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Introduction
A firm's strategy is said to be its long-term objectives or its direction in its quest to gain and sustain competitive advantage over its rivals.
In this race to achieve competitive advantage, a firm must ask itself 3 questions, what forms of value do we seek to create? How do we create this value? And how is the value creation process organised or managed?
I have chosen to research the food department of Marks & Spencer in order to gain an insight into what strategies they use in an attempt to gain competitive advantage.
Marks & Spencer have outlined the following as their core values
? Quality
? Value
? Service
? Innovation and
? Trust
As a company it is vital that they keep in mind these core values when they are deciding which strategies to employ.
To begin I will carry out a SWOT analysis, as this is a useful analytical tool in giving us a good idea of which strategies they may decide to use. Once the strategies have been identified, an in depth look into each will show why M&S use such strategies as well how they give M&S the competitive advantage they need to succeed.
SWOT Analysis
By looking at Marks & Spencer's food department in this way, we can begin to craft out different kinds of strategy that they use in order to gain competitive advantage.
The strategies employed will be born from the strengths and opportunities that the food department possess and used to combat the weaknesses and threats that the food department see as factors that could disrupt progress.
The basis for the strate ...