In both the soft drink and cigarette industries, for example, customers appear to be willing to pay a little extra to enjoy the brand of their choice. Focus Know the advantages and disadvantages of a cost leadership strategy. Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance, Newsletter Sign One of the most important reasons why this is wise advice is that the things you need to do to make each type of strategy work appeal to different types of people. However, both compete based on ______________, A focused differentiation strategy requires offering ___________ features that fulfill the demands of a _____________ market, Focused strategies target a ____________ market, Differentiation targets a ____________ market, while focused differentiation targets a ____________ market. An example would be budget food items or other household tools stocked only by small, local supermarkets. Cost leadership is an effective business-level strategy to the extent that a firm offers low prices, provides satisfactory quality, and attracts enough customers to be profitable. But the point we're making here is that when you come to book a flight, there are some very different options available. These organisations cannot afford to be merely among the lowest-cost producers - this leaves them open to undercutting from rivals - instead, they need to be This is a huge number, but Walmart is so large that its advertising expenses equal just a tiny fraction of its sales. refers to organisations who seek to develop a lower-cost advantage, but only within a small market segment. The firm passes some of these savings to customers in the form of reduced prices in its stores. Another would be a low-cost regional airline which focuses only on specific routes. Customer, Partner and Stakeholder Management, Access to capital or technology required to drive costs down, A low-cost base (e.g. Understand how economies of scale help contribute to a cost leadership strategy. All of this is achieved by reducing costs to a level below those of the organization's competitors. 1.4 What are three industries in which a cost leadership strategy would be difficult to implement? Despite its attractive price tag, the Yugo was a dismal failure because drivers simply could not depend on the car for transportation. Porter's Five Forces The no-frills operators have opted to cut costs to a minimum and pass their savings on to customers in lower prices. (unique or premium products) and Boost your career by improving your management and leadership skills. Consider your SWOT analysis in the context of the generic strategies. This strategy generally consists of an organisation attempting to gain a market share by appealing to cost-conscious or cost-restricted customers or consumers. Some supermarkets, such as Waitrose and Marks & Spencer advertise themselves as the luxury option, providing premium products and services. Simply being amongst the lowest-cost producers is not good enough, as you leave yourself wide open to attack by other low-cost producers who may undercut your prices and therefore block your attempts to increase market share.