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Identify, Analyze and Discuss Strategic Issues for Costa According to the Resource Based View (Rbv) and Its Core Competences.

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Identify, analyze and discuss Strategic issues for Costa according to the Resource based view (RBV) and its core competences.

Because the past decades have witnessed the rise of ultra-competitive markets, companies have strived to find efficient ways to differentiate themselves from their competitors. Consequently, a growing interest was granted as to how firm resources should be managed in order to achieve temporary competitive advantage and even sustained competitive advantage. According to an article of software business :’The Resource-Based View (RBV) holds that firms can earn sustainable above average returns only if they have superior resources and those resources are protected by some form of isolating mechanism …show more content…

The only tangible asset that Costa can be really proud of is the quality of their coffee. In fact, following a survey conducted by an independent research centre considered credible, Costa have been able to claim that ‘seven out of ten coffee lovers prefer Costa Coffee’s cappuccino”! Praising the ingredients used and the process (handmade) followed to make Costa’s coffees can only influence potential customers to come to Costa instead of one of its competitors, thus win competitive advantage (http://www.whitbreadannualreport0809.co.uk/chief-executives-review.aspx).
As we listen to Collis’s perception of competitive advantage - ‘Competitive advantage, whatever its source, ultimately can be attributed to the ownership of a valuable resource that enables the company to perform activities better or more cheaply than competitors.’ (David J Collis, Cynthia A Montgomery. Harvard Business Review. Boston: Jul/Aug 2008. Vol. 86, Iss. 7,8; pg. 140) - we can see that these tangible assets don’t really enable Costa to perform better than its prime competitors. It is therefore absolutely crucial, that the resources Costa utilizes respect Barney’s statement in order to enable Costa to gain competitive advantage; a resource must be: (1) Valuable in a way that it enables the company to conceive and implement strategies that develop its efficiency, (2) Rare, (3) Imperfectly imitable, and (4) Non-Substitutable (Jay Barney, (1991), “Firm resources and sustained

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