PLEASE GIVE ALL CASE STUDY ANSWER CASE STUDY 01: Amazon.com This example on the

Question

PLEASE GIVE ALL CASE STUDY ANSWER

CASE STUDY 01: Amazon.com

This example on the way Jeff Bezos (the founder of Amazon.com) now sees his vast company is a great example of how the underlying competencies of an organization can come to define what it is. Admittedly, one of the major drivers of Amazon seeing itself as a technology provider has been the seasonality of its demand. Had Amazon not had to cope with this, it might never have been prompted to develop its other services.

Nevertheless, it now does see itself as having acquired unique and difficult to replicate competencies that can be leveraged in other markets. Furthermore, these competencies have been developed within its operations function. Only by investing in and developing its information technology, fulfilment processes, and skills over a long period of time could it have done that. Now, it can take those competencies into other markets. This is an ideal example of strategy being formed ‘inside-out’.

Questions

1. Why does this example say something about the idea of core competence?

CASE STUDY 02: Aldi

Aldi do two sets of complementary things to keep their costs down; they minimize input costs and they reduce process complexity. Minimizing input costs includes specializing in ‘private label’, that is Aldi branded products. This means that they can specify the composition (for example, recipe) of products to keep costs under control. Nor do they have to support the brand marketing that is necessary with branded products. They are also a large organization who can order products in very large quantities thereby keeping prices down. Nor do they use complex and costly fittings in their stores.

Using ‘open carton’ displays and deliberately not supplying grocery bags both eliminate costs that their supermarkets incur. The system is also simple. An ordering and stock management system that only has to cope with 700 items is much easier to design and operate than one which has to cope with 30,000 items. Supply chain, stock movement, quality management and other systems are therefore simpler and cheaper. By using simple customer management devices such as the returnable deposit only when a cart is brought back to the store, the job of collecting and returning trolleys is eliminated.

Questions

1. What are the main ways in which Aldi operations try to minimize their costs?

CASE STUDY 03: Lower Hurst Farm

It is first important to understand what is meant by ‘quality’ in this case. Of course, it means the same as for any other product, namely that it consistently meets its specification. But also there are other issues with this organization. First, there is a matter of trust. The people who buy this meat are doing so, at least partly, because it is organic. Therefore, they must trust the operation to maintain everything that is associated with organic farming. This includes both the way the animals are reared and cared for and the stewardship of the countryside. The operation, therefore, must do everything it can to demonstrate that it is doing this and build the trust of its customers. Second, there is a significant ‘quality of service’ issue.

Catherine points out that customers like to have personal communication with her when they are ordering their meat. Quality of service therefore means not only the courtesy and responsiveness that we would expect from any service, but also the feeling that the customers are ‘part of the system’.

Achieving these different aspects of quality means devoting considerable attention to how the farm manages its processes. In effect, there are three processes here, rearing the cattle, butchering the cattle and packing the meat and order taking and dispatch to customers.

Rearing the cattle under organic conditions is clearly a rigorous and demand process. The inputs to the process (the land, cattle, feed, absence of artificial fertilizers and drugs, etc.) must all be checked for quality and the day-to-day care of the cattle must conform to organic farming rules. The butchering must be done so as not to cause too much distress to the animals and the freezing process is designed (with specialist help) to maintain the quality of the meat.

Finally, the ordering process must be conducted, not just with courtesy, but with a level of friendliness appropriate to customers’ expectations. Similarly, transportation of the products must be fast and dependable (Catherine always calls customers to make sure that they have received their order and that it is in good condition).

Questions

1. What does Lower Hurst Farm have to get right to keep the quality of its products and services so high?

Explanation / Answer

CASE STUDY 1

A core competency is a concept in management theory introduced by C. K. Prahalad and Gary Hamel. It can be defined as "a harmonized combination of multiple resources and skills that distinguish a firm in the marketplace".

Core competencies fulfill three criteria:

For example, a company's core competencies may include precision mechanics, fine optics, and micro-electronics. These help it build cameras, but may also be useful in making other products that require these competencies.

Core competencies and product development

Core competencies are related to a firm's product portfolio via core products. Core products contribute "to the competitiveness of a wide range of end products. They are the physical embodiment of core competencies."Approaches for identifying product portfolios with respect to core competencies and vice versa have been developed in recent years. One approach for identifying core competencies with respect to a product portfolio has been proposed by Danilovic & Leisner (2007). They use design structure matricesfor mapping competencies to specific products in the product portfolio. Using their approach, clusters of competencies can be aggregated to core competencies. Bonjour & Micaelli (2010) introduced a similar method for assessing how far a company has achieved its development of core competencies. More recently Hein et al. link core competencies to Christensen's concept of capabilities, which is defined as resources, processes, and priorities. Furthermore, they present a method to evaluate different product architectures with respect to their contribution to the development of core competencies.

Related Questions

Navigate

• Browse (All)
• Browse P
• Subjects

Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.