The dominant strategies used within
Date
2011-05-17
Authors
Mazibuko, Beauty
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Abstract
Competitive strategy remains crucial for businesses, as it determines success in
the market. However, exactly what strategy to employ in a company within a
specific industry is a difficult task for practitioners. In the 1980’s, Porter (1985)
described three “generic” strategies that would allow a company to be more
competitive relative to others in the same industry. Although Porter’s (1985)
strategy types have become the foundation for much of the business policy
research in the past twenty years, theorists and researchers alike continue to
debate over the appropriateness of these strategies in the current competitive
environment bombarded with technology.
This research seeks to identify dominant competitive strategies in the South
African (SA) clothing retail industry and further validate the usage of Porters
“generic” strategies. The study expands to understand whether different size
companies use similar strategies or not.
A structured questionnaire was sent out to clothing retail companies of sample size
of 145 participants for them to identify the most appropriate competitive method on
their business. The results from the common factor analysis indicated that three
major strategies used in the industry namely, lean competitor, mix markets and
core competencies. Further, it was identified that some strategies are associated
with the size of the company while others are not
Description
MBA - WBS
Keywords
Retail industries, Strategic planning