The main goal of most business organisations is making profit and being the leaders in the market. This implies that business organisations should always look for ways of remaining relevant and satisfying the needs of their customers. There are different ways through which they do this. One of the most important strategies that they use to remain relevant in the market is through building and sustaining competitive advantage.
Competitive advantage is defined as the undue privilege that a business organisation enjoys over its competitors (Nanda, 2006). This is usually beneficial since it helps such an organisation to make more sales by attracting many customers.
Before conducting our case study on SAE, my understanding of competitive advantage was very poor. However, after we conducted the company’s strategic analysis, I was able to understand the concept more clearly. This paper will therefore discuss how my understanding of competitive advantage was enhanced through SAE case study.
Before carrying out our case study on SAE, I did not know that it is important to identify the challenges or constraints that an organisation faces before analysing its competitive advantage. Some of the challenges that we identified in BATELCO included outdated infrastructure, national communication plan, new wholesale provider and emerging technologies.
On the other hand, its competitive advantage factors included availability of infrastructure, capital, brand name, market share, unique products and differentiation strategy. The case study enabled me to understand that competitive advantage is analysed in terms of the challenges that face organisations.
The implication is that for it to be achieved, the challenges that an organisation faces must be addressed first. It is only after addressing them fully that undue advantage over the competitors is secured.
The case study on BATELCO enabled me to understand the importance of identifying different aspects in an organisation that can be used to build competitive advantage. My understanding of how the staff, good infrastructure, brand name, quality and unique products build competitive advantage was very poor. However, after conducting the case study I clearly understand how these aspects create competitive advantage.
For example, I was able to understand that qualified and well- trained staff is an asset that creates competitive advantage in organisations. When an organisation has staff who work expertly, this increases its productivity remarkably. On the contrary, organisations that do not have such staff incur huge losses. As a result, they are unable to compete with those which have qualified and well- trained staff.
With regard to good infrastructure, the case study enabled me to clearly understand how this creates competitive advantage. Before the study, my understanding was that infrastructure has little influence on competitive advantage. I learnt that organisations that have good infrastructural facilities make more profits than those which rely on faulty ones.
For example, availability of enough machines and equipment ensures that work is done faster and in the right manner. This satisfies the clients, thus attracting them to the business organisation. Infrastructure may also include transport systems.
Good transport systems facilitate movement of products and also increase the accessibility of the organisation to its clients. This eventually creates competitive advantage since clients always prefer business organisations that are easily accessible and ones that have enough infrastructural facilities.
The case study on BATELCO improved my knowledge of competitive advantage since I understood how potential challenges that organisations face are transformed into successes in order to create competitive advantage. This is done by carrying out a detailed analysis of the challenges and how they can be dealt with in order to ensure that competitors do not take advantage and dominate the market.
Business organisations are supposed to consider various opportunities in order to deal with prevailing challenges and eventually create competitive advantage. For instance, BATELCO was supposed to consider investing within the local market in small enterprises to compete with the upcoming competition supported by TRA. In addition, it was supposed to outsource infrastructure to TRA.
This information that I got from the case study enabled me to clearly understand that in order to turn challenges into competitive advantage, it is important to consider various opportunities that are beneficial to organisations. Before the case study, my understanding of how this is achieved was poor.
The case study on BATELCO also enabled me to understand that once competitive advantage has been established, it should be retained. Initially, I believed that it is something that organisations are not required to work hard to maintain once it has been established. Through the case study, I was able to understand that rival organisations continue to work hard in order to drive the leaders out of the market.
As a result, failure to put efforts to retain competitive advantage leads to its loss. In the case of BATELCO, the organisation uses various strategies in order to retain its competitive advantage.For instance, it improves the quality of its products regularly to ensure that customers do not go for other products. In addition, it uses the services of its professional staff to ensure that duties are performed effectively.
The deep understanding of how to build and sustain competitive advantage that I gained after BATELCO case study changed my attitudes towards some of the activities that I had seen business organisations engage in. This is because it enabled me to clearly understand how competitive advantage is created in organisations.
Apart from business organisations, I had seen other types of organisations engage in some activities that I did not understand well. However, the case study enabled me to realise that competitive advantage is also build and retained in non-business institutions. For example, some schools employ experienced teachers and offer transport services to their students.
This is a way of creating competitive advantage since a large number of parents prefer to take their children in such schools. In addition, competitive advantage can be applied by individuals who wish to start their own businesses. The case study equipped me with a better understanding of how I can create competitive advantage in my own establishment or use the insights gained to create it at my place of work.
From the case study, I have clearly understood that competitive advantage applies to all forms of business organisations. My understanding before the study was that it is only small organisations that should work hard to gain competitive advantage. However, I have understood that all organisations, big and small, should build and retain competitive advantage.
This is because lack of it may cause well established business organisations to deteriorate and incur losses. This happens when their competitors look for ways of attracting more customers and retaining them. The case study on BATELCO remarkably improved my understanding of building and retaining competitive advantage which was very poor initially.
Reference
Nanda, J 2006, Management Thought, Sarup & Sons, New Dheli.