Dyson's Strategic Capabilities and Competitive Advantage Case Study

This case study analyzes Dyson's strategic capabilities and competitive advantages. It begins by identifying and analyzing Dyson's strategic capabilities, focusing on rarity, value, inimitability, and non-substitutability, and how these factors contribute to its competitive edge. The study then assesses the extent to which Dyson's capabilities can be imitated by competitors, highlighting the role of patents, design, and innovation in protecting its market position. The analysis further examines the capabilities that provide Dyson with a competitive advantage, particularly emphasizing the concept of closed innovation and differentiation strategy. Finally, the case study discusses the management of these capabilities in the face of market changes and new entrants, addressing dynamic capabilities and the need for design-driven strategies and innovation.

Running head: DYSON CASE STUDY ANALYSIS
Dyson Case Study Analysis
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Table of Contents
Answer 1:.........................................................................................................................................3
Answer 2:.........................................................................................................................................4
Answer 3:.........................................................................................................................................6
Answer 4:.........................................................................................................................................7
References:......................................................................................................................................9

Answer 1:
Identification and Analysis of Dyson’s Strategic Capabilities:
The strategic capabilities refer to the organisational capabilities that contribute to the long
term survival or the organisation’s competitive advantage. The factors which contribute to the
strategic capabilities include rarity, value, inimitability and finally non-substitutability. These
also provide a potential competitive advantage in case of a market which helps an organisation
reach acceptable levels of return. The target of the company is to solve the problem and also to
improve the products. The best thing about Dyson Company is that the consumers of the
company can get a specific designed product with better functionality than the traditional
product.
In certain cases though several competitors exist that provide products that are cheaper in
comparison to the Dyson products but the company has a reputation of providing good quality as
well as a special product design to the customer and in very rare cases are the products delivered,
any possibility of suspicion is not there. There always remains a possibility of imitation of Dyson
products. It is hard to do it because there are many patents of the products, in very rare cases the
unique designs can be copied. The major amount of investments helped Dyson become a
producer of inimitable products (Vogel and Güttel 2013).
In very rare cases, if it is possible to imitate the products of Dyson, the brand name, the
loyalty as well as the customer base cannot be imitated. The brand name also cannot be
substituted as the company has been in business for long and it is the biggest advantage of
Dyson. The inclusion of the great and unique quality products in the Company’s portfolio is also
beneficial for the company.

In case of Dyson, the attention paid by James Dyson, the founder to the engineering and
design, fashion show conductions, as well as funding the design school contributed to
innovation. Dyson’s strategic capacities constitute a resource-based view of the strategy, huge
amount of time devoted to the formulation and engineering of prototypes for household devices
in order to give a twist to the normal devices. This sort of innovation creates a niche in the over-
saturated market. These unique facilities, along with the state-of-the-art designs, sleek designs as
also the bright, colourful exteriors help Dyson gain a competitive advantage. Several number of
high end devices, well in demand are created by Dyson. The company uses Chinese and Asian
manufacturing largely due to the fact that it desires to make its products cheaper in order to
maintain the profit margin benchmarks. The company sells its products to the respective target
market at higher prices in order to gain profits as well. The company also hires people who are
creative as well as courageous, and also fresh thinkers under all situations.
The new, radically changed products manufactured by the company have the capability
of standing in any market. The inimitable competencies of the company also make it extremely
important in the potential market and give it an edge above its competitors. The ideas and hence
the characteristics are distinctive and involves many new products as well (West, Ford and
Ibrahim 2015).
Answer 2:
Extent to which the capabilities at Dyson could be imitated by competitors:
It is almost impossible for competitors to imitate the products of Dyson. The main niche
is the distinctive design as it is the main life blood of the Dyson Company. There are engineers
faithful to the company who have created 100s and even 1000s prototypes in order to prove

beneficial for the company. This is also done to ensure that the best of products are provided to
the customers. There are a large number of specialists and engineers who focus only on the
design and innovation of the customers. Huge amount of investments are spend on the innovative
products. Much amount of money is spent on the research and development of new products as
well. The engineering team was also doubled to facilitate the product creation and manufacture.
The huge investment of the company has led to the success and great turnover of the company.
The profits for the company doubled due to the implementation of new policies and the
innovations in the design (Barney 2012).
One of the main reasons that the capabilities of the Dyson Company cannot be imitated
by its competitors is the possession of the special patent. These patents provide significant
amount of protection from the competitors of the company. The company pays a considerable
amount of fees in order to renew the patents each year in order to ensure protection. This is
because the ideas tend to be easily imitated by other companies or competitors in case the ideas
lack the patent protection. In cases where companies try to copy the Dyson patents, the company
can take action against them. The rights related to the patents as well as organisational properties
lead Dyson to protect its ideas and use unique products without any fear of misuse.
The company’s focus on innovation helps them to try to change the way in which the
vacuum for other appliances are utilized or designed. Customers are attracted to the Company
due to their level of specialisation. Only companies with superior prowess in engineering can
actually challenge the Company. Thus it can be said that the patents of their products leads them
to stay protected from the outright stealing by other companies.

Answer 3:
The capabilities providing Dyson with competitive advantage:
Dyson possesses competitive advantage over its existing competitors due to the concept
of closed innovation. Open innovation involves both external as well as internal contribution. On
the other hand, closed innovation comprises solely the internal workforce. The Dyson Company
is extremely secretive with the concept of development and research and this gives them an
advantage of always remaining ahead of their competitors. It can clearly be said that the closed
innovation strategy has been extremely successful for Dyson. Dyson possesses great competitive
advantage as almost all the characteristics work in their favour. The uniqueness of their products
is responsible for keeping them ahead in the market and it is feasible that they carry on with their
innovative strategies as it is bound to benefit them and always keep them ahead of their
competitors. Another reason for competitive advantage because the business follows the
differentiation strategy including the major focus on the product design engineering. All major
possibilities of competitive rivalry have been cancelled out by the company (Joyce and Slocum
2012). The organisation has started branching out into different markets such as the hand dryer,
kitchen markets as well as fans. The approach of creating better versions of products already
available in the market has also been helpful. They have also differentiated them by the
technology as well as the designs. The competitive rivalry is a minimised state as high level
innovative capabilities are possessed by the company. The competitive advantage is attained by
providing consumers greater value either through lower prices, or by offering extra benefits. The
competitive advantages and the differences in the performance of the firm are strongly connected
to the company’s resources as well as how they are balanced. The company should focus on the

strength of its brand as well as maintain its image in order to sustain competitive advantage
(Theodosiou, Kehagias and Katsikea 2012).
Answer 4:
Management of capabilities in the face of changes of Dyson and also new entrants:
Dynamic capability is basically the capability of the firm to build, integrate and
reconsider the internal as well as external competencies in order to look for the rapidly changing
environments. The dynamic capacities refer to the capability of an organisation to purposefully
create, modify or extend its resource base (Abrams et al. 2012).
Sustainability corresponds to the concept of being diverse and productive. It also
corresponds to the concept of maintaining a balancing act. This is because the sustainable
development corresponds to meets the requirements of the present without compromising the
needs or requirements of the coming generations (Pugh 2014).
The basic assumption that needs to be kept in mind while addressing dynamic capabilities
is that the core competencies need to utilised in modifying the short term competitive positions
utilized to build long term competitive advantage. It is challenging for companies in highly
dynamic markets to apply and align their resources for the creation of sustainable competitive
advantage. The strategic advantages and the capabilities need to be utilized properly to manage
with the changing times. Design-driven strategies need to be employed in order to develop new
products, as depending on the existing trends in the previous market will not lead to accurate
results. Other possible avenues are to be viewed in order to succeed with the changing times.
Newer and more innovative technologies need to be adopted in order to prosper. The company
needs to focus on the innovative strategies in order to succeed in the future. More engineers need

to be employed in order to contribute to the increased innovation of the Company. The engineers
who are responsible for the innovative and unique ideas of the company that contribute to the
brand image should be retained.
For maintaining a position in the global market and remain undeterred by the changing
times, the company should focus on the innovative design policies and their proper
implementation.

References:
Abrams, R.F., Malizia, E., Wendel, A., Sallis, J., Millstein, R.A., Carlson, J.A., Cannuscio, C.,
Glanz, K., Samet, J., Sleet, D.A. and Naumann, R.B., 2012. Making healthy places: designing
and building for health, well-being, and sustainability. Island Press.
Barney, J.B., 2012. Purchasing, supply chain management and sustained competitive advantage:
The relevance of resource‐based theory. Journal of supply chain management, 48(2), pp.3-6.
Joyce, W.F. and Slocum, J.W., 2012. Top management talent, strategic capabilities, and firm
performance. Organizational Dynamics, 41(3), pp.183-193.
Pugh, C., 2014. Sustainability the Environment and Urbanisation. Routledge.
Theodosiou, M., Kehagias, J. and Katsikea, E., 2012. Strategic orientations, marketing
capabilities and firm performance: An empirical investigation in the context of frontline
managers in service organizations. Industrial Marketing Management, 41(7), pp.1058-1070.
Vogel, R. and Güttel, W.H., 2013. The dynamic capability view in strategic management: A
bibliometric review. International Journal of Management Reviews, 15(4), pp.426-446.
West, D.C., Ford, J. and Ibrahim, E., 2015. Strategic marketing: creating competitive advantage.
Oxford University Press, USA.