University of Hertfordshire: 7AAD0064 Manufacturing Strategy Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of manufacturing strategies employed by various companies, including Unilever, British Telecom (BT), and Vodafone. The report begins by examining the mission statements and publicized strategies of Unilever and BT, focusing on how they aim to achieve competitive advantages through differentiation, cost leadership, and customer focus. Section A explores Unilever's innovation, digital marketing, and health/hygiene strategies, and BT's differentiated customer experience, integrated network leadership, and operational transformation. Section B delves into case studies, highlighting Vodafone's customer engagement, asset utilization, and operational model transformation strategies. The report then examines Unilever's sustainable growth, organizational structure, and managerial approach, emphasizing how these strategies contribute to its success. The report concludes by summarizing the findings and emphasizing the importance of effective strategy implementation for achieving competitive advantage and meeting customer needs. The analysis draws upon various academic sources to support the arguments and provide a well-rounded understanding of the subject matter.

MANUFACTURING STRATEGY

Table of Contents
Introduction............................................................................................................................ 3
Section A................................................................................................................................ 3
Section B................................................................................................................................ 4
Conclusion............................................................................................................................. 6
Reference list......................................................................................................................... 7
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Introduction
An organization can gain competitive advantages by adopting some basic strategies. This
includes differentiation strategies, cost leadership strategy, and focus. Implementing these
strategies can help a firm to offer real value to the target market and generate interest. For
gaining competitive advantage, an organization must analyze the benefits that will be
provided to the target market, which is different from competitors. In this report, different
strategies of two different companies have been evaluated that helped them to gain a
competitive advantage. A thorough discussion is done about the strategies that have helped
the firm to gain a competitive advantage.
Section A
Large manufacturing company (Unilever)
● Mission statement
The mission statement of Unilever is to add vitality to life. They try to meet everyday needs
for hygiene, personal care and brands, which can help target customers to feel good and get
more out of life (Unilever.com, 2020).
● Publicized strategies
★ A focused approach to innovation
★ Increase investment in digital marketing
★ Giving more focus on the health and hygiene of customers.
Unilever has adopted different strategies that include a focused approach to innovation.
This strategy can be aligned with the differentiation focus strategy of competitive advantage.
As opined by Lee and Falahat (2019), differentiation focus strategy allows a firm to serve a
market with innovative products or services. Increased investment in digital marketing is
another essential strategy of Unilever. This strategy is undertaken to reduce operational
costs as traditional marketing tools involve more costs. This can be involved with cost
differentiation strategies for competitive advantage. This can help Unilever to become the
lowest-cost producer. Focusing more on the health and hygiene of customers is another
strategy that helps this company to provide more value to consumers and prepare customer-
focused products (Unilever.com, 2020). This strategy can also be related to the focus
strategy of competitive advantage. Producing consumer focussed products can help to
increase brand reputation and help to gain a competitive advantage.
Service Company (British Telecom)
● Mission statement
The mission of British Telecom (BT) is to provide the best quality information and
telecommunication products or services for meeting customers' requirements, sustain the
growth of the earning and contribute to the community (Btplc.com, 2020).
● Publicized strategies
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BT has developed their strategies for their two specific stakeholder groups including their
people and the community in which they are running their business (Btplc.com, 2020).
Publicized strategies of this company include the following,
❖ Delivering differentiated experience to customers
❖ Investing in the area of integrated network leadership
❖ Transforming the operating model of BT
The first strategy is helping BT to become different from their competitors. Customers of
this company are getting a wide range of choices in case of purchasing products and
services from BT. According to David and David (2016), this kind of strategy supports
organizations to increase competitive advantages. On the other hand, the second strategy
is inspired by the cost leadership strategy of increasing competitive advantages. In the
future, this company will be able to become the lowest-cost producer with the help of this
strategy. The third strategy is helping this firm to focus its services towards a narrow target
market segment. The transformation of the operating model is helpful to deliver service or
products to different groups of customers.
Section B
Case study of Vodafone (Service industry)
Vodafone has achieved success by offering differentiated services to their customers. From
the official website of this company, it has been found that they have developed strategies to
improve return and extend competitive advantages (Vodafone.com, 2020). Business
strategies of this company include transforming the model of operation, deepening the
engagement of customers and improving the utilization of assets.
1. Strategy for deepening the engagement of customers
The management of this organization has realized that its products and services need to be
focused on customers' requirements. As mentioned by Drelichowski et al. (2016), offering
differentiated products to different segments of customers may enhance competitive
advantages. Vodafone has three customer segments to cover. These segments include
emerging consumers, business customers of Vodafone and customers from Europe. This
organization has analyzed different needs of customers from different segments and they
offer products and services as per those needs (Vodafone.com, 2020). They are growing
financial and digital services in terms of meeting the needs of their emerging customers. On
the other hand, Vodafone is trying to focus on cross-selling its cloud services, NGN fixed and
IoT services to their business customers. It is helping them to earn the maximum revenue
from their business. Vodafone has focused on developing deeper relationships with its
customers from Europe to understand and fulfill different needs of this customer group.
2. The strategy of improving the utilization of assets
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Vodafone has developed the strategy of improving the use of assets with the help of their
sustained network leadership. This telecommunication organization is focusing on capital
smart infrastructure partnerships to improve its network coverage (Vodafone.com, 2020).
Considering smart infrastructures is helping Vodafone to speed up the deployment of 5G
and 4G services. They have leading gigabit networks as well. Efficient infrastructures are
helping in reducing energy emission and reducing operational costs. They have owned
several commercial platforms to attract maximum people towards their business. Lee and
Falahat (2019) have mentioned that millions of customers are getting attracted to
telecommunication companies that are offering app facilities, IoT solutions, and other high-
tech solutions.
3. Transforming the model of operation
For enhancing customer service, Vodafone has taken several initiatives including leveraging
group scale, focusing on radical simplification and digitalization of their services. As
mentioned by David and David (2016), digital, mobile and social services of
telecommunication companies are being preferred by modern customer groups. Through the
mobile app, Vodafone has been able to facilitate fundraising efforts. People of Vodafone
have been trained to be connected with customers through using social media platforms
including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and others. As a result, one department of this
company is controlling approximately 18 million cross channel contracts per month
(Genesys.com, 2020).
Case study of Unilever (manufacturing industry)
Strategies related to success
1. The strategy of sustainable growth for gaining success of sustainability
In recent times, Unilever has got success in sustainability. They have undertaken the
strategy of sustainable growth by launching a blueprint called Unilever's sustainable living
plan. This plan has helped the firm to reduce costs, mitigate probable risks and build trust
among stakeholders. This has helped them to achieve more profitable growth of their
brands. As stated by Yülek (2018), a sustainable growth strategy helps to win loyalty of
target consumers and competitive advantage can be gained. It can be seen that this firm has
become part of the solution to mitigate global challenges like environmental protection. The
company has worked with farmers and provided ideas about advanced farming techniques.
They have worked with the community to improve sanitation and hygiene factors
(Successstory.com, 2020). This has helped them to win the trust of customers.
2. Strategy of organization in division for gaining success of improved sales
This company has organized its products into four main divisions. This includes food,
personal care, home care, and refreshments. They have near about 14 brands that have
increased the variance in product. As said by Fisher et al. (2017), an increase in product
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variation helps a company to provide a wide range of choices to the customers. Hence, this
attracts more customers and sales get increased. Unilever has gained nearly 2 billion
customers that have helped to increase the revenue rate (Unilever.com, 2020). This
company provides all products that can be used by consumers every day. Organizing
products into different divisions helped Unilever to develop a wide range of products and
create a difference in the market. Thus, a competitive advantage has been gained by this
company.
3. Building a matrix of managers for gaining a leadership position in the industry
Unilever has succeeded to become an industry leader with a strategy of organizing the
workforce. Employees of this organization have given extraordinary efforts, and taken proper
initiatives and shown integrity for achieving this success. In 2013, this company achieved the
award of sector leader for provision of sustainable products (Successstory.com, 2020). In
2015, this firm came under the industry group leader. From the year of 1940, this firm has
started recruiting local managers who are responsible for running local units. Managers of
this company are able to look at a problem or opportunity transnational. Moreover, they hire
and train local talents for running the subsidiaries. The matrix of managers is well designed
which leads to a huge workforce, which helps Unilever to provide proper value to customers.
Pioneering in managerial selection systems and forming a strong matrix helps them to gain a
competitive advantage. The huge workforce works efficiently with flexibility through the
proper guidance of managers (Peters et al. 2016).
Conclusion
From the above discussion, it can be concluded that application of proper strategies helps to
meet different needs of customers and proper value can be provided to them. This, in turn,
helps an organization to obtain competitive advantage. The selection and implementation of
strategies can be done through the help of an organized workforce with proper skills and
abilities. Different strategies of competitive advantage such as focus or cost differentiation
help a company to create a difference with its competitors in the market.
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Reference list
Btplc.com. (2020). About BT. Available
at:https://www.btplc.com/Thegroup/Ourcompany/Ourvalues/index.htm [Accessed on 20th
march 2020]
David, F. and David, F.R., 2016. Strategic management: A competitive advantage approach,
concepts and cases. UK: Pearson–Prentice Hall.
Drelichowski, L., Olszewski, W. and Sikora, K., 2016. Case Studies: Strategy Management–
Gaining Competitive Advantage In The Industry, Through The Implementation Of Erp And
Business Intelligence. Scientific Bulletin-Economic Sciences, 15(3), pp.89-98.
Fisher, R., Norman, M. and Klett, M., 2017. Enhancing infrastructure resilience through
business continuity planning. Journal of business continuity & emergency planning, 11(2),
pp.163-173.
Genesys.com. (2020). Vodafone. Available
at:https://www.genesys.com/customer-stories/vodafone [Accessed on 20th march 2020]
Lee, Y.Y. and Falahat, M., 2019. The Impact of Digitalization and Resources on Gaining
Competitive Advantage in International Markets: Mediating Role of Marketing, Innovation
and Learning Capabilities. Technology Innovation Management Review, 9(11).
Peters, M.D., Wieder, B., Sutton, S.G. and Wakefield, J., 2016. Business intelligence
systems use in performance measurement capabilities: Implications for enhanced
competitive advantage. International Journal of Accounting Information Systems, 21, pp.1-
17.
Successstory.com (2020), Success story of Unilever, available from:
https://successstory.com/companies/unilever [Accessed on 21st march 2020]
Unilever.com (2020), Mission statement, available
from:https://www.unilever.com/news/press-releases/2004/04-02-12-Unilever-puts-vitality-at-
core-of-new-mission.html [Accessed on 21st march 2020]
Unilever.com (2020), Our strategies, available fromhttps://www.unilever.com/about/who-we-
are/our-strategy/ [Accessed on 21st march 2020]
Vodafone.com (2020). Our strategy. Available at:https://www.vodafone.com/what-we-do/our-
strategy [Accessed on 20th march 2020]
Yülek, M.Â. ed., 2018. Industrial Policy and Sustainable Growth. Springer.
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