ACHIEVING AND

SUSTAINING COMPETITIVE

ADVANTAGE FOR THE

COLLEGE: FOSTERING CREATIVITY,

INNOVATION, BRAND DEVELOPMENT AND MARKETING

CAPABILITIES AMONGST STAKEHOLDERS

Being a paper presented by Ayodele Samuel Olatiregun

at a 2-day seminar held at

Collective College of Accountancy Ltd, Eleyele

On

July 5, 2009

PAPER OUTLINE

What is Competitive Advantage?

Achieving Competitive Advantage

Sustaining Competitive Advantage

Fostering Creativity amongst Stakeholders

Fostering Innovation amongst Stakeholders

Fostering CCA Brand Development amongst

Stakeholders

Fostering Marketing Capabilities amongst

Stakeholders

Conclusion

WHAT IS COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE?

Competitive advantage is, in very basic words, a

position a firm occupies against its competitors.

A competitive advantage exists when the firm is

able to deliver the same benefits as competitors but

at a lower cost (cost advantage), or deliver benefits

that exceed those of competing products

(differentiation advantage). Thus, a competitive

advantage enables the firm to create superior value

for its customers and superior profits for itself

WHAT IS COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE?

According to Michael Porter, the three methods for creating a sustainable competitive advantage are through:

1. Cost leadership - Cost advantage occurs when a firm delivers the same services as its competitors but at a lower cost;

2. Differentiation - Differentiation advantage occurs when a firm delivers greater services for the same price of its competitors. They are collectively known as positional advantages because they denote the firm's position in its industry as a leader in either superior services or cost;

3. Focus (economics) - A focused approach requires the firm to concentrate on a narrow, exclusive competitive segment (market niche), hoping to achieve a local rather than industry wide competitive advantage. There are cost focus seekers, who aim to obtain a local cost advantage over competition and differentiation focuser, who are looking for a local difference.

A MODEL OF COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE?

Resources

Distinctive

Competencies

Capabilities

Cost Advantage

Or

Differentiation Advantage

Value

Creatio

n

RESOURCES AND CAPABILITIES

In order to develop a competitive advantage the

College must have resources and capabilities that

are superior to those of our competitors. Without

this superiority, our competitors simply could

replicate what the College is doing and any

advantage could quickly disappear.

RESOURCES AND CAPABILITIES

Resources are the college-specific assets useful

for creating a cost or differentiation advantage that

few competitors can acquire easily. The following

are some examples of such resources:

Proprietary know-how

Installed customer base

Reputation of the College

Brand equity

RESOURCES AND CAPABILITIES

Capabilities refer to the College's ability to utilize

its resources effectively. An example of our

capability is the ability to bring ACCA Nigeria to

Ibadan faster than our competitors. Capabilities are

embedded in the routines of the organization and

are not easily documented as procedures and thus

are difficult for competitors to replicate.

DISTINCTIVE COMPETENCIES.

The College's resources and capabilities together

form its distinctive competencies. These

competencies enable innovation, efficiency, quality,

and customer responsiveness, all of which can be

leveraged to create a cost advantage or a

differentiation advantage

ACHIEVING COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE

The primary factors of competitive advantage are

innovation, reputation and relationships.

Engaging in strategic management

Understanding the strategic position of the College

Making strategic choices for the future of the College

Turning strategy into action

THE STRATEGIC POSITION Is concerned with the impact on strategy of the external

environment, an organisation’s strategic capability

(resources and competences) and the expectations and

influence of stakeholders

Strategi

c

Positio

n

Environmen

t

Expectation

s &

Purposes

Strategic

Capability

STRATEGIC CHOICES Involve understanding the underlying bases for future

strategy at both the business unit and corporate levels and

the options for developing strategy in terms of directions and

methods of development

Strategi

c

Choice

s

Business-

level

strategy

Directions &

Methods of

Developme

nt

Corporate-

level &

International

Strategy

STRATEGY IN ACTION

Is concerned with ensuring that strategies are working in

practice

Strateg

y in

Action

Business

Structuring

Managing

Strategic

Change

Enabling

Success

SUSTAINING COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE (SCA)

Sustainable competitive advantage is the prolonged benefit of implementing some unique value-creating strategy based on unique combination of internal organizational resources and capabilities that cannot be replicated by competitors.

Sustainable competitive advantage allows the maintenance and improvement of the enterprise's competitive position in the market. It is an advantage that enables business to survive against its competition over a long period of time.

SUSTAINING COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE

The Focal Point of Strategy is Sustainable

Competitive Advantage

Management is committed to creating economic

value to our stakeholders, and the best means to

create that value is to focus on sustainable

competitive advantage as the key.

THE FIVE CRITERIA OF SUSTAINABLE

COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE

1. unique

2. difficult to replicate

3. sustainable

4. superior to the competition

5. applicable to multiple situations

THE FOCAL POINT OF STRATEGY

FOSTERING CREATIVITY AMONGST STAKEHOLDERS

Creativity is a mental and social process involving

the generation of new ideas or concepts, or new

associations of the creative mind between existing

ideas or concepts. Creativity is fueled by the

process of either conscious or unconscious insight.

An alternative conception of creativeness is that it is

simply the act of making something new

FOSTERING CREATIVITY AMONGST STAKEHOLDERS

Nickerson provides a summary of the various creativity techniques that have been proposed. These include approaches that have been developed by both academia and industry:

Establishing purpose and intention

Building basic skills

Encouraging acquisitions of domain-specific knowledge

Stimulating and rewarding curiosity and exploration

Building motivation, especially internal motivation

FOSTERING CREATIVITY AMONGST STAKEHOLDERS

Encouraging confidence and a willingness to take risks

Focusing on mastery and self-competition

Promoting supportable beliefs about creativity

Providing opportunities for choice and discovery

Developing self-management (metacognitive skills)

Teaching techniques and strategies for facilitating creative performance

Providing balance

FOSTERING INNOVATION AMONGST STAKEHOLDERS

Innovation has been described as ‘the successful implementation of creative ideas within an organisation’

Creativity, which includes invention, is only the starting point for innovation, a necessary but not sufficient condition for it.

Creativity takes time, and studies suggest that people need to have been part of a creative team for two years to be really productive.

FOSTERING INNOVATION AMONGST STAKEHOLDERS

Effective Teamwork

Continuous Improvement

Collective Vision

Conscious Transparency

Cross-cultural communication

EFFECTIVE TEAMWORK

Teamwork is a joint action by two or more people, in which each person contributes with different skills and express his or her individual interests and opinions to the unity and efficiency of the group in order to achieve common goals.

Not all teams are effective!

CCA advocates EFFECTIVE TEAMWORK, to achieve ACCA’s ALP Gold Status in 2010

CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT

Continuous improvement, in regard to

organizational quality and performance, focuses on

improving customer satisfaction through continuous

and incremental improvements to processes,

including by removing unnecessary activities and

variations.

COLLECTIVE VISION

Collective visions often grow out of collaboration, teamwork, and empowerment.

At CCA, we are likely to be more successful in achieving in-depth learning when management work with staff and the community (faculty & students) to build a collective educational vision that is clear, compelling, and connected to teaching and learning. This collective vision helps focus attention on what is important, motivates staff and students, and increases the sense of shared responsibility for student learning

CONSCIOUS TRANSPARENCY

Transparency, when used in a social context,

implies openness, communication, and

accountability. It is a metaphorical extension of the

meaning a "transparent" object is one that can be

seen through. Transparent procedures include

open meetings, financial disclosure statements,

budgetary review, audits, etc.

CROSS-CULTURAL COMMUNICATION

Cross-cultural communication looks at how

people from differing cultural backgrounds

communicate, in simlar and different ways among

themselves , and how they endeavour to

communicate across cultures.

FOSTERING CCA BRAND DEVELOPMENT AMONGST

STAKEHOLDERS

Why is Successful Branding So Important Today?

The Brand Is Everything

The Brand’s Creed

Great Strategy Begins with Great Research

The Target Audience Holds the Keys to Your Brand’s Success

Developing a Brand Statement (Brand Proposition)

A Promise Is a Promise

Deliver the Unexpected

Winning their Hearts and Minds

FOSTERING CCA BRAND DEVELOPMENT AMONGST

STAKEHOLDERS

To successfully position your brand above your competitor’s continuing fight for your customers, you must develop a brand proposition that when conveyed in marketing and advertising campaigns, will provide an attractive, unique, and relevant message to current and potential customers. In addition, this proposition must be realized and consistently echoed by senior executives, customer support, R&D teams, marketing staff, sales staff, and strategic partners - John D Bloise

FOSTERING MARKETING CAPABILITIES AMONGST

STAKEHOLDER

Market-Advantage Test

Market Analysis

Market Coverage

Market Development

Market Penetration

Market Share

Market Knowledge

CONCLUSION

Our vision is to be a leading global education and

training provider

We believe we can make it happen

Like NIKE, let’s ‘Just Do It’

THANK YOU ALL, GOD BLESS!

WE WISH YOU THE BEST

Wherever your job, career or business takes you in

the future, I do hope it is profitable.

We hope to meet with all our

current and prospective

lecturers on Saturday 8th of

August, 2009, during our

next LECTURERS’ COURSE

REVIEW MEETING.