Reference no: EM132923499

Haier and the Five Generic Competitive Strategies

With 30 years of success in the business world, and in an increasingly robust and crowded international market, Haier is a well-known manufacturer of home appliances. Haier produces refrigerators, washing machines, and air conditioning units. In addition, Haier has been able to build an international reputation for meeting the specific needs of customers with innovative, high-quality products. In recent years however, increased foreign company market gains in China have made the company more vulnerable domestically to threats from both higher and lower quality entrants.

In this Online Discussion, you evaluate the five generic competitive strategies (low-cost provider strategy, broad differentiation strategy, best-cost provider strategy, focused strategy based on low-costs, and focused strategy based on differentiation) to further investigate Haier's current competitive advantage.

To prepare for this Online Discussion, read the Khanna, Palepu, and Andrews article located in this week's Learning Resources to explore Haier's history of growth and its current state of competitive advantage. Then, review the PowerPoint presentation to further explore each of the five generic competitive strategies. Conduct additional research as needed using the Internet or library. Of the five generic competitive strategies, which one most strongly represents how Haier gained its competitive advantage? With its advantage starting to dwindle, which strategy might Haier need to improve?

Evaluate which of the five generic competitive strategies Haier might have implemented to achieve its initial competitive advantage and why. Then, explain which of the five strategies the company might now need to improve in order to sustain their competitive advantage in the global market and why. Support your post with references to the five generic strategies and the competitive intelligence theory.