Question

1.- What are the elements of the company value chain (Michael Porter) and how do they differ from the elements of an industry value chain? Which approach, in your opinion, is better suited to analyzing a company’s strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities?

2.- It is often said of niche (or “focused”) strategies that one would like for the niche to be “big enough, but not too big”. What does that mean?

Answer 1

The term value chain reflects the fact that, as each step of this path is completed, the product becomes more valuable than it was at the previous step.

Value chains include both primary and secondary activities. Primary activities are actions that are directly involved in creating and distributing goods and services.There are five primary activities. Inbound logistics refers to the arrival of raw materials.Operations refers to the actual production process, while outbound logistics tracks the movement of a finished product to customers.

Firm Infrastructure The Value Chain Porter 1985 Human Resource Management Technology Development Procurement Inbound Logistics Operations Outbound Logistics Marketing & Sales Service Gross Sales Support Activities Primary Activities

Attracting potential customers and convincing them to make purchases is the domain of marketing and sales

Secondary activities are not directly involved in the evolution of a product but instead provide important underlying support for primary activities. Firm infrastructure refers to how the firm is organized and led by executives. The effects of this organizing and leadership can be profound. Also important is human resource management, which involves the recruitment, training, and compensation of employees. Technology refers to the use of computerization and telecommunications to support primary activities.

Elements of company value chain is different from elements of industry value chain. .

some factors :

1. Lobour intensive

2. Customer involvement

3.Intangibility

4.Capacity versus inventory

5. Service Hetrogenity.

Swot analysis is the best approach just because It is simple but useful framework for analyzing your organization's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. It helps you to build on what you do well, to address what you're lacking, to minimize risks, and to take the greatest possible advantage of chances for success.

2. The target market is big enough to be profitable and offers good growth potential. It is costly or difficult for multi segments competitors to put capabilities in place to meet the specialised need of buyers comprising the target market and at the same time satisfy the expectation of their mainstream customers. IT allowing a focuses to pick competitively attractiveness suited to its resources strength and weakness.