Improving Competitiveness Of Company

As almost all the businesses have faced stiff competition against its competitors, having competitive advantages over rivals is being one of the key factors to be sustainable and competitive in any market or industry. To have competitive advantage, it is important to analyze not only competitors but also one’s organization because competitive advantages are distinctive resources, capabilities, or competencies that rivals are hard or unable to copy. Company “A”, palm oil based company in Indonesia, has also faced stiff competition with start-ups producing the same concept of soap products with cheaper price that the thesis company produces and multinational companies such as Dettol and Unilever. A manager of the company has been worried about the way to deal with the tight competition in the industry. The main goal of this research is “improving competitiveness of Company “A” by advancing its competitive disadvantages to be more competitive in the soap industry in Indonesia”. In this research, the competitive advantages and disadvantages compared to its rivals will be analyzed and the way to improve the disadvantages will be suggested. The research themes are competitors, cost, people, and methods as the basis for the following research questions; 1.What are the competitive advantages/disadvantages of Company “A”? 2.What are the main causes of the disadvantages in Company “A” that lead it to less competitive in the industry? 3.What are the possible plans of improving the isadvantages? To achieve the main goal of the research,external and internal factors should be analyzed for aving clear understanding on industry, competitors, and the company itself. The researcher uses PESTLE analysis to analyze the circumstances of Indonesia that can be related to the thesis company, Porter’s five factors to analyze the industry where the thesis company is in, Mckinsey’s 7S model and Resource Based View (RBV) to analyze the thesis company’s competitive advantage and disadvantage compared to its rivals. As the research was undertaken, crucial conclusions have been made on the basis of the research findings: Competitive advantages of Company “A” 1. Strong financial condition which is supported by the government 2. Cost advantages over rivals which comes from the process of refining palm oil within its own manufacture 3. Strong global distribution capability 4. Strong reputation in its industry in Indonesia as an export company