Blackmores Company

The company has many options in its bid to enter into China. The company has the option of using the resource-based view of strategy. This strategy has a coherence and integrative role that places it at a better position than other mechanisms of strategic decision making. This is in view of the fact that companies are not restrained only by imagination. They are limited by their own capabilities, by competition, by technology, and by the demands of their customers. The strategy of many businesses is usually concerned with the match between the internal capabilities of the company and its external environment (Peteraf 1993).

The opportunity for the company to sustain competitive advantage in Shanghai will be made possible by its strengths and determined by its capabilities. The companywill use its distinctive capabilities as these are those which cannot be copied by competitors, or can only be replicated with great difficulty. This is even after these competitors realise the benefits which they yield for the originating company (Montgomery 1995). The distinctive capabilities that the company can use are varied.

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Government licences, statutory monopolies, or effective copyrights and patents are the company's distinctive capabilities that it will focus on. However, in light of the competition, it can use equally powerful idiosyncratic characteristics that it has built built in competitive markets. These include patterns of customer or supplier relationships, strong brands, and skills, routines and knowledge which are embedded in the company's teams (Montgomery 1995). The strength of the brand will be particularly be taken into consideration as this will strongly determine whether the products are accepted by the targeted clients or not.

The issues of the diverse cultures of the Chinese people will be taken into consideration and it will also be ensured that the products are also branded in Chinese in addition to the English language (Montgomery 1995). Skills of employees will also be an important factor in entering the Chinese market. The company will recruit a considerable number of locals beforehand who are specialized on various levels from manufacturing to marketing. This will help it gain entry easily into the market and also penetrate the market faster.

In this way, locals will not feel alienated to the company and its products (Shelby 2002). The company will identify its distinctive capabilities and then will surround these with a collection of reproducible capabilities, or complementary assets. This will enable the company to sell its distinctive capabilities in the China market in which it will operate (Day, and Montgomery 1999). The company will use its resources such as capital, equipment, the skills of individual employees, finances, patents and individual managers.

Competitive advantage may not be achieved from individual resources. It is achieved through the synergistic integration and combination of sets of resources (Shelby, Morgan 2004). The company will also integrate the industry based strategy in the enty to the China market. The fundamental imperative of using the industry-based strategy will be to achieve competitive advantage, and therefore, superior financial performance. The company has been making good profits and this should serve as leverage as this indicates customer satisfaction with its products.

The company will choose will have the option of modifying its structure or selecting one of the three generic strategies. It will also manage the activities of its value chain (Shelby 2002). In following the results in recent research in emerging economies which China is part of argues that an institution-based starategy will also be used by the company. This will be in line with view of international business strategy. The instituiton based strategy is positioned as one leg that helps sustain what is known as the "strategy tripod". The the other two legs consisting of the resource and industry based views (Peng, 2002).

The company will concentrate on two areas of substantive importance when venturin into the Shnghai market. It will consider antidumping as an entry barrier. The company will ensure that its products, vitamin and mineral supplements are of quality and are not seen by the target China market as dumped products. this will aslo take care of the subsequent rejection of the company's products by consumers. It will look into the options of competing in and out of China as Shanhai being a big city can serve as a focal point for the company to market and sell its vitamin products (Peng, 2002).

Using the institution based strategy , the company will also rely on grouping together of companies with similar interests, that is, those manufacturing and selling vitamin products. The company will will identify companoies whose work it is interested in and see if they can make a merger deal or a joint marketing deal. This could help the company in establishing itself in China by corporating with companies that already have cut a niche in the Chinese market. However, this is subject to the conditions of the market. The company intends to enter solo in the Chinese market.

It will only consider the possibility of group marketing and mergers if the market is tough. This is not something that is anticipated as the company intends to market its products aggresively using experience form other country markets it has ventured into (Barney, 1997). Reference Barney J. 1997. Firm Resources and Sustained Competitive Advantage. Journal of Management 17. Day, G. S. , and David B. Montgomery. 1999. Charting new directions for marketing. Journal of Marketing 63 (special issue): 3–13. Montgomery C. A. 1995. Of diamonds and rust In C. A Montgomery (ed) Resource Based and evolutionary theories of the Firm, Kluwes, Boston.

Peng, W. M. 2002. Towards an Institution-Based View of Business Strategy. Asia Pacific Journal of Management. Volume 19, No. 2-3, 251-267. Peteraf M. A. 1993. The Cornerstones of Competitive Advantage: A Resource Based View Strategic Management Journal 14. Rumelt R. P. 1991. “Strategic Management & Economics” pages 5-29. Schendel D Strategic Management Journal, Vol 2. & Teece D. J. Shelby, D. H. 2002. Foundations of Marketing Theory; Toward a General Theory of Marketing. Oxford. Oxford University Press. Shelby, D. H. , Morgan, R. M. 2004. Review of Marketing Research. Volume 1, 155-205.

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