Business Strategies and Tools for Competitive Advantage

The report discusses the various tools used by Super Drug to determine its market position and establish a stable growth and development. It emphasizes the need for organizations to identify their market position relative to their rivalries to achieve success.

INDIVIDUAL REPORT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
BACKGROUND.............................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
PORTER 5 FORCES..................................................................................................................1
PESTLE ANALYSIS..................................................................................................................3
SWOT Analysis.........................................................................................................................4
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Medicines are the tonic for the human life and from many yeas years it has turned in to
essentials in individuals life. The report will evaluate the scope of biggest Pharma company in
UK which is Super Drug deals in heath and beauty care products. The company is serving
customer satisfaction since ages and has various developed online facilities which assist the firm
in attain competitive advantage. Further, it will outline the various business strategies and
techniques used by the enterprise to identify its market position according to its rivalries in the
industry. Thus the report will evaluate the internal functioning of Super drug which assist the
business in running its operations successfully in order to satisfy customer needs and wants.
BACKGROUND
Super Drug is the largest Retail of UK dealing with beauty, skin and health products of
all kind. The major advantage of increasing customer satisfaction and revenue generation is its
online prescription from Doctors which assist the people in dealing with emergency situation
sitting at home. Moreover, the enterprise serves beauty and heath products keeping in mind the
health and safety factors of its buyers. It has more the 700 stores located across UK which
demonstrate that the business is on peak and stand out in market competition against its rivalries.
MAIN BODY
Super drug Pharmaceuticals uses various business strategical too to analyze its business
postilion but the most used strategical tools. Basically company uses 3 tool fro 3 different
evaluation which are as follows:
PORTER 5 FORCES
The company uses this tool to determine its competitive advantage over its biggest
competition that is Lloyd's Pharmacy limited which is also trying try hard to attain business
position above Super drug stores. The 5 forces analysis of Super pharmaceuticals is as follows:
Bargaining power of Supplier: The company has strong influence over its supplies in
the industry. Suppliers have a deep understanding of market demand an requirement therefore
the individuals holds lot of power. The treat of suppliers for Super Pharma is high that is why the
enterprises can directly sell its products to buyers in order to minimize the competition from
rivalries selling similar products and services.
Bargaining power of customers: The company provides customer reward card in which
the buyer can collect points on continuous shopping and than can redeem whenever want which
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helps the company in providing power to customer and on the other hand, the card policy
establish its functioning (Wright, Paroutis and Blettner 2013). The system is to attract the
persons towards the products of the Super drug. For instance, the company has planned to
provide a scheme on baby products in order to attain competitive advantage in which the
pharmaceuticals has launched a scheme to boost the loyalty of consumer by rewarding them with
best baby products which assisted the enterprise in creating awareness in building trust among
its buyers.
Threat of new entrants: Threat of new entrants in Pharmaceuticals is limited as the
industry demand a big time capital investment and legal implication which too consumes time.
Beside, the major threat to super store is faced in its baby products because the local wholesalers
are launching types of baby products at cheap prices which is representing a threat to the
organization for a long run (Osterwalder and Pigneur 2013). However, on the other hand brand
loyalty of customers towards Super retail store is a strong point which establishes the establishes
drug market for the firm. Moreover, the strong competition among existing pharma organization
of UK, decreases the morale of new entrants to enter in the industry.
Threat of Substitute: Super drug offers wide range of heath products and services to its
buyers which can not substituted but still there are few essential which can be substituted by the
competitors. Further, there are basically 2 factors for which customers can make a shift towards
substitute products like, price discrimination and quality (Sanchis-Palacio, Campos-Climent and
Mohedano-Suanes 2013). Therefore, to avoid this Super drug keep a track over taste and
preferences of its customers which help them in standing out in competition from rivalries like,
Boots, Lloyd etc.
Industry Competition: Among all the factors this the major factor which is considered
by Pharmaceuticals to achieve competitive advantage. It helps the company in determining the
level of increasing competition and its reasons like, price, product innovation, promotion tactics
etc. The competition from Lloyd Pharmaceuticals is very high as the enterprises are continuously
focusing on expanding their business operation in order to promote growth and to maximize
profitability. Though there is intense competition between rivalries but Super drug anyway
manage to attain competitive advantage by following some strategies like, offering discounts,
innovated products and various kinds of schemes over essential to grab the attention of
customers (Zott and Amit 2013).
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PESTLE ANALYSIS
It is the strategical tools assit the company in evaluating changes of external market.
Identifying the fluctuation of external market with the use of this strategic tool the enterprise can
make changes in its btax impact onusiness operation accordingly in order to avoid interruption
and hindrance in organizational functioning due to any macro market fluctuation. The Pestle
analysis of the Super drug is as follows:
Political factors: There is huge impact from political changes which impact the
organizational functioning. The fluctuation in regulation due to political leaders affects the
business performance and operations for a long run. For instance, when the government
regulation for the pharmaceuticals company in which the enterprises has decreases the price for
their products in order to improve health care practices in the country, but Super drug manages
the crisis of decreasing product prices by increasing operating hours which assist the
organization in stabilizing profits. Further, there are many political factors which destroys the
product launch activity for which there are chances for company to lose its competitive spirit
(Morris, Schindehutte and Allen 2015).
Economic Factors: The recession in global economy is affecting every industry, from
past few years there has been a rapid increase in the prices of Drugs in order to determine how
much the buyer can determine on medicines and beauty products. Moreover, the increasing
prices of fuel has even affected the supply chain of Super Drug Retail. In pharmaceuticals, the
the recession has majorly affected the demand for baby products.
Social Factors: The increasing awareness among society about heath and diseases has
helped the pharmaceuticals in maximizing profit because due to increasing awareness people
prefer buying healthy product and to meet the excessive consumer demand, the organizations
offers the products at lowest possible prices in order to attain competitive advantage and to
generate revenue (Hacklin and Wallnöfer 2012). For instance, increasing obesity has made the
communities fluctuated the preference of buyers where the individuals now a days prefer buying
healthy conscious products which increased the demand for healthier products of Super drug
Retail in maximizing profits.
Technological factors: Advancement in technology has helped the the company to grow
its market and services on global level. Due to up gradation now the company is able to sell its
services via Online which has boomed the sales of Super Drug retail store. Use of internet for
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selling products has helped the firm in generating just double revenue according to its store sales.
Moreover, the firm is making appropriate used of advanced technology to promote its products
(Serra and Kunc 2015).
Environmental Sectors: The government of UK is promoting he campaign for all
companies which is based to minimum emission of harmful gases in order to promote green
energy in the country. Therefore Super drug has been using environmental friendly material to
promote to reduce the carbon emission from environment.
Legal Factors: There are various legal issues faced by Pharmaceuticals like the
regulation over packaging, advertising and marking health products have been increased which
has impacted the product sales and marketing strategies of Super Drug.
SWOT Analysis
When the company faces fluctuation it first need to determine its internal strength and
weakness on order to attain competitive advantage. The Super drug perform its Swot analysis to
evaluate its micro strength, weakness and opportunities(Slocum, Lei and Buller 2014). It is
important for every enterprise to determine its ability of functioning. The Swot analysis of
Pharmaceuticals are as follows:
 Strength: The biggest strength of Super drug is that it holds 2nd position in its beauty
products. It is the most valuable retailer of beauty and heath products in UK, the major
strength of super drug is in its continuous training of staff, customer satisfaction and
appropriate and adequate task force. Moreover the large number of stores across UK has
established a strong position for the enterprise. Further, the management structure of
Stores is also well structure in order to promote smooth flow of activities helps the firm
in adapting changes easily(Burgenmeier and Mucchielli, eds., 2013). The strength of
Store lies in its branding of products which makes marketing activities easier.
 Weakness: The major weakness of of the company is that its Pharmaceuticals stores are
limited the customers do not have much choices majorly the Males. Moreover, the
competition from rivalries like, Lloyd is impacting the sales and revenue of the company.
 Opportunity: Demand for pharmacy products has increased the value of the companies
and its products therefore the company can promote its existing product with innovation
to buyers in order to maximize profits. The enterprise can enhance is market position bu
expanding its business functions and improving its workforce.
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 Threat: Competition from pharmaceuticals like Boots and Lloyd is the major risk to the
organization. Further, the rivalries of other industry like Sainsbury and Tesco are also
giving hard time to the sale of beauty products of the Super.
Henceforth, in accordance to the strategic analysis of the company it can be determined
that the supply chain management system of company is not adaptable to the changes therefore
enterprise can formulate its supply chain structure in order which will help the pharmaceuticals
in dealing with fluctuation (Zaefarian, Henneberg and Naudé 2013). .. For instance the company
can implement the structure which in which the management has to follow some steps such as
1. Manufacturing of products
2. Primary distribution
3. Wholesaling which can be domestic or export
4. Pharmacy Supply which can be local and Export
5. Consumption by buyers.
Further, pricing policy of business keeps on changing according to the demand if customers.
Moreover, the enterprise follows appropriate marketing techniques and tools like, advertising,
promoting, offering products at discount in order to promote the sales of product and to attain
competitive advantage. Further, the Human resource department is well defined and structured
which demonstrate that it is important for the super drug to organize regular training and
development session in order to make employees aware about the market fluctuations and
consumer demand. The HR of retail store focus on formulating policies in organization
according to the legal and political fluctuations (Morris, Schindehutte and Allen 2015). Besides,
the brand value of the company needs no promotion as the company has many brand loyal
customers due to its quality products and advance way of delivering services. Super drug just
need to cope up with up-gradation in order to establish stable growth and development. Thus,
following the business strategic tools assisted the company in accomplishing organizational
goals and objectives.
CONCLUSION
The report summarized that, it is important for the companies to make use of business
strategies am techniques to attain competitive advantage. It discusses the various tools used by
Super Drug the biggest health and beauty product retailers of UK. The report has analyzed the
internal and external environment of pharmaceuticals which demonstrated the current position of
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the enterprise. Further, the report outline the strategy of 5 forces used by Super drug to determine
its competitive advantage over its biggest rivalries, Lloyd and Boost. Thus, from above it has
been concluded that, it is important for the organization to determine its market position
according to its rivalries in order to establish stable growth and development of the firm.
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REFERENCES
Books and journals
Burgenmeier, B. and Mucchielli, J. L. eds., 2013. Multinationals and Europe 1992 (RLE
International Business): Strategies for the Future. Routledge.
Hacklin, F. and Wallnöfer, M., 2012. The business model in the practice of strategic decision
making: insights from a case study. Management Decision. 50(2). pp.166-188.
Morris, M., Schindehutte, M. and Allen, J., 2005. The entrepreneur's business model: toward a
unified perspective. Journal of business research. 58(6). pp.726-735.
Osterwalder, A. and Pigneur, Y., 2013. Designing business models and similar strategic objects:
the contribution of IS. Journal of the Association for information systems. 14(5). p.237.
Sanchis-Palacio, J. R., Campos-Climent, V. and Mohedano-Suanes, A., 2013. Management in
social enterprises: the influence of the use of strategic tools in business performance.
International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal. 9(4). pp.541-555.
Serra, C. E. M. and Kunc, M., 2015. Benefits realisation management and its influence on
project success and on the execution of business strategies. International Journal of
Project Management. 33(1). pp.53-66.
Slocum, J., Lei, D. and Buller, P., 2014. Executing business strategies through human resource
management practices. Organizational Dynamics. 43(2). pp.73-87.
Wright, R. P., Paroutis, S. E. and Blettner, D. P., 2013. How useful are the strategic tools we
teach in business schools?. Journal of Management Studies. 50(1). pp.92-125.
Zaefarian, G., Henneberg, S. C. and Naudé, P., 2013. Assessing the strategic fit between business
strategies and business relationships in knowledge-intensive business
services. Industrial Marketing Management. 42(2). pp.260-272.
Zott, C. and Amit, R., 2013. The business model: A theoretically anchored robust construct for
strategic analysis. Strategic Organization. 11(4). pp.403-411.
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