Table of Contents

Question 1...................................................................................................................................................3
Competitive advantage through positioning approach.........................................................................3
Question 2...................................................................................................................................................5
Question 3...................................................................................................................................................8
Cost advantage through Value Chain Analysis of Anchor...................................................................9
Differentiation advantage through Value Chain Analysis of Anchor.................................................10
Differentiation through secondary value chain activities...................................................................11
Question 4.................................................................................................................................................12
References.................................................................................................................................................15

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Question 1
Organizations are increasingly addressing sustainability, efficiency and longevity challenges in
today's business settings, which are characterized by extreme rivalry. The dynamic business
environment in which businesses operate demands them to be able to distinguish, adapt to
change very rapidly, or develop so that they remain relevant or prosper (Thompson and Martin,
2010). Porter (1979) noted that the reason businesses develop strategy is to be able to handle
competition. Therefore, in its strategy a organization must consider differentiating factors that
differentiate them from the market and ensure sustainable success and growth (Porter, 1998).

Although Barney (1995) posed concerns of interest, uniqueness, imitability and organisation, the
definition of the organization's resource-view (Thompson and Martin, 2010) and the
organization's positioning-view (Sheehan and Foss, 2009) based on the supply chain study
(Porter, 1998) are another considerable aspect.

Competitive advantage through positioning approach

Marcus (2006) quotes Porter (1985) as saying that businesses derive interest from losses or
profits generated from particular activities. Accordingly, a comprehensive review and strategic
planning of the practices a organization performs in value creation would help sustain
competitive advantage (Porter, 1998). Porter postulates that a organization can build a
competitive advantage for itself by carrying out planning activities which are cheaper or better
than its rivals. By analyzing their activities the positioning-approach can be interpreted for a
context.

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Porter (1998) provides a conceptual framework for understanding the core activities of various
value-developing firms, called the "global value chain," and presents a simple point that has
become the foundation of many literatures that the competitive advantage can be created by
generating new value chain variations to stay ahead of competitors. After researching the supply
chain definition, this result has now been confirmed by other research on positioning-based
understanding of firms for competitive advantage. The analysis of the supply chain as the
positioning tool that can be used for testing thereby strengthens a company's market role
(Sheehan and Foss, 2009) is the basic concept of how businesses can gain competitive advantage
by looking inward.

Competitive advantage through Resource based view

The research examines a product and how it can either produce sales or make profits from the
capital perspective of the organization, its skills and competencies (Marcus, 2006). Marcus
further explained that this view's focus ties performance, profitability and therefore the ability to
stay ahead of a company's competition to three factors. Barney (1991) cited in Knott (2009)
describes the resource-perception of a company's competitive advantage as the unique role that
the business will play in the market because of the company's specific advantages. This is also
obvious that an company in its market can achieve a strategic edge by searching internally to find
benefits from other competitors in the market which it has or can use more.

However, it should be noted that the existence of specific advantages within an enterprise does
not necessarily translate into a strategic advantage. Organizational leadership must play a key
role in harnessing rivalry from these tools (Fahy, 2000; Clulow, Gerstman and Barry, 2003;
Andersen, 2011). A proper allocation of such resources is necessary, in addition to the role of
leadership in harnessing resources to provide competitive advantage (Andersen, 2011). In
addition, over the years, literature (Barney, 1995; Knott, 2003; Andersen, 2011) has indicated
that the strategic advantage arising from the resource-based point of view of an company would
only be feasible if the resources that created or developed the advantage had a particular
advantage appropriate for maximizing possibilities and neutralizing risks. Such resources should

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also be limited in such a way that competing companies are unable to obtain the capital easily,
besides it has been proposed that these resources should not be replicable in order to establish a
lasting competitive edge.

Question 2
A higher education institution has been chosen for this reason. National Institute of Business
Management is a renowned Sri Lankan university of higher education.

It is more common in the Sri Lankan context when considering the NIBM's core sector, and it is
emerging industry in the world as well. This is higher learning. The higher education sector is in
the first place in terms of development and advancement by comparing the sectors that have been
rising in leaps and bounds over the last few decades. Therefore the danger of new entry and the
challenge of replacement organizations are important where the NIBM can formulate its own
policy to protect the organization's core business.

Since the NIBM has an appealing resource base with modern university and sophisticated
properties as well as professional and qualified academics, the innovation strategy is the most
suitable strategy for this reason in which the proper combination of these tools will offer creative
approaches to effectively cope with the market and sustain the industry.

The Blue Ocean idea will be very useful for the creation of the marketing plan because it stresses
that, not by competing with rivals, but by building ′′blue oceans′′ of unquestioned market space,

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businesses will achieve success. Such strategic moves would generate a profitability jump for the
company, its customers, and its staff, while creating additional demand and making competition
meaningless.

And for NIBM, it can be advised to develop a blue ocean strategy following measures according
to four action framework.

1. Eliminate

NIBM will significantly minimize its overall expense by switching away from the conventional
above line marketing practices such as television ads and news paper advertising where those
platforms no longer function with an educational institution that provides the customer with a
specific personalized benefit. The decreased expense for direct marketing operations will then be
used efficiently. These would also literacy campaigns in schools and local communities, grants
for specific rural schools where there is a potential target audience.

2. Reducing

In fact, the NIBM can save their tremendous budgets on non-value-adding activities where
resources are spent but the value is not generated. As a new university for the sense, NIBM has
been engaged in a number of activities to promote the brand among community such as Sports
Conference, Awrudu Uthsawa, events involving more than fifty extracurricular activity-based
clubs, green fiesta, Business Collaboration projects, etc. where continuous resource use exists,
but not a substantial value generated from any operation they conduct. Therefore such plans for
these activities will be closely evaluated for the ultimate effect on their brand identity and the
added benefit where non-profit adding costs can be minimized as far as possible as they can be
used to generate creative benefit.

3. Raising

NIBM will increase their educational standard because they have almost all the physical capital
of the world class with them for the purpose of using the technique for creativity. They will go
for association with more world-ranked universities for various fields of specialization and
provide the applicant with a wide range of choices depending on their interest where it is not
feasible to do the other higher educational institutions.

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 4. Create

NIBM will build a new business niche where it has not reached the other institutes. As an
example, NIBM will connect to local students to receive the degree online with international
university affiliation. Such that the students would take the courses flexibly and receive the
certification that would be a trendy demand in the industry.

Canvass Model for NIBM

Key Partners Key activities Value propositions

UGC Offering degrees Doctorate holders

Affiliated Universities Offering MBAs World ranked affiliated
universities
Research Institutes Publishing research and books
Executive education
Social welfare activities
Alumni
Social impact as a green
university

Key Resources

Prestige
Brand
State of the art facilities
Former students 6

Government recognition
 Customer Relationships Cost structure

Face to face Salary to Lecturers and admin staff

Revenue streams
On demand Marketing, Website, print products
Course fee
Learn by doing Social Activities
Registration fee
Recommendation Training, maintenance
Consultancy fee
Channels

Faculty
Websites
Books, Magazines
Digital contents, LMS

Question 3
Anchor must focus its competitive advantage on activities where it has access to limited or
frightening capital. This could require — human property, energy, skills, or distribution network.
The value chain analysis would assist Anchor in identifying those activities and developing those
places to gain a clear competitive edge over rivals. There are many examples (such as Toshiba
and Sharp) that use Value Chain Analysis as a tool to gain a competitive advantage and to spend
aggressively in R&D activities within their network of value chain. Porter's traditional methods
have been developed to gain the competitive edge and the principle of value chain can be applied
together to create a stable foundation for competitive advantage.

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To determine the source of the strategic advantage, an study of the supply chain systems will be
done. Anchor may either use the manufacturing, storage, and other associated supply chain
processes to take advantage of the cost savings, or use human resources, infrastructure,
equipment, business, or other particular operations to create a strong foundation for
differentiation. Broadly speaking, it is important to split the source of comparative advantage
into two groups-cost and differentiation. Anchor can get a competitive advantage from one or
both sources, depending on the depth and breadth of the Value Chain Analysis. The next sections
of the report explain how Anchor can manage operations on the main and/or secondary value
chain to achieve the desired cost and separation goals.

Cost advantage through Value Chain Analysis of Anchor

Anchor can take advantage of the cost savings by reducing the costs of supply chain activities.
Nevertheless, it helps the company to schedule the activities first, and then split the costs to make
any improvements. The relation between the supply chain and the cost leadership approach
reflects a complementary focus on the low cost operations. When Anchor wants to gain cost
benefit, it needs to identify any element within the value chain that can be improved to get the
full effect A Value Chain Analysis Example for Anchor is that it should use the analysis as a way
to maximize the best pricing to boost the inbound and outbound shipping processes.

Another example of a value chain study is to use the value chain knowledge to create reasonable
promotional budget that will reduce advertisement expenses and sell the product at an affordable
rate.

When Anchor strives for the minimum cost, productivity will be improved by the Value Chain
Review. When Anchor's goal is to distinguish the product, Value Chain Assessment can help the
business optimize productivity and increase the consistency of the product by optimizing
processes.

Anchor can control following drivers to add value, set differentiation basis and enhance
efficiency.

Organisational policies Economies of scale

Integration Linkages
Timing Interrelationships
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Capacity utilization Learning and Spillover

This is important to remember, though, that prices can only be reduced slightly. Anchor Supply
Chain Analysis will also consider the relative value of consumers that can explain the premium
price the business pays compared to rivals.

Differentiation advantage through Value Chain Analysis of Anchor

Through evaluating various supply chain operations Anchor will achieve the differentiation
advantage. For example, a business should obtain special and useful inputs that rivals do not find
readily available. Anchor will either modify the entire value chain or change specific individuals
to set the foundations for the differentiation. To establish differentiation, the cost factors (such as
scheduling, interrelationships, interconnections, scaling and convergence) could also be changed.

Few examples of differentiation by supply chain analysis are:

 Forward integration or backward integration with greater leverage of products

 Application of modern delivery networks
 Integration of creative process technology.

Differentiation through primary value chain activities

By defining the following references, Anchor will independently examine the key events from all
perspectives and establish differentiation basis:

Inbound logistics: potential differentiation basis for Anchor is:

 Provide high quality inputs to provide high-quality finished product

 Efficient input handling to mitigate harm
Operations: potential differentiation basis for Anchor are:

 Flexible production system

 Large product selection Increased product presentation
 Prevention of premature product loss
 Fast reaction to demands
 Better consumer loyalty by lower defect rate

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  Better product efficiency due to production requirements conformity

Outbound logistics: potential differentiation basis for Anchor is:

 Better handling and efficient packaging to minimize inventory loss

 Timely package distribution
 Flexible distribution capability
 Good order management

Marketing and sales: potential differentiation basis for Anchor is:

 Increased manufacturer and consumer partnerships

 Enhanced customer engagement by delivering services.
 Brand recognition, credibility and the creation of photographs through robust and
productive ads.
 Good collaboration between divisions of food, research and marketing.
 Wider scope by sales force.

Services: potential distinction criteria for Anchorare:

 Superior service efficiency

 Reliable and efficient repair / maintenance service

Differentiation through secondary value chain activities

Anchor can also evaluate the secondary supply chain operations to set the foundation for
differentiation:

Company Infrastructure: Anchor can set the foundation for differentiation through:

 Comprehensive creation of databases for successful marketing

 Advanced knowledge technology to get better insights into the customer.

Human Resource Management-Anchor can set the basis for differentiation by:

 Competitive incentives to promote ingenuity and optimize profitability

 Staff preparation for successful engagement and superior customer experience

Technology advancement-Anchor can set the basis for differentiation by:

 Rapid creative product creation

 Innovation convergence of product design
 Revolutionary product functionality with patent right

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Procurement-Anchor will set the basis for distinction by:

 Efficient transport to ensure quick distribution

 Include good quality raw resources and spare components.

Question 4
An activity map is a screening method for defining strategic advantage for the organizations. It
links the value proposition of the company to help it to offer a value proposition better than any
opponent.

Moderate price
Repeated buying
and Quality
and word of
mouth marketing Wide range
of brands Low profit
margin

Product
Little verities Reliable Long term
advertising suppliers suppliers

Use of store
sales data

Located in high Low

Flexible
populated area stocks
Coordination supply
with
suppliers

Above is the activity map for Arpico super markets and this will be benchmarked with the
activity map of Walmart which is given below.

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When comparing the Walmart activity map with the Arpico activity map, Laugh has main
activities which are focused on word of mouth marketing basically, locating the supermarket in a
populated area, providing product varieties, assuring moderated pricing with quality and flexible
supply on demand.

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But the focus of Walmart is much complex where, their focus is towards best practices of the
industry, Providing promotive low prices to customers, high level of production efficiency and
unique purchasing environment to customers.

When comparing these key strategic activities of these two organizations, the Laugh has focused
on very basic level of activities to provide basic level of service and a customer experience
where the Walmart has looked in to an extensive level of activities to ensure overall customer
satisfaction by providing novel customer experience. They have gone to tough the different level
of the society, not just the customer focused. As an example, community involvement has been
identified as one of their key activities. At the same time, they have ensured the utilization of
technology for their key activities to make sure a novel customer experience.

They have gone into the business ethics aspects by practicing industry best practices. Also the
operational activities have been optimized to make sure the easiness and the satisfaction to the
customer.

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