Obtaining a Competitive Advantage Through Cost Leadership and Different

This assignment go forth cover how a commercial enterprise dejection gain a competitive advantage over similar businesses in the same market using sources such as terms advantage and differentiation. What will also be discussed is the value chain model made by Porter, and this assignment will explain what the model was actually designed for. Furthermore, it will be explained how a business can use methods of competitive advantage done various stages of Porters Value Chain in order to help it maintain and increase the competitiveness of the business, and this will be done through assessing the operations of the business and locating exactly where either competitive advantage can be gained. Lastly, Porters value chain features 9 activities which can each be identified as being either a primary or support activity and what will then be explained will be how these primary and support activities can add value to a business, and whether or not support activities can be considered as being any more or any less important than a primary activity. It is suggested by many that there are two ways for a business to gain competitive advantage this is done through either cost advantage or differentiation. Porter (2004, p.64) claims that cost advantage is when a firm achieves a lower cumulative cost of performing value activities than its competitors. A good example of this would be ASDA within the food retailer manufacturing. ASDA (ASDA beats its full yr sales and profit plan, 2009), known for their commitment to everyday low prices, are very much a cost-leading competitor in the food retailer industry and they stated that they beat their full year sales and profit plan for the fourth consecutive quarter in 2009 by introducing a significant cost reduction prog... ...l Group (2008) Annual Report 2008 Our key strengths. Online Available at http//www.homeretailgroup.com/ar/2008/review/keystrengths/p2.shtml (Accessed 19/11/2011)Johnson, G., Scholes, K. (2002) Exploring Corporate Strategy Text and Cases. sixth edn. Harlow Pearson Education Limited.McGeary, R. (2011) Anatomy of Market Research Online Available at http//www.remnet.com/porter.html (Accessed 14/11/2011)Millar, V., Porter, M. (1985) How Information Gives You Competitive Advantage, Harvard Business Review pp. 18-36. Online Available at http//zaphod.mindlab.umd.edu/docSeminar/pdfs/Porter85.pdf (Accessed 17/11/2011)Needle, D. (2000) Business in Context An introduction to business and its environment. Third edition. London Thomson LearningPorter, M. (2004) Competitive Advantage Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance. New York uninvolved PRESS.