Case Study 2 Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

2 - Case Study Example It had the expertise, and had the best knowledgeable game developers in the market then. With these strengths defined, the management could have looked at the weaknesses. Weaknesses are the internal factors that if not managed properly can potentially affect an organization’s very existence. Weaknesses in most times are what other competitors dwell in in offer to win a competitive advantage over other firms in the same industry. When Kotick took over the leadership of the activation blizzard company, he looked at the weaknesses of the EA Company, and capitalized on t5hese to get the company on it5s feet again. After a number of years, the company surpassed the company in the level of sales and the market share. Had EA seen these weaknesses and capitalized on them, perhaps Activision Blizzard would not have taken over from its market leadership. In essence, an opportunity is an unexploited business idea. Kotick, after joining the industry saw a number of opportunities that EA c ould not see. Subsequently, the company managed to take over the leadership of the gaming business from the EA Company. Therefore, exploiting these opportunities before Activision Blizzard could, would have given the company a competitive advantage and saved it from the slippage that it currently faces. Threats on the other hand are a myriad of setbacks that would potentially affect the existence of the company. Competitors are part of the threatening factors for a company, a factor that EA never saw until it was very late. By the time it realized the strength of Activision Blizzard, it was too late as it controlled the biggest portion of the video-games market. 2. Michael Porter’s generic strategies theory consists of three strategies that businesses apply in order to stay ahead of their competition thus maintaining their competitive advantage. Porter classified these strategies into two dimensions, which included the strategic scope and the strategic strength competitive ad vantages. While the strategic scope focuses on the demand side by particularly paying attention to the size and composition of the market, strategic dimension focuses on the supply side of the organization, especially how to meet the needs of the target market (Mun, 10). In his theory, the cost leadership strategy involved two main ways of achieving the competitive advantage in a market, i.e. profit maximization by reducing costs but charging industry rates, or increasing the market share by charging lower market prices. Since the main objective of cost leadership is cost maximization, the costs that customers have to pay for commodities is a different issue (Mun 10). EA could have charged exorbitant prices for its games, regardless of the supply in the market. Perhaps, its games priced high, despite the market prices being relatively low. This way, customers could have preferred the company’s biggest competitor, Activision Blizzard. Differentiation strategy is the manner in which companies strive to make their products unique from the rest of the competitors in the industry. Through research, an organization can provide high quality products and through effective sales and marketing strategies. While Activision Blizzard capitalized on the features of its games, and providing its customers with improved games, EA relaxed, and never improved on the quality of its games through features. Activision