What's your competitive edge: View ours GROUP # 3

The simulation in this BPL class was a study that examined ways to improve performance through online information feedback that clarified for the task structure of our decisions which included a cause and effect relationship. So we put our ideas to the test and this was what we set forth.
OUR MISSION/GOAL was to be recognised in the market place and at the same time earn profit. In other words, maximise shareholders wealth by utilizing the resources efficiently and effectively as well as creating a lasting impression in the minds of our customers. In the end we accomplish this by providing high quality dishware at affordable prices. We wanted to be the "pulse" in the dinnerware industry, setting the paste and maintaining it.

Henry Jones built this company and it was our duty to explore every possibilty to take advantage of all the opportunities to keep this reputable name. Some of the opportunites we mirrored in on was sustaining market share. We hoped to dominate the market and we wanted everyone in the industy,competitors and clients, to know who we were. So in order for us to achieve this, research and development helped us to go deep into the inner networkings of such an industry. The results gave us a high (ROI) return on investments, and for the consumers, high grade products for an affordable price. Secondly after this research how were we going to market this premium product. We had to invest heavily in our advertising because. At first we saw this as a way to gain competitive advantage and increase sales. Another considerable strategy we focused in on at first was to pay considerable amount of dividend to our shareholders and also to buy back shares when we were in a profitable position.

Porter's Five was a bench mark used in analyzing this industry and we, Jones Potter Corp, wanted to know where we stood. The threat of new entrants into the market was relatively easy, but we Jones Potter, has been around for a long period of time and our competitors or those trying to enter must be worried about surviving. The bargaining power of suppliers is moderately low.You see raw materials was always readily available at convenient prices. And as for the bargaining power of buyers we had limited knowledge in that area. We were a bit unsure as their was insufficient information made available. Looking at rivalry of competition, this was very high. There was no real direct substitues that could affect this industry.All in all the industry looked very promising. We had some brilliant ideas to be competitive by offering a higher commissions on our higher priced products as opposed to our cheaper ones and paying a sizeable salary to our workers so no one will quit to leave our business dwindling in the open market. All in all we are in a great postion. We took advantage of most of our opportunites to sustain competitve advantage.

Our business being Dinnerware and seeing that there wasn't much of a substitute, this product served the same purpose to our customers, so we had to come up with a strategy. In the begining, we thought that charging low prices and strong advertising would gain us a greater portion in the market.But to our dismay, we never seemed to surpass 11% of the market share. Therefore we differenciated our product. We invested heavily on quality control and research and development and to complement this we increased our prices.The business was growing extremely quick because we had also increased our infrastructure mainly by expanding production facility. We were not just focused on making money alone in the short run, but we wanted to out do our competitors by being the most cost effective. So in an overiew, we moved from a lower price to a higher price and quality control and research and development was credited for this change.Believe it or not, profit margin increased as well as market share. To prove this we moved from 5th place to 2nd place at the end of the 2nd quarter in 2006. Even though we finished 3rd overall we were comfortable with our efforts. This only showed us that the race wasn't for the fastest but those that endureth to the end.

As was mentioned earlier, we had to be different and we had to keep up with the demands.By that, we had to be effective and efficient in utilizing our resources. We were able to obtain and acheive all this by our strategic management and planning. We created a superior product slightly higher priced than our competitors,but it was graciously welcomed by our consumers. This signaled to us that they were etremely happy with our product.However as in any industry, when one does something different the other follows because they too want a piece of the pie.

Just to look at our financial data , some figures indicated that we were still in a strong position. We had sales growth of 6% at the end of the 2nd quarter and 14% at the end of the 4th quarter. Another strategy that really worked for us was the efficient management of our raw materials. We always ordered just enough to meet our demands and have some in inventory to accomodate for just any increase in demand. We never had to pay more in the spot market because we were always on point with our raw materials. We never wanted to have that lag in production. And finally our stock price and EPS just kept increasing.

In conclusion, if our team was asked to do this again, we would definetly say YES.This simulation helped us to critically analyize and strategize in such a competitive environment. However there are always lessons to be learn't and what we all will take away with us is to really understand at first hand the price we should charge and as well as to manage our debt as soon as possible.

Challenges

Every day you live to learn and experience something new,I did actually. My BPL presentation. That was the first time I ever did a presentation in front of and audience. The feelings I had before was that of nervousness, anxiety, etc. But what I came to realise that practice makes perfect. The lesson learnt is that even though when you feel as though you cannot do something, and you actually do it, you fell as though you have reached a step further.

Strategies may not always be accurate

Home Depot and its mis-management,who would have known?? Home Depot will be closing (15) fifteen of its stores all because they are reeling from the perfect storm of higher gas prices, higher food and health care costs.Not only because of these factors, but what has surfaced to the shore is the poor mangement of customer complaints.

In febraury, it announced its first ever year-over-year sales decline. Home Depot's earnings from continuing operations are expected to decline between 19 and 24% for earnings.Home Depot will cut capital spending by 1billion over the next three years.This money will be freed up to improve existing stores and possibly for share repurchases.

Now lets get to the core of the problem. As was mentioned earlier, Home Depot had poor customer service and they knew this. Home Depot has been hoping that its year long turn around efforts, which have included layoffs in some areas to put more workers on the sales floor to focus on its reputation for poor customer service.

There were so many complaints and poor customer service that it seemed to be all that customers received when they entered and left the store and to our surprise it was no fault of the associates. Management allowed the whole morale of the store to drop and they seemed not to care. In the end, this also lead to the decrease in sales, adding to that the increase in the cost of living.

This what an assoiciate and customer experienced!
I went to Home Depot the other day and I wanted to buy a metal wagon. You know the kind that people pull their kids in but much better. The sales ladies in Garden dept. were very helpful and got me one and told me the price. When I went to the register the price was $80.00 instead of the $64.00 they told me. I asked to speak to a manager and they got me an assistant manager jackass! He said to bad that's the price. You want it or not! I told him about the original price and he could neither confirm nor deny that that really was the price. I told him to take it and put it back on the shelf. When he left, an associate told me that he would have given it to me for the $64.00.

I believe that if this Company fail and ignore this matter , they will suffer the consequences in time to come leading to greater stores closing and even filing for bankruptcy.