Global MBA Competitive Strategy Workshop Taster

- Knowing the competition and your customers

On Tuesday 13^th March, AMBS External workshop Director Mr. Paul Patton was invited to deliver a workshop taster on Competitive Strategy.  Paul has a lecturing career in economics stemming some 27 years and has been an External workshop Director with the Alliance Manchester Business School (AMBS) for over 17 years. 

Knowing your competition

Paul started with a case scenario regarding Apple, Samsung and Huawei, what are the keys to Apple and Huawei staying extremely competitive while Samsung’s market share shrink?

“Essentially Apple is a design company who outsource its manufacturing while stay a leader in innovation and design. The company heads the industry by developing desirable products and cooperating with companies like Foxcom to take advantage of low manufacturing cost. Innovative power is the company’s competitive advantage and the question lies in ensuring quality and keeping customer loyal.”

“Looking at the uprising Huawei as a very strong contender, the company’s original competitive advantage lies in world leading ability in telecom infrastructure and hardware. However with continuous input in innovation and design, it has increased its brand awareness and market share in personal mobile phone market.”

What the best performing companies always have in common is advanced competitive strategies. Knowing the competition is the vital part of it. When Apple makes its strategy, it must have taken into consideration competitors such as Huawei. Likewise, Huawei also designs its strategy considering competition.

What do smart strategies have in common?

Understanding consumer behaviour with big data

Consumer behaviour often follows a certain pattern. In this world of information technology and social media, we leave a trail of evidence in whatever shopping behaviour and buying decision we make. Companies can achieve this information to target and sell.

From entering metro station with a smart card or the metro app on the phone at 7:45 to using Alipay to buy coffee at 8:25, or searching on Baidu on computer and 8:45 – all those activities leave electronic evidence which tells your behaviour.

The collective information reflecting consumer behavior that companies can get hold of allows them to analyse the group of people. Companies such – Baidu, Ali and Tencent (BAT) now holds extremely valuable information. Analysis of Big Data creates an insight into what products will be of interest, how to reach customers, who will be the competitors, how much to charge and much more. That is why ‘ big data analysis’ is becoming a heated area of study showing big demand in many sectors.

Knowing your competition and understanding your customers is and will be an on-going theme for companies in a competitive market environment. Its importance increases in this digital era where information becomes more accessible and transparent. In the real world, complexity of scenario is of course increased, yet the fundamentals of underlying economics stays highly relevant.

Economics principles and practical case studies are explored in much further depth on the Global MBA curriculum.

Currently applications for July 2018 intake are being accepted. Application discounts are available to applicants who finishes full application process by the end of March. Loyalty bursaries are available to alumni.

To find out more information, please send your enquiries to mba@mbs-worldwide.ac.cn or call directly 021 - 6279 8660 and speak to a course counsellor.