higher prices, possibly less targeted products).