SG7001 Managing Strategy Operations and Partnerships
1. Introduction (SG7001 Managing Strategy Operations and Partnerships)
Nippn is an advanced platform of the traditional flour milling process in Japan that has improved its flour-based culture of food. This company became focused to increase its customer range by providing different types of foods such as noodles, bread, confectioneries and many more items. Through focusing on its customer base, it has decided to bring ultimate development by realising its actual surviving or success factors. This report includes an in-depth analysis of the company’s competitive advantages and capabilities to bring a unique and effective strategic development. In this report, there is an eventual knowledge regarding the company’s internal issues to resolve them adequately.
2. Accessing of company’s competitive advantages
2.1 Factors contributing to competitive advantage
Porter’s value chain
Figure 1: Porter’s value chain (Source: Created by learner)
- Primary Activities
- Inbound Logistics: In the context of the company’s primary activities, it is important to say that the flour milling company has developed its inventory control by considering its customer’s trust. Since, Nippn has committed to maintaining the quality and safety aspects within its supply chain management to ensure the customer’s loyalty towards them. In place of maintaining the company’s production quality, Nippn became focused to provide ultimate safety and security in their food products. In addition, Nippn has used the collaborative approach to develop its relationship with suppliers in a positive way, through using this approach; the company has developed its supply chain management system. Therefore, it can be said that the company is focused on developing its raw materials with support from a high supplier’s chain while it has successfully distributed its products with its supply chains.
- Operations: The flour milling company has the capability of satisfying the market customers by providing them with a faster supply chain management process. In this case, it is important to say that the company has developed its manufacturing, packaging and delivering processes with the presence of high productivity.
- Outbound Logistics: In place of improving the company’s market value with the support of high customer involvement, Nippn has developed its supply chain efficiency. Since, it has developed its product distribution process by using its supply chains. Hence, it can be said that the company’s outbound logistics is quite high. In order to increase the customer’s satisfaction, the flour milling company has raised its concern towards the production cost-effectiveness and delivery process.
- Marketing and sales: The sale value of this company is around ¥344.80 billion that cannot be neglected in this current changing era. The environmentally friendly approach of the company is also responsible for its high marketing and sales growth (Nippn.co.jp, 2021).
- Services: Nippn is mainly focused on its food products related manufacturing, processing and supplying services to enhance its marketing position with the support of a high customer base.
- Support Activities
- Infrastructure: Nippn has developed its infrastructure by managing its production quality; financing and managerial planning that indicates its high support activity.
- Human Resource Management: Nippn has high prioritised on its HR management while it has provided individual learning sessions along with effective training.
- Technology development: This Company has also developed its technological tools and methods by considering the current market requirements especially in its supply chain management process.
- Procurement: The procurement of Nippn is quietly low while there are some linkages with its different value chain related poor activity. Since, the company is focussing only on its own supply models and chains that influences its inbound and outbound logistics.
VRIO analysis
| “Resource and capability” | Valuable | Rare | “Inimitable” | “Organised to Exploit” | “Impact on Competitive advantage” |
| Brand image | yes | yes | yes | yes | Competitive advantage |
| Employee training | no | no | yes | yes | Comparative parity |
| Efficient inventory control | yes | yes | yes | yes | Competitive advantage |
Table 1: VRIO analysis
2.2 Development of issues with success factors
Issues with inbound and outbound logistics: In the context of Nippin, there is a typical issue related to this company’s inbound and outbound logistics. Since, the company is focused on its own supply chain models rather than building a relationship with other market suppliers. High internal and external issues of a company can reduce the range of customer base due to low competitive advantages as both are interconnected through product quality and performance control (Alqershi et al. 2020).
Issues with the business model: The business model of Nippn is focused on its “Dynamic Growth” instead of developing its business strategy that can be considered as an affecting issue. According to Annarelli et al. (2020), achieving a high competitive advantage can be possible through the support of effective and innovative business models.
Issues with supply chain management: In order to meet high market demand, the company has low capability while its supply chain management has low working efficiency. Since, there is a lack of proper advancement to bring required sustainability. Technological advancement is an important factor in the modern supply chain system and process development as it supports high employee and customer support (Feng et al. 2020).
Issues with international strategy: The Company has no international strategy for further marketing and supplying development which is highly required for the company’s marketing growth in the global competitive level. Increasing the concern for international strategy is capable of increasing the competitive advantage for modern business companies (Annarelli et al. 2020).
Issues with organisational employee satisfaction: The Company is quietly careless about its employee satisfaction by investing in their workplace improvement. Since, the company is focused to develop its customer range and supply chain efficiency without any concern about its employee’s capabilities and involvement range. As per the values of Zhang (2020), the development of organisational capabilities and resources can lead to a high competitive advantage for organisational growth. This has not been maintained in this flour milling company properly.
3. Prioritising of company’s issues
3.1 Prioritised issues
Eventually understanding about the flour milling company of Japan, two prioritised issues of the company are the lower inbound logistics and poor employee satisfaction. Since, the company has no technological advancement to meet market requirements accordingly. As per the views of Ariwibowo (2021), addressing the internal issues and weaknesses is helpful to bring accurate development within workplace of organizations.
In place of the company’s inbound logistics; it is important to say that there is a lack of efficiency in the company’s in-plant operations. Therefore, the company needs to adopt the Expansion strategy as a corporate strategy that is effective and suitable for the company. Since, it will help the company to expand its supply chain in the global marketplace for ensuring better competitive advantages. This strategy is focused to increase business by developing the entrepreneurship of modernist business companies (Kang and Na, 2020).
The supply chain management system of this company is quietly poor due to a lack of technological advancement. This influences the involvement of employees within its supply chain management process. Employee satisfaction development is possible by the company with the support of a Retrenchment strategy while this corporate strategy is used to develop the production employer’s productivity with support of a high performance rate. Through using this kind of corporate strategy, the flour milling company can increase the range of its employee involvement. The application of this strategic concept is capable of developing its stakeholder’s involvement by increasing its production working performance.
In order to reduce the company’s employee satisfaction and inbound logistics related issues, the company can adopt the Innovative strategy in its entire supply chain management process. Since, the involvement of advanced technological tools and methods in the organisational supply chain process can increase its working efficiency to satisfy its stakeholders adequately. Adoption of an innovative strategy will be suitable and profitable for the flour milling company while it supports an innovative approach and culture to develop the environment of the workplace.
3.2 Use of RACES
The most suitable strategy for this company is the Innovative Strategy that is capable of influencing the company’s entire supply chain management system which is related to the company’s performance increment. In order to evaluate the resolution, a RACES model has been used which is described below.
Resources: The innovative strategy will help the company to bring actual stability within its supply chain management that supports advanced technological implementation such as AI or Artificial Intelligence. Through using AI technology, the flour milling company can analyse its internal issues and challenges to resolve them as soon as possible. Additionally, AI technology helps organisations to make better production quality with the support of high productivity.
Acceptable: The Company can easily accept the technological implementation by considering artificial intelligence. Since, it is capable of satisfying the market stakeholders by increasing the inventory control and production efficiency. The use of AI technology supports the spiritual product supply system that will be helpful for the company’s supply chain management system. In this case, it is important to say that the application of AI technology is capable of increasing the customer base of this flour milling company by influencing its customer satisfaction positively.
Consistent: Involvement artificial intelligence is capable of increasing the company’s entire supply chain management operations. In addition, technological implementation is capable of increasing the company’s working capabilities with the support of high productivity. Therefore, it can be said that the application of AI technology is highly consistent while it supports the high working efficiency of supply chain management.
Effective: The application of technological advancement such as artificial intelligence is capable of meeting the demand and expectations of the current marketing era. In this case, it is important to say that the company can achieve its targeted goals by implementing AI technology. Moreover, it can be said that the implementation of AI technology within the company’s supply chain management is capable of increasing the company’s working efficiency with the support of high time management capacity.
Sustainable: Considering the innovative solution can help the modernist business companies to bring sustainability while it is capable of increasing the customer’s satisfaction range. The maintenance of innovative sustainability within a management operation becomes an effective factor to achieve targeted goals with the presence of highly competitive advantages (Almagtome et al. 2020).
3.2 Explanation in resultant strategy
The proposed strategic direction has a positive influence on the flour milling company. Since, it is capable of reducing the company’s affecting issues related to its inbound logistics, supply chain management, employee satisfaction and business model. In this case, it is important to say that the company can analyse its internal and external issues with the support of high productive data analysis. Since, the application of innovative tools such as AI technology is useful for its entire supply chain model and management system. Therefore, it can be said that the involvement of AI technology is profitable for the company to satisfy its employees and customers at the same time. Since, this application is capable of enhancing the company’s insight data analysing process to ensure a strong and flexible relationship between the employees and customers (Hindasah and Nuryakin, 2020). In addition, it is also useful to improve the logistics of the business company by making accurate predictions. The involvement of advanced technological approaches is helpful for modernist companies to enhance their risk management capacity (Samimi, 2020).
4. Proposal for the strategic direction
Providing an effective resolution always requires a high risk and issues analysing process to develop in-depth knowledge. This helps the business companies to bring accurate development within their organisational workplace in the right direction. In this case, use of VRIO analysis and Porter’s value chain is useful to analyse the actual capabilities of the flour milling company. Application of Vrio analysis is mainly helpful for the organisations to understand the internal and external capabilities on which their marketing and financial growth relies on. As per the views of Ariwibowo (2021), the Vrio framework is helpful to analyse the organisational internal strengths and weaknesses. Hence, it can be said that the report has used this framework to represent the actual internal weakness and strengths of the flour milling company of Japan.
On the other hand, Porter’s value chain is mainly used by modern business organisations to critically analyse their actual issues and opportunities with their managerial operations. Purpose of this framework is to develop the eventual understanding of the companies regarding their capabilities and performance level for ensuring high market value4 with support of high competitive advantages. As per the discussion of Zhang (2020), research on the organisational capabilities and resources by considering the perspectives of value chain analysis is helpful to ensure the low risk in a future state. Hence, it can be said that the use of Porter’s value chain is effective for the analysis of the Japanese company. Through using these frameworks, this report becomes focused to represent the eventual knowledge about the company’s capabilities and performance.
Using the RACES model, the company can understand the influence of the proposed corporate strategies. The purpose of using this model is to develop the knowledge regarding the company’s capabilities to meet its targeted goals. In this case, it is necessary to say that the prioritising of internal issues of the company is helpful for developing an in-depth understanding regarding its capacity to achieve marketing success. The involvement of several strategies in resolving the company’s internal issues with the support of distinct explanations helps the report to represent its actual working capabilities. Description of the proposed strategies can be considered as an effective way to identify the suitable start for the company by considering t\its actual issues and challenges.
The consideration of the effective strategy’s importance becomes important to represent its value to resolve the company’s internal challenges and issues with the support of high performance rate. As per the values of Koval (2020), identifying the actual issues and risks of the organisations before any resolution is helpful for the ultimate sustainability with presence of economic security. Moreover, it can be said that use of several analyses and descriptions are helpful to provide effective and suitable resolutions. Since, it helps the companies to understand their marketing challenges and opportunities with support of in-depth analysis. Therefore, it can be said that the proper strategy needs to understand the eventual knowledge dredging the company’s internal success factors for ensuring its high competitive advantages.
5. Conclusion
The above informative context has described the Japanese company, Nippn’s capabilities of meeting the market requirements in the right direction. Concept of the Vrio analysis and Porter’s value chain has been described in this report to develop the internal knowledge regarding the company. Since, there is distinct information regarding the company’s working capabilities to meet the customer’s demand. In addition, this report has described the importance of addressing the company’s issues and challenges. Different corporate strategies have been provided in this report to identify the suitable and effective strategy for the flour milling company. In this report, there is a key concept about the company based RACES model to understand its capabilities to fulfil its market and customer requirements and equality. Moreover, it is important to say that the entire report has successfully met its requirement by being focused on the company’s internal issues to recommend a suitable strategy for better marketing growth. In addition, this report has clearly described the effectiveness of the proposed strategies for the company to ensure its ultimate success in the future state.
Reference list
Almagtome, A., Khaghaany, M. And Önce, S., 2020. Corporate Governance Quality, Stakeholders’ Pressure, And Sustainable Development: An Integrated Approach. International Journal Of Mathematical, Engineering And Management Sciences, 5(6), Pp.1077-1090.
Alqershi, N., Ismail, A.I., Abualrejal, H. And Salahudin, S.N., 2020. Competitive Advantage Achievement Through Customer Relationship Management Dimensions. The Journal Of Distribution Science, 18(11), Pp.61-67.
Annarelli, A., Battistella, C. And Nonino, F., 2020. Competitive Advantage Implication Of Different Product Service System Business Models: Consequences Of ‘Not-Replicable’capabilities. Journal Of Cleaner Production, 247, P.119121.
Ariwibowo, P., Saputro, F.B. And Haryanto, H., 2021. Analysis Of Strength & Weakness, Using The Concept Of Resource-Based View With The Vrio Framework In Sharia Cooperatives. Jurnal Manajemen Strategi Dan Aplikasi Bisnis, 4(1), Pp.279-294.
Axmedjanov, K., 2020. Kb Akhmedjanov Internal Audit And Its Development Prospects. Архив Научных Исследований, 1(4).Pp.1-4
Feng, B., Sun, K., Chen, M. And Gao, T., 2020. The Impact Of Core Technological Capabilities Of High-Tech Industry On Sustainable Competitive Advantage. Sustainability, 12(7), P.2980.
Hindasah, L. And Nuryakin, N., 2020. The Relationship Between Organizational Capability, Organizational Learning And Financial Performance. The Journal Of Asian Finance, Economics, And Business, 7(8), Pp.625-633.
Kang, S. And Na, Y.K., 2020. Effects Of Strategy Characteristics For Sustainable Competitive Advantage In Sharing Economy Businesses On Creating Shared Value And Performance. Sustainability, 12(4), P.1397.
Koval, O., 2020. Strategic Management Of Economic Security System Of Business Entities: Theoretical Aspects. Вісник Черкаського Національного Університету Імені Богдана Хмельницького. Серія Економічні Науки, (1), Pp.40-47.
Nippn.Co.Jp, 2021, Company Overview, Available At: Https://Www.Nippn.Co.Jp/En/Aboutus/Overview/Index.Html [Accessed On 22nd December 2021]
Samimi, A., 2020. Risk Management In Information Technology. Progress In Chemical And Biochemical Research, 3(2), Pp.130-134.
Zhang, G., 2020. Research On The Acquisition Of Development Resources And Capabilities Of Smes: Based On The Perspective Of Value Chain Separation And Reorganization. Industrial Engineering And Innovation Management, 3(2), Pp.91-96.
Know more about UniqueSubmission’s other writing services:
