What is/are the strategy (ies) adopted by Best Buy?
Best Buy adopted a number of strategies to help the firm increase productivity and their profit margins. First, the firm was good at marking their market niche. The type of consumers for their products. He consumers are the people who are willing to buy the products or the market share to which the commodities are made. They are the ultimate buyers and customers who will be willing and are able to afford the commodities produced by Best Buy. In this case, the affluent families in suburban areas, technologically advanced households, entertainment enthusiasts and male affluent professionals among others. Secondly, the business invested enough in marketing strategies and manners in which consumer could be reached adequately. The employees particularly the sales representatives were trained adequately on a number of consumer needs, choices, tastes and preferences. As such, they were able to meet consumer expectations. However, it is vital to mention the merger and acquisition strategy which was implemented by the organization that saw its services internationalized to other regions.
Explain the contribution of various functional areas of Best Buy Company to its well-being
The sales department is very critical to the organization since it segmented the market to focus on particular niche. This gives the organization to have the real value the consumer is looking for thus meeting their needs, taste and preferences. The company is also able to know what competitors are offering and how best to have a competitive advantage by solving a rival`s problem. The human resource department was is an important functional area of the organization since it seeks to foster the consumer loyalty by passing the values and objectives to the clients. It build on a good organizational culture through training of the employees on ethical and knowledge based areas. These competencies enable them to meet consumer demand and expectations on value addition when making consumption choices. The senior management is a functional unit which is critical since it has devolved operations and internationalized management practices from the top office down to the floor of various stores using regions, districts and stores.
Determine the issues affecting to the strategic competitive advantage of the company
Despite the good efforts the company is injecting to increase the market share, there is a serious problem in the brand image, and keeping consumer trust, and loyalty. The strategic competitiveness of the firm has been built on training f employees on marketing skills for value addition. Furthermore it built on mergers and acquisitions to increase market share and value. However, the bad reports on misbehavior of the company employees about misrepresenting warranty to get more sales was a serious setback. Moreover, the other law suit where the company was sued over a price match policy violation dented the image on the firm to the consumers. Once the consumer cannot trust the organization, they loyalty can shift to competitors.
Identify opportunities and threats as well as strengths and weakness of the company
The strengths of the organization is on her ability to keep an informed employees who interacts with the consumers on a daily basis. They employees are able to sell the vision of the organization and its objectives to the customers, besides the organizational culture. This is significant in building consumer confidence, and loyalty to the organization. The weakness of the firm is on the bad public image to the prospective clients over law suits on violation of price policy, and warranty. The opportunities lies on the internationalization strategies where it has merged and acquired business in other countries. It can thus tap to new markets, new clients and increase profitability. The threats that the firm faces in the changing consumer behavior due to economic growth of a country, government policies and competitors.
References
Grant, R. M. (2016). Contemporary strategy analysis: Text and cases edition. John Wiley & Sons. https://s3.amazonaws.com/academia.edu.documents/43126581/Granrtaaa.pdf?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAIWOWYYGZ2Y53UL3A&Expires=1542576339&Signature=hY9fDxQ6G4WR35DXXAoGx4gi5Y0%3D&response-content-disposition=inline%3B%20filename%3DContemporary_Strategy_Analysis_Concepts.pdf
Wheelen, T. L., Hunger, J. D., Hoffman, A. N., & Bamford, C. E. (2017). Strategic management and business policy. Pearson. https://testbank24.com/pdf/Solutions-Manual-Strategic-Management-and-Business-Policy-Globalization-Innovation-and-Sustainability-14th-Edition-Wheelen.pdf