Cost Management: A Strategic Emphasis 5th Edition by David Stout, Edward Blocher, Gary Cokins

Exercise 22

Strategy; Analyzing a Commodity Business SanDisk Corp, the Sunnyvale, California, firm, is the world’s largest manufacturer of removable memory disks used in digital cameras, cell phones, music players, and game consoles. Like many electronic components of this type, the business is very cyclical and price competitive. Most analysts view the product as a commodity, and thus vulnerable to global low-cost competition. SanDisk has adopted a new strategy to attempt to distinguish itself based on innovation and increased advertising. The firm has developed waterproof memory cards and cards with a security feature—the owner’s fingerprint is needed to operate the device.

Required What type of strategy did SanDisk follow at this time? What strategy was intended in SanDisk’s new plans? Comment on how successful you think the new strategy would be.