1 The text provides three primary strategic approaches diffe

1. The text provides three primary strategic approaches (differentiation, cost, and response) for achieving competitive advantage. Provide an example of each. Support your choices.

2. Match the product with the proper parent company and country in the table below:

Product

Parent Company

Country

Arrow Shirts

a. Volkswagen

1. France

Braun Household Appliances

b. Bidermann International

2 Great Britain

Lotus Autos

C. Bridgestone

3. Germany

Firestone Tires

d. Campbell Soup

4. Japan

Godiva Chocolate

C, Credit Lyonnais

5. U.S.

Haagen-Dazs Ice Cream (USA)

f. Tata

6. Switzerland

Jaguar Autos

g. Procter

3. Identify how changes in the external environment affect the OM strategy for a company. For Instance, discuss what impact the following external factors might have on OM strategy:

a) Major increases in oil prices.

b) Water and Air Quality legislation

c) Fewer young prospective employees entering the labour market

d) Inflation versus stable prices

e) Legislation moving health insurance from a pre-tax benefit to taxable income

4. Develop a ranking for competitiveness and/or business environment for Britain, Singapore, the U.S Hong Kong, and Italy.

5. Ranga Ramasesh is the operations manager for a firm that is trying to decide which one of four countries it should research for possible outsourcing providers. The first step is to select a country based on cultural risk factors, which are critical to eventual business success with the provider. Ranga has reviewed outsourcing provider directories and found that the four countries in the table that follows have an ample number of providers from which they can choose. To aid in the country selection step, he has enlisted the aid of a cultural expert, John Wang, who has provided ratings of the various criteria in the table that follows. The resulting ratings are on a I to10 scale, where 1 is a low risk and 10 is a high risk.

John Wang has determined six criteria weightings: Trust, with a weight of 0.4; Quality, with 0.2; Religious, with 0.1; Individualism, with 0.1; Time, with 0.1; and Uncertainty, with 0.1. Using the weighted factor-rating method, which country should Ranga select?

Culture Selection Criterion

Mexico

Panama

Costa

Rica

Peru

Trust

I

2

2

1

Society value of quality work

7

10

9

10

Religious attitudes

3

3

3

5

Individualism attitudes

5

2

4

8

Time orientation attitudes

4

6

7

3

Uncertainty avoidance attitudes

3

2

4

2

6. Walker Accounting Software is marketed to small accounting firms throughout the U.S. and Canada. Owner George Walker has decided to outsource the company’s help desk and is considering three providers: Manila Call Center (Philippines), Delhi Services (India), and Moscow Bell (Russia). The following table summarizes the data Walker has assembled. Which outsourcing firm has the best rating? (Higher weights imply higher importance and higher ratings imply more desirableproviders.)

Product	Parent Company	Country
Arrow Shirts	a. Volkswagen	1. France
Braun Household Appliances	b. Bidermann International	2 Great Britain
Lotus Autos	C. Bridgestone	3. Germany
Firestone Tires	d. Campbell Soup	4. Japan
Godiva Chocolate	C, Credit Lyonnais	5. U.S.
Haagen-Dazs Ice Cream (USA)	f. Tata	6. Switzerland
Jaguar Autos	g. Procter

Solution

Answer 1.Differentiation

Example :- VIRGIN AIRLINES

After being spearheaded by Richard Branson, Virgin Airlines was one of the various industries that were grouped under the “Virgin” label. Described as a company known for “innovation, quality and a sense of fun”, Virgin Airlines has taken to the skies in an effort to make air travel easily affordable and yet enjoyable. Virgin Atlantic, was born in 1984, when one night Branson’s flight to the Virgin Islands was cancelled. Undaunted, he charted a plane and offered a seat on the new plane for $29 to his fellow travelers and hence his airline was born.

Virgin’s differentiation strategy is two-fold strategy: Pricing is one of them and the other on is service. By reducing the costs, Virgin Airlines remains competitive with other cost-cutting airline companies. Lower costs, however, don’t translate to compromise on the services – Virgin is a full service airline with on-plane WIFI, touchscreen seatback entertainment, and full service meals along with roomy cabins.

Cost :- Example given above also holds good for Cost strategy.

Answer 2.

Answer 3. Operations and management is responsible for making decisions regarding product development, process layout to enhance productivity, site location and capacity -- how much of the product is needed. In addition, OM has to address planning issues, characterized by scheduling of labor and ordering materials within the constraints of your organization\'s strategy.

a) Major increases in oil prices : This will result in increase in freight cost and hence needs to be tackled accordingly i.e either to absorb the cost or the pass this cost to the customer.

b) Water and Air Quality legislation : This has to be taken care by installing appropriate filteration systems to avoid litigation. however this will include cost and decision has to be taken.

c) Fewer young prospective employees entering the labour market : Less young people means low energy amoung working group. However this also means more experienced labour and needs less time and learning curve is already at its peak.

d) Inflation versus stable prices : Inflation causes the cost to increase whereas stable prices result in stable prices or stable margins.

e) Legislation moving health insurance from a pre-tax benefit to taxable income :- less people will invest in health insurance and will invest where they can get the tax exemption.

Product	Parent Company	Country
Arrow Shirts	PVH	5. U.S.
Braun Household Appliances	g. Procter	3. Germany
Lotus Autos	a. Volkswagen	2 Great Britain
Firestone Tires	C. Bridgestone	5. U.S.
Godiva Chocolate	d. Campbell Soup	5. U.S.
Haagen-Dazs Ice Cream (USA)	Nestle	5. U.S.
Jaguar Autos	f. Tata	2 Great Britain