Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Strategic capability
Contents
Introduction
Examination context
Topic List
1 Resources, competences and capabilities
2 The work of Hamel and Prahalad
3 Transforming resources: the value chain
4 Networks, relationships and architecture
5 The product-service portfolio
Summary and Self-test
Answers to Self-test
Answers to Interactive questions
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Introduction
Understand the value chain model and apply it to scenarios and industries
Describe the role of networks, including supply chain management, in the development of a
business's strategic capability
Practical significance
It is conventional for accountants to consider 'resources' and 'assets' purely in financial reporting terms. We
know that non-current assets (tangible and intangible in some cases) sit on the balance sheet and there are
financial reporting standards as to how they should be accounted for.
However, what makes a business successful might often be things that are not so readily accessible for
financial reporting: the legacy of 'early mover advantages' in building up a strategic position; the company's
reputation; the quality of a company's relationships and its ability to exploit them; the ability of its
management to innovate; the ability of the company to cope with the unexpected; the ability of the
company to learn. Intangible assets, such as trade marks, might also sit on the balance sheet. A company's
brands, however, which for business decision making purposes, if not always for financial reporting, certainly
have a value.
The practical significance therefore lies in your ability to see beyond the numbers to the underlying realities.
For example, if you are asked to comment on a forecast, or be part of a team that does a 'due diligence'
audit, these are business realities that you must be attuned do. Moreover, if you aspire to be, say, a Finance
Director (avoiding a lot of the number crunching) you need to understand beyond the numbers.
Working context
The internal capabilities of the business might be relevant to an audit opinion on going concern, part of a
due diligence investigation, value audits and so on. It might also alert you to critical business risks
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Syllabus links
This chapter contains material that will almost entirely new to you. In your Business and Finance syllabus
you covered organisational structures at a basic level. Some elements of organisational structure will be
touched upon here.
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Examination context
Exam requirement
This chapter includes key principles of strategic capability, core competences and resource based strategy.
Questions are likely to focus on the linkages between elements and the manner in which, when used
together, they can facilitate strategy and leverage competitive advantage.
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Section overview
Firms own many assets. Some of these assets will be sources of superior earnings in the future for the
business and are called strategic assets.
A resource audit catalogues the assets using handy checklists such as 9Ms etc. However this is not
sufficient to understanding whether they are strategic assets.
Benchmarking compares the use of assets across the firm or across the industry and indicates where
they might be used better or where they are already a source of superior performance.
Definition
Resource-based approach views the resources of the organisation not just as facilitators to gain
competitive advantage from product-market strategies but as sources of strategic advantage in themselves.
Definition
Critical success factors (CSFs): 'Those product features that are particularly valued by a group of
customers, and, therefore, where the organisation must excel to outperform the competition' (Johnson,
Scholes & Whittington).
CSFs differ from one market segment to another, e.g. in some price may be key, in others quality, in others
delivery, etc.
CSFs concern not only the resources of the business but also the competitive environment in which it
operates, discussed in Chapters 3 and 4, i.e. how will the business achieve a sustainable competitive
advantage (SCA) over its competitors?
The following diagram shows the relationship between the different resources of an entity and the activities
and processes which transform those resources into outputs to create added value. It also shows the way
in which entities can generate a sustainable competitive advantage over their competitors by their unique
control/ownership of particular core competencies in these processes and activities.
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CSFs
derived form
Internal analysis
Value chain
Kay’s
Benchmark/
3 sources
KPIs
Sustainable
competitive
advantage
Resources Competences
Threshold resources The basic resources needed by all firms in the market.
Unique resources Those resources which give the firm a sustainable competitive
advantage over its competitors, enabling it to meet the CSFs. They are
resources which are better than those of the competition and difficult
to replicate.
Threshold competencies The activities and processes involved in using and linking the firm's
resources necessary to stay in business.
Core competencies The critical activities and processes which enable the firm to meet the
CSFs and therefore achieve a sustainable competitive advantage. The
core competencies must be better than those of competitors and
difficult to replicate.
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Knowledge: A firm's knowledge is partly embedded in people, what they do and how they are organised.
Workforce structure and organisation structure
The right mix of labour and capital
There is a trade off, in some respects, between using people and using equipment to save money or to
increase efficiency. For example, reducing the costs of a call centre can be achieved by:
– Voice activated software and voice recognition software to process simple transactions
– Outsourcing it 'off-shore' to a country where labour costs are lower.
The choice will depend on the potential cost savings and benefits and perhaps customer resistance and
the firm's attitudes to reputational risk if it cannot achieve its level of service.
Service levels
Whilst some services can be automated, others cannot –customer service staff are often those who
encounter the most moments of truth with the customer. In a service-led economy, the quality of
human interaction is an important element of customer satisfaction. To provide good service, those at
the customer interface must be supported by a management infrastructure of robust information
systems and good training and supervision.
Human capital and knowledge industries
Knowledge-based industries require the creation and use of intellectual property. The skills and
mindset necessary for this may often rely on the education and cultures of the country of operation.
Workforce structure
The right balance between full-time and part-time staff can provide a variable resource that can be
accessed when necessary to achieve flexibility. The flexibility of employment contracts, such as
covering other tasks and locations, can add to this.
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Resource Utilisation
Technical For example, processes for new product development, ability to serve
resources customers efficiently.
Managerial skills An effective management is a key organisation resource in planning activities,
controlling the organisation and motivating staff.
Organisation Organisation structure is critical. For example product or brand divisionalisation
or brand management should facilitate communication and decision-making, at
the level of the brand.
Information and These have a strategic role.
knowledge
systems
Definition
Limiting factor: A factor which at any time, or over a period, may limit the activity of an entity, often
occurring where there is shortage or difficulty of availability.
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Warehouse performance: in particular cycle time, quality, productivity and space use against other
Motorola installations
Purchasing performance: both against Motorola companies and friendly companies outside the group
Salary and benefits packages, through a Motorola-initiated exchange of data with other Scottish
manufacturing companies.
Source: DTI Best Practice Benchmarking website
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Requirements
(a) Explain how conditions in Z land could give Y Ltd a competitive advantage when it starts its export
operations.
(b) The Managing Director of Y Ltd is constantly trying to improve the productivity and quality of his
manufacturing operations and is considering a programme of benchmarking. Explain why a
benchmarking programme would help Y Ltd and suggest how it might be carried out.
See Answer at the end of this chapter.
Section overview
Hamel and Prahalad belong to the resource-based school of strategy.
They identify a series if strategic architectures which can form the source of competitive advantage
(or distinctive competence).
Beyond this they accord a significant role to the management team, and in particular the ability of
management to create a strategic architecture through the application of strategic thinking.
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2.3Management competences
Hamel and Prahalad claim that the management of some companies is more 'prepared' (i.e. willing and able)
to shape the future than others, and that this future-orientated stance is somehow embodied in the
corporate culture, (or strategic architecture).
They offer a 'diagnostic' to indicate how future-orientated a company is.
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Section overview
The value chain is a common business term which received a specific formulation by Porter.
Porter's value chain encourages management to perceive of the business as a sequence of activities
that add value to inputs in order that the final good or service shall command a profitable price on
the market.
The linkages between the activities in the chain, for example how marketing and sales support
operations or procurement practices support inbound logistics are common opportunities to reduce
non-value adding costs, such as inventory, or enhance value to the customer.
Competitive advantage can be created and sustained by linkages in the value chain. Extending the
value chain to an underlying value system of suppliers, distributors and customers makes it hard for
competitors to replicate.
The crucial activities that sustain competitive advantage are called cost drivers and value drivers
which forge a link to aspects of cost accounting.
Firm
The value chain consists of the organisation's resources, activities and processes that link the business
together, and the profit margin. Together these create the total value of output produced by the business,
quantified by the price paid by the customer.
Porter groups the various activities of an organisation under generic headings that he claims can be
observed in all organisations. The groupings do not correspond to the functional divisions of the
organisation structure but rather are deliberately formulated to help identify the activities carried out by
the firm in the generation of value to a customer.
FIRM INFRASTRUCTURE
ACTIVITIES
SUPPORT
TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT
RG
IN
PROCUREMENT
M A RG
N I
PRIMARY ACTIVITIES
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The margin is the excess the customer is prepared to pay over the cost to the firm of obtaining the
necessary resource inputs and of performing value-creating activities upon them before selling them to the
customer.
Minimum corporate HQ M
Computerised A
Checkouts
warehouse simple R
G
De-skilled Dismissal for I
store-ops checkout error N
Branded only Low cost
purchases Use of
P concessions
Big discounts sites
N
1,000 lines Low price Nil
Bulk I
only promotion
warehouseing G
Price points R
Local focus
Basic store A
M
design
Kwik Save's strategy was based on ability to provide low-priced goods supported by a low-cost operation.
The whole of the operation was designed for this purpose. The corporate headquarters was simple with
few staff; bulk, computerised central warehousing fed stores with a limited number of branded-only lines.
Because the policy was branded goods only, Kwik Save was able to obtain maximum discounts from
manufacturers. Stores themselves were basic in design and the approach to merchandising simple; time and
costs were saved by not price-marking goods, but keeping the number of price points to a minimum and
requiring checkout staff to recall prices accurately. Store managers were required to keep to a simple and
relatively deskilled operation with branded goods only; more complete areas of greengrocery and butchery
were dealt with on the basis of concessions. Overall, the marketing approach of the store group was to
promote a discount image to the local community.
Source: 'Kwik Save Discount', case study by Derek Channon, Manchester Business School.
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Activity Comment
Inbound logistics Receiving, handling and storing inputs to the production system (i.e.
warehousing, transport, stock control etc).
Operations Convert resource inputs into a final product or service. Resource inputs
are not only materials. 'People' are a 'resource', especially in service
industries.
Outbound logistics Storing the product and its distribution to customers: packaging,
warehousing etc.
Marketing and sales Informing customers about the product, persuading them to buy it, and
enabling them to do so: advertising, promotion etc.
After sales service Installing products, repairing them, upgrading them, providing spare parts,
advice (e.g. helplines for software support).
Support activities provide purchased inputs, human resources, technology and infrastructural functions
to support the primary activities. Each provides support to all stages in the primary activities. For instance
procurement where at each stage items are acquired to aid the primary functions. At the inbound logistics
stage it may well be raw materials, but at the production stage capital equipment will be acquired, and so
on.
Activity Comment
Procurement Acquire the resource inputs to the primary activities (e.g. purchase of
materials, subcomponents, equipment).
Technology Product design, improving processes and/or resource utilisation.
development
Human resource Recruiting, training, developing and rewarding people.
management
Management planning Planning, finance, and quality control: these are crucially important to an
and firm infrastructure organisation's strategic capability in all primary activities.
3.3 Linkages
Activities in the value chain affect one another. Linkages connect the activities in the value chain.
They have two roles.
They optimise activities by enabling trade offs. For example, more costly product design or better
quality production might reduce the need for after sales service.
Linkages reflect the need to co-ordinate activities. For example, Just In Time (JIT) requires smooth
functioning of operations, outbound logistics and service activities such as installation.
These linkages are often unrecognised, especially if there is a rigid functional structure. A value chain
analysis can help draw them to management's attention and so improve business performance.
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Cost drivers
Using the value chain as a basic analysis tool, it is possible to look at each of the value activities and identify
the major influences on the costs incurred. These structural factors which influence cost are the cost
drivers, and the factors which influence the cost of a given activity may vary, even between competitors in
the same industry. An understanding of cost behaviour will allow a firm to assess the possibilities of
adopting a least cost competitive stance.
Internet technologies can reduce production times and costs by improving information flows as a way of
integrating value activities, e.g. by making procurement more efficient or sharing demand information with
suppliers.
Value drivers
Unlike cost drivers, the potential sources of value are likely to be many and varied. An understanding of the
value drivers for a particular key value activity is essential for a firm trying to differentiate itself from its
competitors.
For example, if competitive advantage centres on the durability of a product, then this can be supported by
the sourcing of components, product design and maintenance services offered (the key value activities). In
turn the value drivers for these support activities might be supplier vetting and approval procedures, the
use of freelance designers and in-house after-sales service teams.
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Distributor/retailer
value chains
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Add services: 'Heidelberger Druckmaschinen', the world's leading maker of printing presses, has set
up 'print academies' in nine cities around the world to organise courses on printing techniques for
customers and potential customers. This is clearly an example of after-sales service being used to
build customer relationships.
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Section overview
The sections above have focused on assets and operations within the boundary of the corporation
and so under management control.
Network analysis recognises that businesses are frequently webs of networks between departments
and also with outside contractors, customers, and suppliers.
This gives rise to the importance of understanding the relationships between the partners and the
value of relational contracts based on trust and commitment to replace transactional contracts
in which each side tries to get the greatest gain for itself.
The practice of outsourcing is one step in creating these networks.
Supply chain management (SCM) is the management process, often assisted at the operational level by
high power IT applications, of synchronising the networks in the service of the final customer.
The virtual firm is introduced and a modern organisational structure which replaces vertically
integrated businesses with a high reliance on networks.
Definition
Architecture: the network of relational contracts, within or around, the firm.
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A relational contract contains parties doing business with each other in a long term relationship. Its
provisions are only partly specified but it is enforced not by legal process but by the needs the parties have
to go on doing business with each other (as opposed to a spot contract which is a one-off transaction).
These relational contracts may have a legal basis, but also include a pattern of expectations that the
parties have of each other.
Firms may establish these relationships in two ways, internally and externally.
Internal networks Organisation structure and culture; job descriptions and work patterns
to encourage development; employment contracts (e.g. employer
…with and among their
commitment vs 'short term hire'); remuneration structure to
employees (internal
encourage 'loyalty', 'creativity' and a willingness to satisfy individual
architecture)
preferences for the collective's benefit.
External networks Relationships with suppliers –e.g. long-term supply contracts, detailed
design specifications –firms share knowledge and establish fast
…with their suppliers or
response times on the basis of relational contracts.
customers (external
architecture) among firms Networks are groups of firms making relational contracts with each
engaged in related activities other, who need to do business together in the long term, and who
(Kay, 1993) arguably depend on a common skills base.
It is clear that the idea of networks of relational contracts is very wide in scope. Note the phrase
'relational contract'. We are not simply discussing 'communication pathways'; these related contracts are
activities embedded in business relationships built up over time. Some writers distinguish between
contracts under which both sides still retain selfish behaviour (termed a transactional relationship or
dyadic contracts) and contracts that are founded on commitment and trust (a collaborative
relationship).
Wholesaler
Distributor
Customer
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As can be seen from the rail example above there are many types of organisational forms that can be
developed. Networks display, horizontal (e.g. joint ventures) and vertical (supply chain) linkages.
Drivers of collaboration strategies that result in network arrangements can be characterised as follows.
Blurring of market boundaries: E.g. convergence of telecommunications and computing. This
increases the complexity of technologies.
Escalating customer diversity: Customers are becoming more demanding. In global markets,
customers are more diverse almost by definition.
Skills and resource gaps: Firms need to collaborate in technologically demanding markets.
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Environmental turbulence
Low High
1 A hollow network combines high environmental volatility with a transactional-based approach. The
organisation draws heavily on other organisations to satisfy customer needs. Such organisations can be
quite small, but have a large number of contacts. For example, in the publishing industry, there are
print brokers who will deal with a variety of printing needs by accessing a network of subcontractors.
2 Flexible network: This is a collaborative network existing in conditions of high environmental
turbulence. The links between organisations are of a long-term nature, but are on specific projects.
For example, pharmaceuticals companies aim to build up alliances with biotechnology firms (as their
competence bases are different).
3 Value-added network: Environmental turbulence is low and the organisation adopts transactional
relations. This is typical of many Japanese firms. Publishers have subcontracted printing to specialist
printing firms for many years. The outsourcer is performing a standard service.
4 Virtual network: Environmental volatility is low but the organisation wants to build collaborative
relationships with other organisations. A firm wishes to use the network to achieve adaptability to
meet the needs of segmented markets through long-term partnerships rather than internal investment.
Definition
Asset specificity: Where investments are made to support the relationship which have the effect of
locking parties into a relationship to some degree.
Relationship-specific assets
An example is the investment by the Anglo-French company Eurotunnel in an undersea rail link that locks
Eurotunnel into partnerships with the rail operators using it from either end, (i.e. Eurostar and SNCF). Both
sides required long-term contracts before they would make the commitments necessary.
Asset specificity can take four forms.
Site specificity: Assets are located side by side to economise on transport or processing efficiencies.
Physical assets specificity: Asset properties are tailored to a specific transaction.
Dedicated assets: Investment is made in plant and equipment in order to serve a particular
customer.
Human assets specificity: Workers acquire skills, know-how and information specific to the
relationship, but of less value outside it.
If a firm makes a relationship-specific investment, this implies that it would not make sense to make
the investment outside the business relationship (e.g. if the component was so specialised no-one else
would buy it).
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The relationship between firms in a network can be close or distant, and we can model them as follows.
Distant Outsourcing –purchase of goods/services
Definition
Alliance: An agreement between firms to share a commercial opportunity characterised by each member
of the alliance retaining autonomy and pursuing its commercial interests (i.e. a dyadic relationship).
Partnership: Joint participation in the serving of a market or project characterised by the close
interrelationship of operations, exchange of staff and mutual trust and commitment to working with the
other (i.e. a non-dyadic relationship).
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Definition
Outsourcing: The use of external suppliers as a source of finished products, components or services
previously provided in-house.
Research by PricewaterhouseCoopers (a major provider of outsourced services) has found that when most
business processes are stripped down to their basics, about 70% of business processes are common to all
firms. This suggests that they could be outsourced without loss of competitive advantage. With the help of
technology and telecommunications it is now possible for one service provider to devise a common
process to deal with many different local processes in a single location.
In addition to cost considerations management may take the view that a chain is only as strong as its
weakest link and therefore supply chains can be strengthened by outsourcing weak links to more
competent providers.
The issues to be considered in deciding whether to outsource include:
The firm's competence in carrying out the activity itself. Low competence implies high cost and risk
of poor performance.
Whether risk can be managed better by outsourcing, e.g. shift legal liability to the provider and
possibly also levy charges for breakdowns in performance that will mitigate losses.
Whether the activity can be assured and controlled by the framework of a contract and
performance measures, e.g. outsourcing payroll can normally be done relatively easily but systems
development is more open-ended.
Whether organisational learning and intellectual property is being transferred. The in-house
operation may be a source of significant learning leading to product and process improvement. This is
one reason that in the early stages of the international production life cycle (Chapter 3) firms keep
manufacturing in-house rather than outsource to cheaper contract manufacturers.
The issues to consider in deciding whom to outsource to include:
The track record of the provider and its experience of similar partnerships.
The quality of relationship on offer, e.g. will they place staff at your premises, hold regular
meetings, provide open-book accounts?
The strategic goals of the provider, e.g. is this their core business, will they operate globally
alongside the firm?
The economic cost of using them (including whether they will take staff over and pay for transferred
assets).
Their financial stability.
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Definition
Supply chain management (SCM): The management of all supply activities from the suppliers to a
business through to delivery to customers.
This may also be called demand chain management (reflecting the idea that the customers'
requirements and downstream orders should drive activity) or end-to-end business (e2e). In essence it
refers to managing the value system.
Technology is vital to SCM, given the vast flow of information between suppliers, customer and
intermediaries.
The main themes in SCM are:
Responsiveness –the ability to supply customers quickly. This has led to the development of Just in
Time (JIT) systems to keep raw materials acquisition, production and distribution as flexible as
possible.
Reliability –the ability to supply customers reliably.
Relationships –the use of single sourcing and long-term contracts better to integrate the buyer and
supplier.
Technology
Technology applications which have facilitated SCM include:
E-mail
Web-based ordering and tracking. This involves outsiders seeing some management information on an
extranet
Electronic data interchange (EDI) of invoices and payments, ordering and sharing of inventory
information
Satellite systems able to track positions of trucks
Radio data tags fixed to pallets or boxes of valuable items to enable them to be located in the supply
chain (including within a warehouse)
This has led to:
Reductions in costs
Better outsourcing opportunities
Increased product and service innovation
Mass-customisation of products: i.e. customised products made by mass production methods, e.g. Dell
computers, superior car marques.
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Section overview
Firms with multiple products (e.g. consumer goods firms like Heinz) or multiple business units (e.g.
GE) are said to be managing a portfolio of businesses in the same way as a fund manager might
manage a portfolio of stocks and shares.
The Boston Consulting Group matrix (BCG matrix) is a graphical technique to assist management to
visualise their portfolio and to manage it to improve the financial performance of the corporation as a
whole.
The GE Business Screen is an alternative to the BCG matrix, which takes a broader view of the
factors making a business unit competitively strong and its industry financially attractive.
Treating businesses as investment portfolios was popular in USA and Europe in the 1960s and 1970s
but has declined in favour since, with the search for core competences and core businesses. This has
led to a re-evaluation of the concept of portfolio analysis.
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Sales of video tapes and DVDs over the last three years have followed the pattern below.
Sales
CU
Video tapes
DVDs
Time
2007
Definition
Experience effects: An explanation of the observed trend for unit cost to decline as cumulative output
increases which attributes the decline to organisational learning.
BCG estimated that unit costs typically declined by 15% for every doubling of cumulative output.
A company analyses its own position along two dimensions:
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PROBLEM
STAR
CHILD/QUESTION
?
CASH COW DOG
Low
High Low
Relative market share
As you can see, a star has a high share of a high growth market, and so on.
The BCG matrix differs from the product life cycle in that:
It takes account of external market factors, such as growth rate and share.
Just as a firm might have a portfolio of products at different stages of the life cycle, it can have a
portfolio of different products on the matrix.
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Percentage growth rate of the market. In excess of 10% growth is often regarded as high, but it will
depend upon the type of market.
Express the sales of each product as a percentage of the company's total sales. Each product is then
represented by a circle –the area of which is proportional to the sales of that product.
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Relative share calculated as Company sales/Top firm sales or Company sales/Sales of next nearest
competitor
This information can then be plotted on to a matrix.
The size of the circles indicate the contribution the product makes to overall turnover.
The centre of circles indicates their position on the matrix:
The evaluation and resulting strategic considerations for the company in the matrix above are these.
There are two cash cows, thus the company should be in a cash-positive state.
New products will be required to follow on from A.
A is doing well but needs to gain market share to move from position 3 in the market –continued
funding is essential. Similar for B.
C is a market leader in a maturing market –strategy of consolidation is required.
D is the major product which dominates its market; cash funds should be generated from this product.
E is very small. Is it profitable? Funding to maintain the position or selling off are appropriate strategies.
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The BCG matrix differs from the product life cycle in that:
It takes account of external market factors, such as growth rate and share
Just as a firm might have a portfolio of products at different stages of the life cycle, it can have a
portfolio of different products on the matrix.
The product life cycle concept can be added to a market share/market growth classification of products,
as follows.
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The deal fell through two weeks later when ASDA announced it had received a better offer from Wal-Mart
which was accepted. Kingfisher's board had to explain to the investors why they were to pay all the costs of
the aborted merger and also what was to happen to general merchandising now that the deal that had
previously been 'essential for its growth' was not on the table anymore.
The board of Kingfisher responded over the next six years by:
Selling off the elements of its general merchandising businesses as trade sales and separate market
flotations (demergers)
Demerging its electricals business into a separately listed firm Kesa Electricals
Retaining its home improvements business.
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Develop
Invest selectively
Strong Invest for growth for
for growth
Business strength
income
Develop Harvest
Invest selectively
Average selectively for or
and build
income Divest
Develop
Weak selectively Harvest Divest
Build on strengths
Attractive Average Unattractive
Market attractiveness
Each 'cell' requires a different management approach.
Each SBU can be plotted in one of the cells and the appropriate management approach adopted.
It is possible that SBUs might move around the matrix. Changes in PESTEL factors may change an
industry/market's attractiveness.
The matrix ignores the possibility of knowledge generation and competence sharing between
SBUs. Applications in one SBU may be of value elsewhere.
Drawbacks of portfolio planning approaches:
Portfolio models are simple; they do not reflect the uncertainties of decision-making.
BCG analysis, in particular, does not really take risk into account.
They ignore opportunities for creative segmentation or identifying new niches.
They assume a market is 'given' rather than something that can be created and nurtured. After all,
industries may be 'unattractive' because customer needs have not been analysed sufficiently.
They rely on identifiable products rather than services, or more nebulous relationships.
They ignore the profit-generating capability of business relationships.
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Creating a corporation with the financial characteristics of a well-balanced portfolio does not increase
the share price. This is because investors can diversify risk in how they construct their own portfolio.
Recycling cash flows from cash cows to problem children ignores the alternative of paying out dividend
and letting shareholders decide where to invest the money.
Creation of portfolios may cause the business to move beyond its core competences and so lead to
diminishing returns on investment through time.
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Requirement
You are an outside consultant.
Using the information above, prepare a report for next week's partners' meeting which analyses the
product portfolio of Catterall Wentworth using the BCG matrix. Your report should explain the logic
behind your reasoning and conclude on the balance of the portfolio.
See Answer at the end of this chapter.
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Summary
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Self-test
Answer the following questions.
1 A major UK chain of record retailers has decided to establish an offshore operation based on the
Channel Island of Alderney. This is because such locations do not need to charge customers a sales
tax. Orders would be placed by telephone, fax, e-mail or over the Internet.
Describe three key resources that would be required to offer such a service. (3 marks)
2 What is internal benchmarking? Suggest two ways a chain of restaurants could use internal
benchmarking to improve performance. (3 marks)
3 Rapid Fit Bangladesh (RFBD) is a highly profitable listed company specialising in fitting new tyres, brake
pads, exhausts etc to cars and vans. It is now seeking to diversify and has decided to offer fixed price
servicing on a while-you-wait basis. This would be pre-booked by motorists by telephone or over the
Internet. RFBD's managers believe that they can undercut franchised dealers by offering a quick, no
frills service for routine servicing, but are worried about their fitters' ability to tackle complex repair
jobs on a wide range of vehicles.
Evaluate the effect of the following four factors on RFBD's ability to deliver this strategy: financial
resources, human resources, current services offered, and information systems. (4 marks)
4 Explain what is meant by benchmarking and suggest why organisations might use it. (3 marks)
5 What is a 'cash cow' in the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) matrix? Suggest two examples.(2 marks)
6 Brahmanbaria Bank Ltd
Below is an extract from the Financial Times of Dhaka.
'Most of Bangladesh’
s big high street banks may be taking the knife to their branch networks –but not
all.
Brahmanbaria Bank, whose ownership is not permitted to obscure its homely, northern flavour,
underlined how it is successfully bucking the trend with the opening of its 270th branch at Dinajpur, last
week.
Brahmanbaria cannot claim to have completely escaped the storm of political criticism directed at
banks. But it sees the present wave of ill feeling more as a market opportunity than a problem.
Far from dreaming up a novel strategy for the times, however, its tactics seem to be to play on its
traditional strengths while the others flounder.
In terms of products Brahmanbaria cannot claim to be much different from its larger competitors. Its
emphasis has been on carving out for itself a different brand image, consolidating its position as a
regional bank –though its branches now stretch from Dinajpur to Cox’ s Bazar –and of winning
business from customers who are simply fed up with its rivals.
Brahmanbaria took a close look at the promotional activities of its competitors last year and found
that customers were unimpressed with the stark contrast between expensive advertising imagery and
actual delivery. It believed the service its own network delivered was, if anything, running ahead of its
image.
With personal and small to medium-sized business accounts as its main target, Brahmanbaria
increasingly makes a virtue of its size and parochialism. Its claims of friendliness and approachability
seemed to be supported recently when it was voted best overall bank for customer satisfaction by
Which-Bangla, the consumer magazine.
While insistent that it will not necessarily pick up accounts other banks consider too risky,
Brahmanbaria maintains that the greater autonomy and discretion given to its managers guarantees a
more considered, sympathetic approach.
Not everyone, however, is impressed. Christopher Cartwright, the owner of a small but long-
established graphic design company who responded to Brahmanbaria's well-publicised desire to help
small businessmen, says he got a sympathetic hearing –and a polite refusal. 'So much for a different
approach,' says Cartwright.
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Not content with welcoming suitable refugees from other banks, Brahmanbaria also has a keen eye for
the empty high-street properties vacated by its shrinking competitors.
The bank has moved into branch premises vacated by competitors in such cities as Mymensingh,
Pabna, Khulna and Barisal, though it remains fussy. It turned up its nose at every branch on a long list
of properties put on the market by Midland Bank.
Expansion is undertaken steadily, advancing into new, adjacent areas only when the bank's local
presence has been established. With a large chunk of the country now covered, attention is primarily
concentrated on expanding within existing areas, rather than on reaching new regional markets.
There are around 70 locations on the bank's expansion list, although only three new branches are
projected to open this year. At around CU500,000 a time, no one wants to get the next location
wrong.
So far, Brahmanbaria claims it has never been forced to close down a branch, most of which become
profitable in about three years.
Brahmanbaria does have some things in common with its larger counterparts –apart from its recently
reported losses. It shares the view that branches will increasingly take on the appearance of other
high-street shops, with the majority of space given to customers, rather than staff.
The Dinajpur branch with its spacious banking hall, is a sign of things to come. Steve Harrison is far
too thrilled with his first manager's post to complain about his own, windowless box at the back of the
building. In any case, he intends to spend most of his time on the road seeing customers: 'If I'm sitting
in here I'm not making any money,' he grins.'
Requirement
You are a junior consultant working for the management consultancy division of a major Bangladesh
accountancy practice.
Write a briefing note to your managing consultant analysing the competitive strategy being pursued by
Brahmanbaria Bank Ltd. Include in your report a value chain analysis of the bank's operations.
(15 marks)
Now, go back to the Learning Objectives in the Introduction. If you are satisfied that you have achieved
these objectives, please tick them off.
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Answers to Self-test
1 Staffing will be a major issue, since a small island will not have a large number of available and
suitable staff, and relocation from the UK would be costly.
Technology will also be important, given the variety of ways of placing orders. The company will
have to invest heavily to ensure the systems work.
Finance to acquire and equip suitable premises will be significant.
2 Internal benchmarking is the comparison of current results with other results recorded by the
same organisation.
A chain of restaurants could compare the performance of individual restaurants in the chain to
identify best practice. Overall results could be compared year on year to monitor improvements.
3 Financial resources: as a profitable listed company RFBD should easily be able to afford what I s
really only an extension of its current service.
Human resources: this is a key constraint because the current staff may lack the skills needed. A
programme of recruitment and training will probably be required.
Current services offered: this strategy seems like a sensible addition to the current service and is
a logical fit –it is product development.
Information systems: the service will be unpopular unless RFBD can rely on the Internet booking
idea working properly. Again, a key issue.
4 Benchmarking is the establishment through data gathering of targets and comparators, by the use of
which can be identified relative levels of performance (and particularly areas of underperformance).
Four sources of comparative data are: internal, competitive, activity (or process) and generic.
By adoption of identified best practices, it is hoped that performance will improve.
5 The BCG matrix is a way of analysing a portfolio of products by considering their market share and
market growth.
On this matrix a 'cash cow' is a product with a high market share and low market growth.
A high market share implies that the product is well established. Low market growth implies that it is
probably nearing the end of the product life cycle. The product therefore has few serious competitors,
and this is unlikely to change in the future.
In the short term this product is a money spinner, but in the longer term sales may well die away.
Examples may include Bic biros and Casio electronic calculators.
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Managerial
autonomy and
discretion
P Property
acquisition
Friendly and
approachable
staff
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At the operational management level, benchmarking is useful if there is any tendency to complacency
and it can improve awareness of the processes by which value is currently created and how they could
be improved in the future.
At the strategic level, benchmarking can be an important contributor to awareness of competition in the
changing task environment and how the company is responding to it, both practically and strategically.
There are disadvantages to benchmarking. A full programme can overload managers with demands
for information, restrict their attention to the factors that are to be benchmarked and affect their
motivation by seeming to reduce their role to copying others. It can also undermine competitive
advantage by revealing trade secrets. Strategically, it can divert attention away from innovation and the
future by focussing it on the efficiency of current operations. This is a particularly important point
for Y Ltd, with its current move towards exporting: this will require a great deal of attention by
managers at all levels.
If Y Ltd were to undertake a programme of benchmarking, firm commitment by the Managing Director
would be essential to drive it along. It would then be necessary to identify the areas in which
improvement was sought and to decide how such an improvement would be identified and measured.
Since benchmarking is about processes rather than results, measures would have to be rather
more detailed than the usual summary measures used in normal management reports.
It would then be necessary to identify suitable benchmarking partners. Trade associations or
chambers of commerce may be able to help. Y Ltd need, not, of course, benchmark against
competitors, or even against other motor accessory manufacturers. Its distribution operation, for
instance, might be compared with a similar operation in a completely different industry.
Once a scheme of measurement and comparison is in place, it is necessary to determine what
improvements are possible and to implement them. It will be tempting for the Managing Director of
Y Ltd to delegate this role to a single manager, but better results will be obtained if the responsibility
for making and monitoring the necessary changes is embedded in the normal management structure.
Success and failure in making and continuing the agreed improvements can then be monitored as part
of the normal performance review process.
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The company therefore must ensure their staff have the capabilities to meet the objectives of quality
and speed. It is clear that they need to be highly trained as they need to be able to work quickly and
avoid making mistakes. They need to be multi-skilled so that each member of staff can achieve
maximum utilisation and be in a position to deal with any customer and her needs. The company also
needs to ensure that they have an adequate workforce of trained juniors to deal with washing hair,
cleaning of the salon and general fetching and carrying. This will ensure that the stylists themselves are
not wasting time when they could be generating income for the salon.
Technology development
There are many areas in this kind of business where technology can help to achieve the organisation's
stated aims. The simple ticket waiting system might be developed to provide an indication of waiting
time and an option to prefer a particular stylist, for example. The salons could also use modern
technology to make the salon experience more appropriate for their target clientele. This could
include computer terminals in the waiting area for busy clients to check email (assuming they do not
have email capable devices such as Blackberry).
Operations
X Ltd should consider making the beauty salon business entirely separate from the hairdressing salon
as the two businesses seem to offer a mixed message to clients –one of speed but also relaxation.
Furthermore the company needs to analyse its current and potential market and determine whether
they will require more complex services such as colouring as this kind of procedure would add to the
time the stylist needs to spend with each client. They could consider offering a separate area for such
services and having dedicated staff working in this area.
There is potentially a new market for X Ltd to explore by considering the people who are just too
busy to leave the office for a haircut. They could target large office complexes and offer in-house
hairdressing services at convenient times.
Marketing and sales
X Ltd has been fortunate in that its name has become well-known through personal recommendation.
However, it would be unwise to reply on this simple recipe. A sophisticated business needs an
appropriate marketing communications strategy. This may require the assistance of consultants to
develop properly, but X Ltd should certainly consider some kind of targeted campaign, even if only run
at a low level of intensity to ensure its services are known to potential customers. Careful advertising
in local and even national newspapers might be appropriate, though it would be expensive. A high
quality direct mail campaign to business addresses might be more appropriate.
(b) By performing a value chain analysis a company such as X Ltd is forced to look in detail at its activities
and identify areas for improvement. This may never be achieved if the company is simply concentrating
on external analysis as a source of new opportunities
Businesses need to focus on trying to achieve sustainable competitive advantage; by considering each
activity of the business as a potential source of strength or a possible weakness, the company can
ensure that maximises the value that it offers. This analysis can also help to identify core competences,
which are particularly appropriate source of competitive advantage in the long term.
All companies should concentrate on achieving consistency throughout their operations. That is, if a
particular target is set, such as quality or speed or value, then this should be applied to all the activities
of the business to ensure that achievement in one area is not negated by failure in another. Examining
the business in the light of the value chain is a method of ensuring that value created in one area is not
destroyed in another. In the case of X Ltd there is, for example, an element of contradiction between
the aim of targeting women who are short of time and the use of a queuing system rather than
appointments.
A further aspect of the value chain that needs to be considered is the application of this concept to
the entire value system and the linkages between that system. By considering these linkages, a
company can achieve better relationships with its customers and suppliers and ensure partners are
sought who hold similar values and conduct business in a similar manner i.e. are compatible.
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The value chain also has some limitations in its application. Fairly obviously, it was based on a
manufacturing model and it may be difficult to apply to businesses in the service sector such as X Ltd.
Companies in this situation need to ensure they are comfortable with general principles of the
exercise and not get too caught up in trying to make their business fit within a certain framework.
Companies also need to ensure they don't focus on value chain analysis to the detriment of
environmental analysis and a consideration of competitive forces.
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Question marks
These are products for which the market is growing but where the share of the firm is still limited.
Although they have the potential to become profitable, services in this category are usually expensive to
offer as the firm is not yet operating at full efficiency and share will need defending against other players.
Two of the services offered would fall into this category: tax efficient supply chain planning and prelist
planning. Both are newly offered products and Catterall Wentworth do not yet have significant share.
However whilst the former sounds very likely to become a star (see below) in the near future, the latter is
very much an unknown and it may never get fully off the ground.
Stars
Products in this category are already doing well. Successful market share has been achieved and the long
term future of the product seems likely. However the market is still growing and the risk of losing share to
other entrants before achieving long term success still exists.
Both the Assurance division and the IAS advice services would be considered stars. In both areas Catterall
Wentworth have recently won a number of clients which will have improved their share of the overall
market. However the markets are still growing fast, offering real potential only if they can hold their share
against their competitors.
Cash cows
Cash cow products are the real money earners. Market share is established and a slow down in the growth
of the market should prevent many new players entering. It is the funds from these products that support
the investment in the newer product areas.
Catterall Wentworth's corporate finance department is a cash cow. It is well established and profitable.
General consultancy is probably also a cash cow. Modest increases in revenues are not unusual in slow
growth markets. However if the income from consultancy has been following a downward trend then a new
approach will be needed to prevent share being eroded.
Standard taxation services (such as provision of corporation tax returns) are not specifically mentioned in
the above analysis. It may be reasonable to assume they are a cash cow, since margins are still being earned
from them (albeit slim ones).
Dogs
Dog products are those with a low share of a market with little growth potential. They may be previously
successful products that are coming towards the end of their lifecycle, or question marks that never did
achieve share. They make little or no contribution to profits.
Aggressive tax planning is clearly a dog product. NBR has effectively brought it to the end of its lifecycle by
insisting on prior approval for tax planning schemes.
Using the BCG analysis, audit services would also be defined as dogs. The market for Catterall
Wentworth's audit services is in decline as the smaller firms come within the audit exemption. As liability
fears continue to abound in the industry it is seen as higher risk, and insurance premiums eat into profits. In
addition, since audit clients cannot now be used as a 'way in' to sales of the higher margin non-audit
services, the low returns from audits become more obvious.
Conclusions
Catterall Wentworth has on the face of it a balanced portfolio. It has services in all the key areas. However
closer examination suggests a less optimistic picture.
It is the income from the cash cow products that supports the new investment. It is not clear from the
information provided what proportion of the firm's turnover their cash cows make up. However general
consultancy is only earning limited profits which puts pressure on the corporate finance department to earn
enough to fund the whole business.
The star products IAS advice and the Assurance division will make them money in time. However spending
on staff and training is probably matching any increase in revenue from them at the moment. In addition the
problem children will need to be marketed and developed if they are to be successful and this too takes
funds.
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Dog products are often a drain on a firm's resources. Whilst the firm may well cease offering aggressive tax
planning, if they continue to offer audit services, these may end up being provided at an effective loss.
Catterall Wentworth will need to make some difficult decisions if they are not to run out of the funds they
need to support their current product portfolio.
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