Obtaining a Competitive Advantage Through Cost Leadership and Different

This assignment go forth cover how a business can net profit a competitive emolument over similar businesses in the said(prenominal) market using sources such as cost utility and differentiation. What al slump for also be discussed is the assess 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 through 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 every competitive advantage can be adopted. Lastly, Porters value chain features 9 activities which can each be identified as being either a primary or oblige action at law and what will then be explained will be how these primary and congest 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 more 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 sober example of this would be ASDA within the nourishment retailer industry. ASDA (ASDA beats its mount year gross 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 subject 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. 6th edn. Harlow Pearson Education Limited.McGeary, R. (2011) Anatomy of commercialise Research Online Available at http//www.remnet.com/porter.html (Accessed 14/11/2011)Millar, V., Porter, M. (1985) How Information Gives You militant 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. capital of the United Kingdom Thomson LearningPorter, M. (2004) Competitive Advantage Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance. New York FREE PRESS.