Around the world, companies that have achieved victorious leadership in market, use strategies

that are different in every respect. Despite the fact that every successful company will employ its
own particular strategy, the underlying mode of operation of all successful companies is
fundamentally the same. Michael Porter’s Diamond Theory of National Advantage is a model
that is designed to help to understand the competitive advantage companies of particular nations
enjoy due to certain factors. It also tends to explain how government can act as catalyst to
improve a country's position in a globally competitive economic environment. Porter argues on
the fact that the degree to which a nation is likely to achieve international success in a certain
industry is a function of the combined impact of factor endowments, domestic demand
conditions, related and supporting industries, and firm strategy, structure and domestic rivalry. In
terms of our content the reasons behind the success of ACI pure limited is explained below by
using this Porter’s theory of National Competitive Advantage.

Our company ACI has entered in to the commodity food business with “ACI Pure” Brand in
2008. The aim was to provide purest food products to Bangladeshi consumers at affordable price
for which ACI has invested in very large scale in state of the art manufacturing facilities for daily
kitchen essentials like vacuum evaporated edible Salt, and Flour. The products are delighting the
consumers by providing 100% dirt free, pure and natural food ingredients which can compete
against any international products.

Domestic demand

In theory of national competitive advantage, Porter emphasizes on the fact that home demand
plays a significant role in upgrading competitive advantage. The characteristics of home demand
are particularly important in shaping the attributes of domestically made products and in creating
pressures for innovation and quality. The necessity of pure food in the minds of Bangladeshi
consumers has pushed ACI to fill up the market gap by producing commodity products such as
Salt and Flour. The nature of home demand of Bangladeshi consumer for salt and flour has
always played a key role in the success of ACI pure Salt and ACI Pure Flour.

ACI pure Salt

The salt industry of Bangladesh has always been in a primitive position offering the consumers
low quality edible salt that they use every day. The consumers were not able to differentiate
much among the brands available to choose this essential nutrient of everyday life. This all
started to change in 2005 as ACI Limited decided to offer the consumers a finest quality edible
salt equivalent to any international brand. ACI Limited launched ACI PURE Salt as this would
contribute to enrich the quality of life of people which is an integral part of ACI's corporate
mission. ACI Pure Salt is the one to provide people with high quality, premium grade salt
enriched with iodine. With a market growth of 36.76%, this business has maintained its market
leadership. ACI Pure Salt has received the "Best Brand Award" for the sixth time in the salt
category. The business is the first certified OHAS (Occupational Health and Safety Management
System Certification) in the industry. The need for better quality salt of consumer pushed ACI to
make their product healthier and improved.

ACI Pure Flour Limited

In Bangladesh flour products become more popular as people begun to diversify their diet. This
business is on its way to making even greater impact as consumer consumption increases
alongside rising household incomes. Consumer’s pressure encourages ACI to meet high
standards of product quality and to produce innovative products. ACI Flour provides a range of
innovative products like Multigrain Atta, Brown Atta, Parata Maida and Suji Mix alongside the
regular all-purpose flour. ACI Pure Brown Atta is the market leader in healthy Atta category.
ACI Nutrilife Multigrain Atta is a special product that provides multiple health benefits. The
intensity and sophistication of the demand for healthier flour helped ACI to gain the competitive
advantage.

In brief, if consumers are sophisticated, they will make demands for sophisticated products and
that, in turn, will help the production of sophisticated products. Gradually, the country will
achieve competitive advantage in such production.

FIRM STRATEGY, STRUCTURE, AND RIVALRY

Another broad attribute of national competitive advantage in Porter's model is the strategy,
structure, and rivalry of firms within a nation. Porter crafted two important points here. First,
different nations are characterized by different management ideologies, which either help them
or do not help them to build national competitive advantage. ACI always works with a vision for
creating a work-environment to foster creativity, innovation and productivity for achieving
business excellence through dynamic and dedicated people. Porter's second point is that there is a
strong association between dynamic domestic rivalry and the creation and persistence of
competitive advantage in an industry. Dynamic domestic rivalry provokes firms to look for ways
to improve efficiency, which can make them better international competitors as well. Domestic
rivalry creates pressures to innovate, to improve quality, to reduce costs, and to invest in
upgrading advanced factors. Number of competitors on similar sectors is increasing. To succeed
competing with others, ACI Limited keeps bringing technological amendments into the company
and makes sure all the employees are delivering the best of their potential by rewarding them.
ACI Ltd succeeds with this strategy by featuring low prices on key items on which customers are
price-aware, Like ACI Salt. Products are created at the lowest cost in the industry. An example is
to use space in stores for sales and not for storing excess product.

ACI Pure Flour Ltd become the largest flour producing company in Bangladesh delivering
cleanest, healthiest and most hygienic flour by adopting state of the art technology. In a very
short time ACI Pure flour was able to become consumers' morning bell and snatched second
position overtaking all other players in the market. There is a visible rivalry with city groups
Teer Atta. To overcome that pure flour is trying to communicate to its consumers that ACI Pure
is synonymous to ‘Purity’. The plant stands by the bank of Sitalaksha River with most advanced
European technology pairing with a well equipped laboratory keeping in mind to provide the best
quality flour to the consumers. ACI has used technology from China Heavy Machineries
Corporation (CHMC) in establishing the plant. ACI Flour recorded a growth of 36% during the
reported year 2016-2017 over the year 2015. A strong wheat purchasing capability is one of the
key factors behind the success of the business. In addition, an experienced sales and distribution
team has provided a competitive advantage for the business, which shows the greater the rivalry,
the greater the competitive strength of the industry.