Strategic Management to achieve competitive advantage

Are you tired of hearing about strategic management, competitive advantage, and all that jazz? Well, I’m sorry to break it to you, but it’s time to face the music. Strategic management is the bread and butter of any successful business, and achieving a competitive advantage is what separates the wheat from the chaff.

But fear not! I’m not here to bore you with textbook definitions and case studies. Instead, let’s take a light-hearted look at how strategic management can help you achieve the competitive advantage to succeed in the world of business.

What does competitive advantage mean? 

It’s like having a secret weapon that sets you apart from your competitors and gives you an edge in the marketplace. It may be a great product, a great marketing campaign, or a great team. Whatever it is, it makes your company more desirable to customers and helps you win business over your competitors. In other words, it gives you a competitive advantage over other businesses in your area of expertise.

How do you achieve competitive advantage? 

Well, that can be attributed to the good ol’ wise man with the white beard, sipping coffee in the room – Strategic Management. The simple textbook definition of strategic management says that it is the process of planning, implementing, and evaluating strategies that will help your business achieve its goals. It’s like a roadmap that guides your business towards success.

Once you’ve understood the foundational concepts of strategic management, the next is to decipher a way to use it to achieve a competitive advantage in the market.

Now, when it comes to achieving a competitive advantage, there are a few key things you need to keep in mind. First, you need to know your market inside and out. This means understanding your customers, your competitors, and the industry you are operating in. Think of it like playing a game of chess – you need to know your opponent’s moves before you can make your own. 

Familiarity breeds strategy. When you’re familiar with your market and target audience, you’ll know all about their demands, what has been supplied to them and what area remains a grey zone. That is the area where you should set up your business’s canopy.

Once you’ve got a good hold on your market, start thinking about your unique value proposition. What sets your business apart from the competition? Is it your innovative products or services? Your unbeatable customer service? Your rockstar team? Whatever it is, you need to leverage it to your advantage. Sell your unique features and earn from it. Of course, knowing your market and having a killer value proposition is only half the battle. 

Now that the troops have been set, it’s time to wage the war. Once you’re done formulating a fool proof plan on paper, you need a solid executional strategy. This means setting clear goals, developing a detailed strategy, and putting the right people and resources in place to make it happen.

So, how do you go about creating a winning strategy? Well, that’s where the fun really begins. Strategic management is all about creativity and thinking outside the box. It’s like a game of Mad Libs – you start with a basic framework, but the possibilities are endless.

Popular approaches for effective strategic management

One popular approach to strategic management is the SWOT analysis. This involves looking at your business’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to identify areas where you can improve and potential areas of risk. It’s like playing a game of “What’s the Story?” – you fill in the blanks to create a cohesive narrative. This is how you will find out which resources you need to tap to make the best out of your business.

Another popular strategy is differentiation. This involves positioning your business as unique and different from the competition in some way. Think of it like a game of “One of These Things Is Not Like the Other” – you need to find a way to stand out from the crowd.

You know that tech company that sells phones, tablets, and laptops that all have a little “bite” taken out of them? Yes, you guessed it – Apple. These folks have been rocking the differentiation game for years. What sets their brand apart from the other run-of-the-mill tech brands is their focus on design and innovation. Every season, Apple releases new and improved gadgets that are built upon their previous models’ shortcomings. By doing this, they have created a brand image that is all about cutting edge technology and posh designs, which has immensely contributed to them being crowned as one of the leading tech brands in the world.

Brand Loyalty isn’t easily bought, but Apple is one of those rare-as-a-blue-diamond- companies wherein once the customers have gotten their hands on an Apple device, they rarely ever go back to Android or Windows. This, my friends, is the unyielding charm of this colossal enterprise. 

In extension, it would suffice to say that Apple has one of the strongest implementations plans. After all, no strategy is complete without a plan for implementation. This means taking the ideas and concepts you’ve developed and turning them into action. Since the points don’t matter unless you practically do something with them.

How important is strategic management for MBA students?

So, what does all of this mean for you as a management student? Well, it means you have a unique opportunity to learn and grow in a field that’s constantly evolving. Strategic management is all about adapting to changing circumstances, taking risks, and staying ahead of the curve. It’s sometimes a gamble but often a tactfully scrutinized observational guideline that helps you guess what the future holds and make the right moves to come out on top. The UGC-entitled online MBA degree offered by Manipal University Jaipur has a expertly designed curriculum that covers all major aspects of business, including strategic management. The degree is at par with the on-campus MBA degrees and is widely accepted by top employers.

Conclusion

Strategic management is like a game, and it’s prize is a competitive advantage. To win as a business, you need to understand your market, focus on your strengths, create a unique value proposition, embrace innovation, build a strong team, and measure and analyze your results. By following these principles, you can create a winning strategy that sets you apart from your competitors and helps you achieve sustainable competitive advantage.