Competitor Perception and Identification

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Strategic awareness

When a strategy is implemented in an organisation, it is important that it is understood by those who operate in the firm. In order to reach a good outcome of the strategy, members of an organisation should have clear awareness of the strategy and know how to use it. To understand the reason to why awareness in an organisation is low, we will present three causes. One reason is that the strategy is diffuse or vague and is missing clear characteristics for what to do (Snow & Hrebiniak, 1980). Secondly, if the top manager is not aware of the background of the current strategy, there could be a lack of strategic awareness. Thirdly, if top managers fail to involve middle or lower level managers in the strategic process, these managers will have less knowledge about the strategy. Additionally, the awareness can be influenced by what processes the organisation have in terms of planning and communication system (Snow & Hrebiniak, 1980; Hambrick, 1981).

Goal Congruence

To demonstrate how goals vary in an organisation, we will present the concept of goal congruence. This will help us to understand how organisations and individuals in the same group work with goals. Organisations have set goals within the firm that every employee should work towards. In order to reach best possible outcome, all employees should work for the same goal. Most organisations intend to implement a system that influences individuals to act in a goal congruence manner. However, the goals vary between what executives and employees of an organisation want. “In a goal congruent process, the actions people are led to take in accordance with their perceived self-interest are also in the best interest of the organisation” (Anthony & Govindarajan, 2001, p. 98). According to this quote, goal congruence will lead to an organisation having coherent goals.

The Strategic Triangle

In order to understand the key factors for a successful business strategy, we will present a model that includes three aspects and discuss their importance for a business strategy. Ohmae (1982), business and corporate strategist, has developed a model that shows the three most important areas that should be considered in order to reach a strong business strategy. Figure 2.3 shows the main areas that have to be considered when constructing a business strategy. These are also seen as the key factors of success in a business. According to Ohmae (1982, p.91), “a successful strategy is one that ensures a better 11 stronger matching of corporate strengths to customer’s needs than is provided by competitors”.

Corporation-Based Strategies

To maximize a firm’s strengths, the corporation needs strategies aiming for the same thing. To increase positive profit and market growth, it is important for a corporation to maintain a positive differential in key functional strengths. There are different ways to reach a positive differential. The first method is selectivity and sequencing. The corporation does not need to be a winner in all the firm’s functions. Therefore, the corporation should aim at reaching at least one function that can gain a decisive edge (Ohmae, 1982). This will in turn lead to improvements of other competition functions. The second method is called cost-effectiveness. There are three different ways of using this method. The first one is to reduce costs more effectively than competitors. The second method is to share resources with other sub-functions which can lead to more advantages for the corporation. The last method is to increase the selectivity of products, orders or functions. This method will result in lower functional costs.

Competitor-Based Strategies

The Competitor-Based Strategies can be developed by potential sources of differentiation in a number of functions. These are purchasing, design, engineering, sales and servicing. There are two methods that can be used in order to achieve differentiation. The first one is power of image which implies that firm’s image is very important when one wants to achieve differentiation. A power of image can be created to manage the marketing functions, promotion and distribution with much greater care. The second method is called capitalizing on profit- and cost structure differences. This method implies that a company with higher cost structure should always look for functional differentiation.

Table of Contents :

• 1 Introduction
  • 1.1 Background
  • 1.2 Problem Discussion
  • 1.3 Purpose
  • 1.4 Delimitations
• 2 Theoretical framework
  • 2.1 Fundamental theories
    • 2.1.1 Strategy Perception
    • 2.1.1.1 Cognitive Style
    • 2.1.1.2 Preferences
    • 2.1.1.3 Environmental perception
    • 2.1.1.4 Competitor Perception and Identification
    • 2.1.1.5 Size of Competitive Category
    • 2.1.1.6 Problems with Perception
    • 2.1.2 Strategic awareness
    • 2.1.3 Goal Congruence
    • 2.1.3.1 Organisational Constituency
  • 2.2 Main theories
    • 2.2.1 The Strategic Triangle
    • 2.2.1.1 Customer-Based Strategies
    • 2.2.1.2 Corporation-Based Strategies
    • 2.2.1.3 Competitor-Based Strategies
    • 2.2.2 Strategy Process
    • 2.2.2.1 Strategy Formation
    • 2.2.2.2 Strategy Implementation
    • 2.2.3 SWOT
    • 2.2.3.1 Internal
    • 2.2.3.2 External
  • 2.3 Research questions
• 3 Choice of Method
  • 3.1 Inductive vs. Deductive Approach
  • 3.2 Qualitative vs. Quantitative Method
  • 3.3 Interviews
    • 3.3.1 Mapping and Scales
  • 3.4 Observations
  • 3.5 Secondary data
  • 3.6 Method for Analysis
  • 3.7 Trustworthiness
• 4 Yoigo
  • 4.1 Background
  • 4.2 Organisation
  • 4.3 Future Strategy
  • 4.4 Competitors
  • 4.5 Industry
    • 4.5.1 Macro Economic Development

• 5 Empirical findings
  • 5.1 Competitors
    • 5.1.1 Maps and Scales
      5.2 Costumers
    • 5.2.1 Maps and Scales
  • 5.3 Corporation
    • 5.3.1 Maps and Scales
  • 5.4 Strategy Process
    • 5.4.1 Maps and Scales
  • 5.5 SWOT
• 6 Analysis
  • 6.1 Competitors
  • 6.2 Customers
  • 6.3 Corporation
  • 6.4 Strategy Process
• 7 Conclusion and Discussion
  • 7.1 Conclusion
  • 7.2 Discussion
  • 7.3 Further research
    • 7.3.1 Practical Implications
• 8 References
• 9 Appendices
  • 9.1 Interview Guide
    • 9.1.1 Scales and Maps
    • 9.1.1.1 Scale
    • 9.1.1.2 Scale
    • 9.1.1.3 Scale
    • 9.1.1.4 Scale
    • 9.1.1.5 Map
    • 9.1.1.6 Map
    • 9.1.1.7 Map
  • 9.2 Appendix Results

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Strategy Perception A Qualitative Study of Perception Differences and Similarities