International Business Management Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

International Business Management - Assignment Example The implications of these strategies are recommended to future managers for implementation in the organizational policies for getting competitive advantage in the market. Introduction This assignment is about the position of competitive advantage attained by Procter and Gamble and the study of the various approaches and strategies that have been adopted by the organization to rise to a competitive leadership position in the market. The topic is worth to be studied as it would enable us to validate the theories of the competitive advantage with the real example of Procter and Gamble. The implication of these strategies which are namely innovative strategies, cost leadership strategies, differentiation strategy and operation efficiency could be linked to the recent developments in the business of Procter and Gamble. Due to the innovative strategies, Procter and Gamble has been able to restructure its business process and operations and they have been able to track the demand and needfu l to be done to meet the customer needs (Barner, 1991, p.102). Along with that operational efficiency has been attained supported by the cost effective production. These features put Procter and Gamble in a relatively superior position in the market which was reflected in increased acceptability of its products that has driven the business growth (Mullen and Stumpf, 1987, p.38). The review of literature on the topic has been presented followed by the detailed analysis and findings on the strategies adopted by Procter and Gamble for gaining competitive advantage. Literature Review The diamond model was proposed by Michael Porter in 1985 which highlights some of the drawbacks of the theory of comparative advantage. According to this theory, the nations and the business houses focus on the growth of productivity for gaining competitive advantage. In order to attain growth in productivity, the cheap labour that is available could be utilized by the forces of production. Figure 1: Diamon d Model The model has analysed the notion of competitiveness using six broad factors discussed as follows: Factors conditions include capital resources, physical resources, infrastructure and human resources. The demand conditions prevailing in the domestic market can contribute to create competitiveness for the companies when there is pressure from the domestic buyers to innovate new and differentiated products from that of the competitors. The supporting industries are important for the innovation purposes since they are cost effective and can contribute in the upgrading process whereas the government can contribute to the above determinants by influencing the supply conditions as well as demand conditions. The diamond model reduces the high degree of emphasis on the availability of natural resources inside the geographical boundaries which brings out the limitations of the theory of comparative advantage (Stupmf and Dunbar, 1990, p.22). According to the founder of this theory and many other experts, the competitive advantage could be attained by the organizations due to building up unique capabilities that help them to outperform their competitors (Peteraf, 1993, p.185). The various ways in which the companies have attained competitive advantage in the market are due to the access gained to specialized resources of production.