Question

Need help with coming up with competitive strategies in the furniture retail industry. Any help would be apprectited. Please cover the following topics.

• Innovative Strategies
• Discuss the possible future opportunities for innovation in your industry & firm. How would your propose for your firm to capitalize on this innovation opportunity?
• Apply the Blue Ocean Strategy to identify and assess which strategic "ocean" your firm is currently in, and how your proposed strategic plan may impact this.
• Competitive Strategy
• Identify your organization's most significant rivals, and building upon their competitive response profile, assess the likely competitive response of each key rival to your proposed strategic plan.
• Discuss what competitive strategies you would propose to counter these competitive responses.
• Strategy Implementation
• Apply the 7-S Model to identify and assess your organization's current strategic configuration. Discuss any changes you would propose to this alignment that are needed to help implement your strategic plan.
• Apply Kotter's 8-Step Change Management framework to identify and assess how best to lead the implementation of your proposed strategic plan (and the strategic changes inherent in it).
• Evaluation and Control
• Discuss the key measurements/metrics that are needed to help ensure the successful implementation of your plan.
• Discuss Key Success Factors in your proposed strategic plan (i.e. what small number of key items or leverage points should your board or senior leadership team monitor closely in order to ensure that your proposed strategic plan is successfully implemented).

Answer 1

Discuss the possible future opportunities for innovation in your industry & firm. How would you propose for your firm to capitalize on this innovation opportunity?

The retail furniture industry is a customer-driven industry, where the producers need to focus on customer tastes and preferences.

Online selling:

In the future, the furniture industry businesses will sell the products online. The trend has started at the initial stage, but in the future, this trend will be on the pick. The customers prefer to choose furniture physically, but changing customer preferences for shopping will force the manufacturers to use technology to display and sell products.

Augmented Reality:

AR is the innovative technology which will help the traders and manufacturers to be with customers at every place. Using the App, customers will share the information through cameras, and manufacturers will help by placing the objects in the room virtually. This will help the customers to get the feel of the room’s view and will help the manufacturers to save cost. IKEA is experimenting with Augmented Reality and succeeded with 98 percent precession.

Experiencing showrooms:

The retail furniture industry will develop the environment of various areas of the house like kitchen, drawing room, etc. to provide the experience to customers. German furniture retailer MACO Mobel is one of the retail manufacturers that are producing living environments. The furniture retail will not sell furniture, rather sell the experience.

Analytics, Artificial intelligence, and robots for faster and better services:

Using data analytics, the manufacturer will be able to predict the tastes of customers, which will help to design a virtual look a customer wants and the robots will guide the customers in the stores according to their preferences. Hilton Hotel has used the technology and a robot helps the tourists to find the best attractions and restaurants in the city. A similar trend will be seen in the retail furniture industry.

How would you propose your firm to leverage the innovation opportunities:

Retail furniture manufacturing firms should start investing in such technology, so the firms can project it as an advanced producer and leverage the early mover's advantage.

Retail manufacturing firms should develop responsive supply chains to implement technological innovation and fast delivery of the furniture.

The retail furniture manufacturing companies can develop modular furniture and multipurpose furniture, as in future the average space for each home will decrease.

Due to time constraint, one answer is posted. Please post other questions separately.