MKT00720 Assignment 1: Competitive Advantage Analysis Report

This report analyzes the competitive advantages of Primark and Domino's Pizza, two companies operating in distinct industries: fashion retail and fast food. The analysis explores how these organizations have established and maintained their competitive edge. The report examines Primark's cost leadership strategy, focusing on how the company leverages lower rents and reduced production costs to offer products at competitive prices, attracting a large and loyal customer base. In contrast, the report investigates Domino's Pizza's focus strategy, particularly its response to competition from third-party delivery services. The company's strategies include improving delivery options and expanding its store network to maintain profitability and customer loyalty in the face of increasing competition. The report also draws on academic literature to support the arguments, providing a comprehensive overview of the marketing strategies and competitive dynamics within these two industries.

Running head: ANALYSIS OF COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
ANALYSIS OF COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1ANALYSIS OF COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
Introduction
As discussed by Albrecht et al. (2015), competitive advantage can be defined as the
attribute that mainly allows the organizations outperform the competitors in the industry or
market. Competitive advantage can also include major access to the natural resources and are
also able to gain a larger customer base in the market as well. The entry based barriers and
the levels of access to different new technologies are also more in case of the organizations
that have gained competitive advantage (Clemons 2019). The different types of competitive
strategies that can be implemented by the organizations include, cost leadership strategy
differential strategy and the focus strategy. In order to ensure the competitive advantage in
the market, the contribution of marketing as well as promotional activities are being
implemented by the organizations (Delery and Roumpi 2017).
The purpose of this study is to shed light on the methods by following which two
different organizations will be able to gain competitive advantage in the industry in
comparison to the competitors. The two organizations that have been considered for the
analysis in this case include, Primark and Domino’s Pizza. The ways by which the
organizations have tried to develop a competitive advantage in the specific industries will be
discussed in the essay in detail.
Discussion related to competitive advantage of the organizations
Section 1 - Key point case study 1
The first article that has been taken into consideration for analysis is based on a major
UK based retail organization named Primark. The organization has been able to understand
that the retailers are able to gain competitive advantage in the industry with the help of lower
rents. Primark operates more than 180 stores in the UK and wishes to pay less for the rents of

2ANALYSIS OF COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
different shops. The organization thereby offered to make investments in the refurbishments
and also to extend the leases in return of the lower rents of shops. Primark has made major
levels of investments in the development of store estate. The organization had demanded
lower rents in the retail based property environment that is changing on a continuous basis
(Retail-week.com 2019).
Section 2 - Key point case study 2
The second article that has been taken into consideration for the analysis of
competitive advantage is based on the fast food giant Domino’s Pizza. The competitors of the
organization have started the development of delivery services. The delivery options that
have been used by Domino’s Pizza have been able to affect the revenues of the organization.
Delivery has been the most important part of the revenues and profitability that is gained by
Domino’s Pizza in the fast food industry (Seekingalpha.com 2019). Domino’s has started
losing the competitive advantage due to the third party delivery apps that have started serving
the customers. Domino’s is thereby planning methods that can be implemented in order to
neutralize high levels of competition faced by the organization in fast food industry
(Seekingalpha.com 2019).
Section 3 – Key point case study 3 marketing success evidence
Primark has aimed at the development of revenues and gaining competitive advantage
with the help of cost reduction. The cost leadership based strategy is implemented by Primark
in order to develop the products and reach the customers as well. The lower rents have been
considered in order to reduce the costs based on production and manufacture of the products.
The organization has thereby made investments in order to reduce the costs related to the
rents that are required to be paid (Dereli 2015).

3ANALYSIS OF COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
In order to gain the competitive advantage in the global competitive environment, the
reduction of production costs can be able to play an important role. Cost leadership has been
a major part of the operations that have been developed by Primark in the fashion industry.
The organization has always tried to develop its position in the fashion industry with the help
of products that are offered to the customers at lower costs in comparison to the competitors
(Huang et al. 2015).
Primark Fashion has gained success in the industry with the implementation of cost
leadership strategy. The prices which are being offered by the companies can get highly
influenced by the reduction of production cost. The organization has been able to maintain
low costs and has also been able to attract the customers towards the products and services
that are provided. The major objective that has been set by the organization is based on the
ways by which competitive advantage can be maintained with the help of products that are
based on low costs (Jannesson, Nilsson and Rapp 2016).
The customer base that has been developed by Primark in the fashion industry is also
quite huge and loyal as well. The reduction of costs based on rents will be able to play a
major role in setting low prices for the products provided to the customers. The company has
been able to gain 29% reductions on the rents that in turn has been able to reduce the costs
related to production. The retail environment has been influenced in a huge manner by the
changes that have taken place in the costs related to property. The reduction of property rents
will be able to play a major role in the development of competitive advantage of the
organization in the competitive fashion industry (Jones, Harrison and Felps 2018).
Section 4 – Key point 4: analysis and evidence
Domino’s Pizza has also aimed at the development of competitive advantage by the
formation of strategies that can help in neutralizing the competition in the industry. The third

4ANALYSIS OF COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
party delivery based organizations have provided major competition to the organization
currently. The focus strategy of competitive advantage is used by the organization in this case
for the purpose of development of strategies to face the competition in an effective manner.
The organization has thereby aimed at the improvement of delivery options that are provided
to the customers (Mao et al. 2016).
The proper formation of competitive advantage is considered to be an important factor
that is related to the operations of Domino’s Pizza in the fast food based industry. The
competitors of Domino’s Pizza who have increased the levels of competition for the
organization mainly include, UberEats, Grubhub and DoorDash. The growth in the food
delivery sales has a major impact on the delivery partnerships that have been formed by the
organization. The rise in labour based costs have been a major concern for the organization
and has reduced the operating margin of the organization in a huge manner (Miles and
Darroch 2015). The strategy that has been implemented by Domino’s to maintain profitability
levels has been named as “Store Split Fortressing” strategy that is aimed at providing faster
delivery to the customers.
Domino’s has been highly successful in the development of revenues in the highly
competitive fast food industry as well. The organization has been able to develop a loyal
customer base with the help of products that are offered based on the needs and demands of
the customers as well. The sustainable position that had been formed by Domino’s in the fast
food industry has been threatened in a huge manner by the third party based delivery apps
(Orr 2019). The labour based costs have also been able to affect the operating margins that
have been gained by the organization. The inflation in labour costs had taken place in the
year 2018 and had a major negative impact on the organization (Delery and Roumpi 2017).

5ANALYSIS OF COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
The expansion based plans of the organization can play a major role in proper
reduction of the pressure on operating margins. The control that Domino’s has developed on
the delivery network is able to affect the growth of the organization in a huge manner. The
major target that has been set by Domino’s Pizza is to expand the number of stores on a
global basis (Jannesson, Nilsson and Rapp 2016). The order based growth of Domino’s is
considered to be an important factor that can have an impact on the revenues that have been
gained in the fast food based industry. The sales growth of Domino’s Pizza is based on the
increase in number of third party based delivery operators. The increase in number of stores
will be able to play a major role in helping Domino’s to gain a competitive advantage in the
industry (Huang et al. 2015).
Conclusion
The essay can be concluded by stating the development of competitive advantage is
considered to be an important part of the operations of modern organizations in the industry.
The organizations need to maintain competitive advantage in order to maintain high levels of
profitability with the support that is provided by the customers and resources. The two
organizations that have been taken into consideration for analysis including, Primark and
Domino’s Pizza belong to two different industries like, fashion industry and fast food
industry. The articles have been able to provide a major analysis based on the ways by which
the two organizations have tried to maintain the competitive advantage in their respective
industries. The two different competitive strategies that have been implemented by the
organizations include, cost leadership strategy and focus strategy.

6ANALYSIS OF COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
References
Albrecht, S.L., Bakker, A.B., Gruman, J.A., Macey, W.H. and Saks, A.M., 2015. Employee
engagement, human resource management practices and competitive advantage: An
integrated approach. Journal of Organizational Effectiveness: People and Performance, 2(1),
pp.7-35.
Clemons, E.K., 2019. Resources, Platforms, and Sustainable Competitive Advantage: How to
Win and Keep on Winning. In New Patterns of Power and Profit(pp. 93-104). Palgrave
Macmillan, Cham.
Delery, J.E. and Roumpi, D., 2017. Strategic human resource management, human capital
and competitive advantage: is the field going in circles?. Human Resource Management
Journal, 27(1), pp.1-21.
Dereli, D.D., 2015. Innovation management in global competition and competitive
advantage. Procedia-Social and behavioral sciences, 195, pp.1365-1370.
Huang, K.F., Dyerson, R., Wu, L.Y. and Harindranath, G., 2015. From temporary
competitive advantage to sustainable competitive advantage. British Journal of
Management, 26(4), pp.617-636.
Jannesson, E., Nilsson, F. and Rapp, B., 2016. Strategy, control and competitive advantage.
SPRINGER-VERLAG BERLIN AN.
Jones, T.M., Harrison, J.S. and Felps, W., 2018. How applying instrumental stakeholder
theory can provide sustainable competitive advantage. Academy of Management
Review, 43(3), pp.371-391.

7ANALYSIS OF COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
Mao, H., Liu, S., Zhang, J. and Deng, Z., 2016. Information technology resource, knowledge
management capability, and competitive advantage: The moderating role of resource
commitment. International Journal of Information Management, 36(6), pp.1062-1074.
Miles, M.P. and Darroch, J., 2015. Competitive advantage. Wiley Encyclopedia of
Management, pp.1-7.
Orr, S., 2019. Daring to tap external strategic resources: competitive advantage in global
industries. Journal of Business Strategy, 40(3), pp.25-35.
Retail-week.com 2019. Primark demands rent cuts as rivals benefit from CVAs. [online]
Retail Week. Available at: https://www.retail-week.com/property/primark-demands-rent-
cuts-as-rivals-benefit-from-cvas/7032535.article?authent=1 [Accessed 2 Aug. 2019].
Seekingalpha.com 2019. [online] Available at: https://seekingalpha.com/article/4278732-
dominos-pizza-hold-competitors-cede-control-delivery [Accessed 2 Aug. 2019].