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Assignment 1: Increasing Competitive Advantage

So far in this module you have explored strategic approaches to marketing, from aligning marketing and business strategies to segmenting, targeting and positioning to creating new brand propositions and analyzing both internal and external environments to create marketing mixes. One of the main goals for all of these strategic efforts is to enable organizations to get and keep their competitive advantage in order to thrive.

Attaining and sustaining competitive advantage takes more than just satisfying customers. Consider some food group you particularly like, such as bread. You may like several different types of bread and not really care who makes it. Most types of bread satisfy you, and you purchase whatever is on sale. Several companies that make bread are therefore satisfying you as a customer, but none have a competitive advantage over you. Then along comes a bread company that catches your attention. The naan, the challah, the white, the rye-they are all so delicious! Or perhaps it is not the best bread you have ever had, but it is good quality for the price. Suddenly, this bread company has captured your loyalty. Multiply your own consumption by thousands of bread eaters with similar needs, and the bread company has most likely managed to attain a competitive advantage. Its bread not only satisfies you, but it satisfies you more than the bread made by its competitors.

For this unit's Individual Assignment, you will develop strategies for your chosen brand (Royal Dutch Shell) that will foster a competitive advantage for your proposed product (Biofuel)

To prepare for this Individual Assignment:

- Read Day (2003). Consider what this author views as the components of customer-relating capability. How can these components be leveraged to build a competitive advantage?

- Read the module text chapters. In Chapter 11, consider how organizations can develop objectives and strategies to manage a product or brand through inception, growth, decline and new growth through new products or brands. In Chapter 19, review Porter's 5 Forces model.

- Read Hamel and Pralahad (1985), focusing on the strategies for building a global presence, defending domestic position and overcoming national fragmentation.

- Review some of the Sector Overviews in the Interbrand Web site. Consider how some of the world's top brands strategize to maintain competitive advantage.

Assignment 2:

**In a 1,000-word paper, create a plan for increasing competitive advantage for the selected organization and brand**.

**The plan should include three appropriate strategies for increasing competitive advantage in your chosen organization. For each strategy, include the following: **

- Explain how the strategies support overall corporate business and marketing strategies to increase competitive market advantage.

- Identify essential resources required to execute these strategies for increasing competitive advantage.

- Explain how you might measure performance related to meeting strategy objectives for increasing competitive advantage.

- Be sure to include specific examples and support your postings with evidence from the Reading, other current literature from credible sources. Consult the Harvard Referencing Style Guide for proper citation and referencing information.