(1) Many firms focus on their core competencies to achieve sustainable competitive advantage.

In this regard:

(a) Describe the notion of core competency

In today's dynamic and uncertain world, the idea of core competency is the ability of an organization to
create a long-term and sustainable competitive advantage. Since internal capabilities that result from
the desire to succeed in the future are the only stable guarantee in an ever-changing environment, it is
best to identify the company's source of competitiveness within the organization for long-term success.

The Core Competence of Corporation" from 1990, writers C. K. Prahald and G. Hamel introduced the
idea of core competencies. Through group learning and cooperation of the abilities and skills that
support the production system of the enterprises, they conceptualized the idea. They contend that
these fundamental talents and capabilities serve as the primary source of competitive advantage and
enable businesses to develop new types of goods and services. Understanding the organization's core
competencies (or capabilities) is the first step in identifying core competencies. Starting with an analysis
of the value chain or the functional areas is possible. It is crucial to understand that just because
something has critical capabilities doesn't mean it is immediately urgent or important. According to
them, a core competency is a specific characteristic that is firmly considered essential to the way the
organization or its staff function. It meets three main requirements: (Hafeez, YanBing Zhang and
Malak, 2002)

1. Difficult for competitors to imitate.

2. It can be widely recycled for different products and markets.

3. It should enhance the value of the product or service to its customers and the benefits experienced by
the end customer.

Simply put, if an organization has a capability that can be used to develop something of customer value
that other organizations do not have, it is difficult to copy and cannot be substituted. The organization
has core competencies that ensure its long-term competitive advantage.

Cost cutting, which has long been common in many businesses, may frequently ruin the potential and
ability to develop important competencies. Furthermore, excessive decentralization and business
management at the business unit level complicates the situation because business units sometimes rely
too heavily on other business units in building competitiveness, and knowledge is fragmented within the
organization, making it difficult to integrate it for purposes. Change and innovation Core competences
alter the perspective on strategy formulation by emphasizing insight into the firm.

Core competencies can come in many forms, including technical or subject matter expertise, reliable
procedures, and/or strong relationships with clients and suppliers. This can include a company's
commitment to its employees, excellent human resource management, good market penetration, long-
term improvement cultures such as product development or process improvement. Core competencies
are specific strengths compared to other businesses in the sector that serve as the basis for delivering
added value. Core competencies require the integration of different production capabilities and
integration of different technology streams. They reflect the collective learning of a company. Working
across organizational boundaries, such as developing cross-functional teams within an organization,
requires communication, mediation, and a strong commitment. Few businesses are likely to achieve
global leadership with more than five or six core competencies. A core competency consists of specific
skills or production procedures that provide value to the customer. This allows a company to enter new.

One important advantage of having core skills is that it gives companies long-term competitiveness. It's
one thing to have a good product or service, but if competitors can easily replicate it, you'll be
competing for market share and looking for new ways to differentiate yourself.

As the job market becomes more competitive, differentiating yourself from the competition is more
critical than ever. Including a core skills section on your resume allows you to use limited space to
highlight the features that set you apart.

b) Evaluate why an organisation outsources its activity to a third party (3P).

Outsourcing is a business technique in which a corporation contracts a third party to perform

activities, manage operations, or offer services. An outside company, also known as a service
provider or third-party provider, hires its own employees or computer systems to perform tasks
or provide services at the hiring company's own facilities or at locations other than its own.
Companies can now outsource various operations or services. They often outsource IT services
such as programming, application development and technical support. They often outsource
customer service and call centre functions. Other types of work can be outsourced, such as
industrial processes, human resource operations, and financial functions including bookkeeping
and payroll processing. Companies can outsource entire departments, such as their IT department
or parts of their departments. Outsourcing of business activities is often referred to as
outsourcing or business process outsourcing. (Lutkevich, 2022)

Outsourcing can involve using a business-like IBM to manage IT services or a large third-party
provider like FedEx Supply Chain for third-party logistics services, but it can also involve hiring
individual independent contractors, temporary office workers, and freelancers. It is very
important for a company to focus on logistics as well as commercial partnerships to properly
outsource responsibilities. Outsourcing is a collaborative project, not a purchasing project, and is
more about relationship management than service level agreements. Maintaining and securing a
trusting relationship is more difficult than establishing service levels and relationships in
outsourcing operations. Some experts advise emphasizing the termination provisions of the
service contract. It is critical for businesses to understand when the contract agreement will
inevitably expire and to ensure that all parties involved fulfil their commitments and stay until
the contract expires.
Companies often outsource to reduce costs, increase efficiency, and increase speed. To obtain
these benefits, companies that choose to outsource rely on the expertise of third-party providers
in performing the outsourced services. Because the third-party provider focuses on that one
activity, it is able to perform it better, faster, and more cost-effectively than the hiring
organization. Given these advantages, businesses often prefer to outsource support functions
within their organizations so that they can focus their resources more specifically on their core
competencies, allowing them to gain a competitive advantage in the marketplace. However,
some businesses choose to outsource for other reasons. For example, they outsource because they
cannot hire full-time employees with the specialized skills and experience needed to do some
jobs in-house. Businesses occasionally use outsourcing meetings to delegate regulatory duties or
responsibilities to a third-party service. Furthermore, many businesses are looking to outsource
providers as centres of innovation. According to Deloitte's 2016 Outsourcing Survey, 35% of
respondents are concerned about assessing the value of innovation in their outsourcing
relationships.

Examples

Outsourcing will play a critical role in the growing use of virtual assistants. Businesses are
increasingly using business-level virtual assistants to automate specific procedures. This
increases the demand for specialized voice assistant software. Many businesses may decide to
outsource that development project due to cost and talent constraints.

The closer the third party is to the client organization; the more important time and cultural
differences are. Since application development is often an asynchronous process, strict timing is
not a concern, and clients seeking the job opt for outsourcing.

(c) Motorola had gone from manufacturing its mobile phones in-house to almost completely
outsourcing its manufacturing. What are the pros and cons of its in-house manufacturing and
outsourcing (contract manufacturing) approaches?

Outsourcing is becoming popular in manufacturing very quickly. A lot of companies are actually
outsourcing their activities to other specialized manufacturers. Even in cell phone industry, a lot of
manufacturing has been outsourced. In some cases, companies outsource entire manufacturing and in
other cases it outsources manufacturing of a few components. In this way, by delegating the company’s
production activities to other parties, the main reason is to maximize the profit of the company.

Pros of Outsourcing for Motorola:

 1) The Company can focus on core operations like marketing and branding. It allows the company to
focus on marketing and outsource other activities. The best example of success of this strategy is Apple
which just owns the brand name and gets all its parts outsourced.

2) Capital investment is reduced. Since the company doesn't need to invest in plants and machinery, the
investment comes down and capital can rather be invested in other activities. Since capital comes with a
cost, the cost gets reduced. Capital is a rare commodity and is saved in this case.

3) Here they can reduce their labor costs by outsourcing their production work to other parties.
Considering this, by allowing Asian countries like India, Bangaladesh and Pakisthan to carry out their
manufacturing process, their company can maximize their profit by spending very less money compared
to the cost of employees. Also, due to the strengthening of the currency of the country in which the
company invests its capital in comparison to those countries, the company will benefit from a relatively
low cost of production.

Cons of Outsourcing for Motorola:

1) The main problem arising from the outsourcing of manufacturing activities is whether the quality of
the products is not the same product as the parent company. The reason for this is that there is no
specialized group of workers for each production. Also, the lack of well-trained employees is also a
factor that causes quality problems. Also, the quality of the product is reduced due to problems related
to the ability to use the technology used in the production of the product. The above-mentioned
problems can be mainly identified as grant problems that affect the quality of the product.

2) Another problem that arises from outsourcing the production work to external parties is that always
monitor whether the production work is done properly. Such monitoring is difficult because
manufacturing operations provided to external parties are sometimes located in different countries of
the world. Then is it is difficult to check whether the production activities are done with maximum
efficiency. Therefore, it is difficult to monitor those manufacturing factories at once.

3) By providing the technology that Motorola uses for their mobile phones to external parties, another
third party may gain a better understanding of the technology and produce products similar to their
own. Thus, Motorola’s ability to transfer this technological knowledge to the competing companies also
increases. This fact can also be shown as a disadvantageous fact for the organization.

If a business is trying to sell something it creates, it has to be manufactured somewhere. Many private
businesses choose to outsource their design needs, however, an afterthought, the in-house assembly
can provide specific advantages that cannot be provided. Removing traffic is also a key step to take. It is
a particularly important part of the overall cycle of domestic production and risk assessment in general.

Here are the disadvantages of in-house production

1. Transactions are expected to be successful.

There should be transactions with the goal of continuing the production of interior textiles. Security
costs, fees, utility costs and labor costs are usually paid by the close meeting. Staying in business when
deals aren't solid can be annoying, and the cost of starting and stopping the creation chain at that point
is certainly viable. (Gaille, 2022)

2. Parts can cause discomfort.

A few states have clear equity standards that reach a certain income level. A few of each odd ward has
this kind of rule, so organizations will want to know what's in store here before developing their internal
resources. Outsourcing their assembly may be more financially savvy since there is no bulk shipping fee.

3. Work costs can be exceptionally high.

The way of living is completely different all over the planet. In some areas, earning $10 an hour does not
allow people to pay for their basic living needs. In various areas, less than $1 an hour is considered
unusually abundant. The essential cost of the assembly system is labor and from this point of view local
production will always be more expensive. Fortunately, that can make for great PR, but a modestly
reassigned task can turn into terrible PR. (Gaille, 2022)

4. Regulatory responsibilities can simply shift.

Reconsideration is eliminated, and regulatory responsibilities removed from this oversight may simply
shift to new responsibilities. In-house production requires human resource support, for example,
distribution of benefits, employee concrete guarantees and approval of requirements. Various
responsibilities may include consideration of property resources, preparation of experts and other
oversight prerequisites to ensure a great item. Cost investment funds can be imagined here, but it does
not necessarily work.

advantages of in-house production

1.It additionally facilitates indoor quality control.

Assembly processes have been rethought, and there is no truly regulated quality control. When you
finish the tour through the assembly plant, you have no real idea what strategies and systems go into
making your item. With local products, this is never a problem. You are in charge of quality cycles and
the outcome of the end result. (Gaille, 2022)
2. It can reduce the cost of a product.

Manufacturing your own goods not only eliminates one leg of the warehouse chain, but also eliminates
shipping costs, handling costs, and the hassle of helping multiple goods through customs. This provides a
link to reduce the cost of goods offered to the market or to maintain the existing cost structure in order
to achieve greater returns. (Gaille, 2022)

3. It eliminates some planned operational problems.

Suppose one independent company returns its assembly to China. Another has zeroed in on local textile
production. Goods must be transported from China, pass through customs, and then arrive at their
assigned market. Few organizations may be willing to provide all of their business for a final review.
Everyone has their own strategy problems. The main thing that needs to happen for the home textiles
business is to take the product to the market whenever it is finished. (Gaille, 2022)

4. Board discussions are greatly reduced.

Redesigning game plans to complete a domestic assembly cycle requires relatively little regulatory work.
This is because organizations have more command over their costs and cycles. Instead of trying to
influence how another organization operates, the in-house assembly can be changed at any point
important to increase quality and returns.

The advantages and disadvantages of home manufacturing show how it can open doors efficiently and
save money. It can be very expensive for several independent companies to proceed. That is why each
of these central questions should be considered before making the final choice. (Gaille, 2022)

3) Nepal exports wool and other textile products to Sri Lanka and its trade inherently involves
inter-modal transport. Discuss the challenges in inter-modal transport and how to facilitate its
development.

Each country has its own natural resources, natural endowments, and its benefits. Also, countries are
having limited resources and unlimited needs and wants. Different Country has different resources at
different limit to fulfil their needs and wants. Therefore, counties do try to overcome from these
problems and do businesses with other countries through international trade and economic integration.
Different modes of transportation have developed independently. As a result of competition between
modes, transport networks became disjointed and operated independently of each other. Each model,
especially the carriers that used it, tried to take advantage of its benefits such as price, service,
reliability, and safety. Carriers maximize the number of lines they manage to increase market share and
revenue. Due to different regulatory structures and competition rules, all modes are frequently
considered rivals. Public policy that regularly prohibits businesses from conducting business in other
modes or places a mode under direct state monopoly control has served to further emphasize the lack
of integration across modes. The technical challenges of switching from one mode to another led to
increased terminal costs and delays, another reason why modalism was preferred. This was mainly due
to the need to change the unit of weight which is common for bulk transport.
Transporting bulk goods through two or more modes of transport in the same steel base container is
called intermodal transport. It is a common method of exchange of goods in the present age.
Interchangeable modes are truck, train, ship and finally truck. Basically, intermodal transport manages
these unique standardized containers, transferring products from one vehicle to another during their
journey. This process creates many advantages, including faster delivery and improved product safety.

This mode of transport was first used in Britain in the eighteenth century. The British used it to transport
containerized coal through their canal network. However, intermodal did not take over as the preferred
method for ocean shipping until the 1960s.

Coordinated operational organizations and global associations seek to include different modes of
transportation through intermodalism. Then, containerization and worldwide standardization of cabin
sizes made multipurpose transportation significantly more cost-effective by powering the simple
transaction between modular frames. Today, multipurpose transportation is the dominant mode for
worldwide production network and coordinated operations.

Therefore, anyone in the business of strategy must grasp this idea that drives the global transportation
and shipping industry.

challenges

 More consumers prefer smart and sustainable transportation solutions

Today, a lot of attention has been paid to the environment-friendly program in the automobile
industry. More consumers prefer bright and cost-effective automotive solutions than conventional
standard arrangements that don't think about the climate. This is also valid for multipurpose cargo,
which is a significant part of the worldwide conversion of vehicle frames to this bearing. There is a
great deal of subtle and manageable arrangements on the market today, as well as organizations
that completely zero in on eco-friendly multipurpose freight.

 Intermodal freight takes precedence over conventional road transport

Multimodal freight has overtaken traditional road transport in an unprecedented pattern. Many
nations, particularly across Europe, are showing great interest in progressing the framework. Like
the street, rail organizations are expanding and becoming more complex. Subsequently, many
vehicle organizations can now provide equivalent travel times for their multipurpose freighters in
relation to standard street administrations. This challenges standard street administrations to
compete with those new intelligent and economical answers to multipurpose freight.

 Increasing demand for intermodal freight from automobiles and FMCG

The interest in multipurpose freight comes from two businesses in particular: auto and FMCG. This is
a result of further improved travel time and frame improvements, making multipurpose freight an
undeniable advantage against standard street administration

 Transport companies struggle to provide reliable transport services

Be that as it may, currently the best difficulty in multipurpose freight is providing robust
administration to vehicle organizations. Although multipurpose freight is a developing sector, the
vehicle chain lacks the ability to adapt. Europe's framework is not yet fully aligned with interest in
credible aid levels. Progressive developments and short strikes examine time plans for street and
sea freight. Having said that, we are well on target considering the sheer amount of advertising that
has happened in recent years alone.

 More consolidated stocks and group stocks due to smaller volumes

Another test in today's auto business is that more customers are booking more modest volumes
with more limited notice. There is a growing focus on adaptability and many organizations want to
reduce security and inventory costs. This has led to widespread interest in bulk shipments and group
transfers. It additionally reflects overcapacity in the cabin segment, prompting a portion of the
current goliath ships to be withdrawn from activity.

 High expectations of service levels and integrated and flexible IT systems

Digitization is changing many businesses today and the automotive business is no exception. As
innovation continues to grow, clients expect more significant levels of administration, including
established and adaptable IT frameworks. Multiple transport modes add up to a complex and
dynamic storage network, and data has become a critical part of an effective storage network. To
meet those new requirements and further develop customer loyalty, transportation organizations
are currently showing great interest in IT arrangements from a fully coordinated perspective on
continuous data throughout the production network.
Gaille, B., 2022. 8 Pros and Cons of Inhouse Manufacturing. [online] BrandonGaille.com. Available at:
<https://brandongaille.com/8-pros-and-cons-of-inhouse-manufacturing/> [Accessed 4 August 2022].

 Hafeez, K., YanBing Zhang and Malak, N., 2002. Core competence for sustainable competitive
advantage: a structured methodology for identifying core competence. IEEE Transactions on
Engineering Management, 49(1), pp.28-35.