Deck 9: Value Chain Management: Functional Strategies for Competitive Advantage

Question 1

In what ways can updating its IT help Home depot improve its (a) responsiveness to customers, (b) quality, and (c) efficiency?

Answer 1

Updating the IT aspect of the business would help the company HD in the following comportments:
Responsiveness to customers:
• If the company's products are available online, the company could gain popularity because of it.
• The company would be able to get the valuable opinions and feedbacks from the customers' blogs and portals.
• The popularity of the company and its products will increase rapidly at a lesser price.
• Customers would be better satisfied as selling the products online would enable them to buy cheaper and faster.
• The company could connect to its customer through social networks at any time.
Quality:
• Direct feedbacks about quality could enable the company to develop new strategies.
• Easy to conduct online surveys among customers regarding quality.
• Better conformance to customers' expectations as the preferences would be better known and understood.
Efficiency:
• Reduced costs on inventory due to better forecast.
• Controlled and planned production increases the efficiency and the demands can be met.
• Easy to identify the products that need to be continued and those that need not.

Question 2

Go to a local store, restaurant, or supermarket ;observe how customers are treated; and list the ways in which you think the organization is being responsive or unresponsive to the needs of its customers. How could this business improve its responsiveness to customers?

Answer 2

An example could be used of a local bakery that is very famous for its biscuits, cakes, pastries, and pizzas. However, the business has suffered a debacle due to the huge influx of fast food chains in the town.
The customers are not treated in a very compassionate manner. This is because of the monopoly that the business enjoyed in the area. The organization was responsive towards its customers are as follows:
• Product quality.
• Pricing.
• Availability.
• Services such as delivery.
The firm lacks in the following ways:
• Hospitality.
• Involvement in social events.
• Advertising.
The business can enhance its responsiveness towards the customers in the following ways:
• Starting a few eating joints.
• Engaging in social events and communicating it to the customers through media.
• Funding or sponsoring social events to gain visibility in customers.
• Introduce new products.

Question 3

How to Build Flatscreen Displays
You are the top manager of a start-up company that will produce innovative new flatscreen displays for PC makers like Apple and HP. The flatscreen display market is highly competitive, so there is considerable pressure to reduce costs. Also, PC makers are demanding ever-higher quality and better features to please customers. In addition, they demand that delivery of your product meets their production schedule needs. Functional managers want your advice on how to best meet these requirements, especially because they are in the process of recruiting new workers and building a production facility.
In what ways can these managers develop a program to increase quality and innovation?

Answer 3

• The company should be able to provide the same quality features as its customers at a competitive cost so that customers are appealed to purchase the product over competing companies.
• The managers of the company should encourage input from their employees and recruit the best talent possessing expertise in the same or related field.
• The managers should work on alleviating defects in the product and encourage employees by providing incentives for defect-free products.
• The company should work with suppliers closely to improve the quality of raw materials being supplied to them. This will help create quality products.
• The managers should use technology to help design creative products that would simplify production and produce the best possible products.
The managers of the company should work on improving innovation by taking the following steps:
• Managers of the organization should encourage the creation of new and innovative products that would attract customers. The company can achieve this by using the concept of quantum product innovation.
• The managers should work towards the gradual improvement of existing products by using technological advancements. This can be enabled by bringing customers and suppliers in the discussion process to obtain feedback on the desired changes.
• Managers of the company should ensure that their teams are cross-functional to ensure coordinated efforts and proper communication among the managers of different departments.

Question 4

Managing the Value Chain
Choose an organization with which you are familiar-one that you have worked in or patronized or one that has received extensive coverage in the popular press. The organization should be involved in only one industry or business. Answer these questions about the organization:
Describe the value chain activities that the organization uses to produce this output.

Question 5

In the 2010s Toyota was accused of allowing its desire for rapid global growth to undermine its commitment to quality and safety in the design of its vehicles, creating problems such as the design failure of the acceleration and braking systems in some of its vehicles. Search the web for articles about the way Toyota has responded to these problems.
How has Toyota changed its strategies toward value chain management as a result of these quality and safety problems?

Question 6

What are the main challenges in implementing asuccessful total quality management program?

Question 7

Afer implementing efficiency-improving techniques, many companies commonly lay off hundreds or thousands of employees whose services are no longer required. And frequently remaining employees must perform more tasks more quickly-a situation that can generate employee stress and other work-related problems. Also, these employees may experience guilt because they stayed while many of their colleagues and friends were fired.
What criteria would you use to decide which kind of strategy is ethical to adopt and how far to push employees to raise the level of their performance?

Question 8

How to Compete in the Sandwich Business
Form groups of three or four people, and appoint one member as the spokesperson who will communicate your findings to the class when called on by the instructor. Then discuss the following scenario:
You and your partners are thinking about opening a new kind of sandwich shop that will compete head-tohead with Subway and Thundercloud Subs. Because these chains have good brand-name recognition, it is vital that you find some source of competitive advantage for your new sandwich shop, and you are meeting to brainstorm ways of obtaining one.
In what ways do you think you will be able to improve on the operations and processes of existing sandwich shops and increase responsiveness to customers through better product quality, efficiency, or innovation?

Question 9

What is the most effective way that a home improvement company such as Home Depot or Lowe's can improve your shopping experience?

Question 10

How to Build Flatscreen Displays
You are the top manager of a start-up company that will produce innovative new flatscreen displays for PC makers like Apple and HP. The flatscreen display market is highly competitive, so there is considerable pressure to reduce costs. Also, PC makers are demanding ever-higher quality and better features to please customers. In addition, they demand that delivery of your product meets their production schedule needs. Functional managers want your advice on how to best meet these requirements, especially because they are in the process of recruiting new workers and building a production facility.
What critical lessons do these managers need to learn about value chain management?

Question 11

Why is it so important that Home Depot improve its operating systems?

Question 12

Managing the Value Chain
Choose an organization with which you are familiar-one that you have worked in or patronized or one that has received extensive coverage in the popular press. The organization should be involved in only one industry or business. Answer these questions about the organization:
What product attributes do customers of the organization desire?

Question 13

How to Build Flatscreen Displays
You are the top manager of a start-up company that will produce innovative new flatscreen displays for PC makers like Apple and HP. The flatscreen display market is highly competitive, so there is considerable pressure to reduce costs. Also, PC makers are demanding ever-higher quality and better features to please customers. In addition, they demand that delivery of your product meets their production schedule needs. Functional managers want your advice on how to best meet these requirements, especially because they are in the process of recruiting new workers and building a production facility.
What kinds of techniques discussed in the chapter can help your functional managers to increase efficiency?

Question 14

What is efficiency, and what are some strategies managers can use to increase it?

Question 15

Managing the Value Chain
Choose an organization with which you are familiar-one that you have worked in or patronized or one that has received extensive coverage in the popular press. The organization should be involved in only one industry or business. Answer these questions about the organization:
What is the output of the organization?

Question 16

Afer implementing efficiency-improving techniques, many companies commonly lay off hundreds or thousands of employees whose services are no longer required. And frequently remaining employees must perform more tasks more quickly-a situation that can generate employee stress and other work-related problems. Also, these employees may experience guilt because they stayed while many of their colleagues and friends were fired.
How big a layoff, if any, is acceptable? If layoffs are acceptable, what could be done to reduce their harm to employees?

Question 17

In the 2010s Toyota was accused of allowing its desire for rapid global growth to undermine its commitment to quality and safety in the design of its vehicles, creating problems such as the design failure of the acceleration and braking systems in some of its vehicles. Search the web for articles about the way Toyota has responded to these problems.
How have the recalls that Toyota announced affected current public opinion about the company's record for quality and reliability?

Question 18

Managing the Value Chain
Choose an organization with which you are familiar-one that you have worked in or patronized or one that has received extensive coverage in the popular press. The organization should be involved in only one industry or business. Answer these questions about the organization:
Try to identify improvements that might be made to the organization's value chain to boost its responsiveness to customers, quality, efficiency, and innovation.

Question 19

What is CRM, and how can it help improve responsiveness to customers?

Question 20

Why is it important for managers to pay close attention to value chain management if they wish to be responsive to their customers?

Question 21

Afer implementing efficiency-improving techniques, many companies commonly lay off hundreds or thousands of employees whose services are no longer required. And frequently remaining employees must perform more tasks more quickly-a situation that can generate employee stress and other work-related problems. Also, these employees may experience guilt because they stayed while many of their colleagues and friends were fired.
Either by yourself or in a group, think through the ethical implications of using a new functional strategy to improve organizational performance.

Question 22

What is innovation, and what are some strategies managers can use to develop successful new products?

Question 23

How to Compete in the Sandwich Business
Form groups of three or four people, and appoint one member as the spokesperson who will communicate your findings to the class when called on by the instructor. Then discuss the following scenario:
You and your partners are thinking about opening a new kind of sandwich shop that will compete head-tohead with Subway and Thundercloud Subs. Because these chains have good brand-name recognition, it is vital that you find some source of competitive advantage for your new sandwich shop, and you are meeting to brainstorm ways of obtaining one.
Identify the product attributes that a typical sandwich shop customer wants the most.

Question 24

Ask a manager how responsiveness to customers,quality, efficiency, and innovation are defined and measured in his or her organization.