Strategy at comet group- management/ undergraduate level - Assignment Example

Fundamental knowledge and application of promotion as a competitive and differentiating tool are lacking in the Comet business model. This report makes a series of recommendations to improve Comet’s market position, including decentralisation of the business, higher order labour and capital investment in marketing, and development of an expert culture in order to regain market share and brand reputation in this market. Multiple stakeholders require consideration in order to successfully position this business in a highly competitive and saturated retail environment.

Research identified a highly-fragmented business model that was too highly dependent on historical successes and reputation, thus missing some rather blatant market opportunities for success. Analysis of Strategy at Comet Group 1. SWOT Analysis of Comet Group There are considerable breakdowns in strategic intention and proactive environmental analyses overlooked by management teams at Comet Group that led to the ultimate declaration of administration. At the same time, there were substantial clues about market conditions that were easily read by expert analyses teams that should have changed operational strategy, strategic intention, and devoted more capital investment into the marketing and promotional functions that could have salvaged a now-crumbling organisation.

This SWOT Analysis describes the variety of business strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats that impacted the failure of Comet Group. 1.1 Strengths One superior strength of the Comet business model is the methodology of facilities management. Comet leased the majority of its properties, thus avoiding the traditional high capital expenditures associated with ground-up construction projects (Laurance 2003). According to the company’s 2011 annual report, only 981 million dollars was allocated to financed leasing obligations (Comet Group 2012), which is significantly below industry average for major retailing business models.

Having a lower-than-average facilities management model should have provided Comet with opportunities to reallocate capital expenditures to more priority activities such as advertising or other strategic imperatives designed to build a more credible and reputational brand in key target markets. Comet also maintained a well-developed online sales model, one that brought the firm increases in revenue of between 13 and 15 percent annually (Thompson 2010). Comet was able to provide perceptions of values to consumers that valued convenience as part of the purchasing decision-making process.

This online sales model was positively contributory to the company’s strong emphasis on place marketing, however the sales volume achieved online could not offset the many losses that occurred in the last three years. The Internet sales model should have been more substantially integrated into the long-term strategy as a means of increasing revenues from convenience-minded consumers that value ease and expediency. 1.2 Weaknesses Comet did not have enough emphasis on the advertising and promotional function as a means of assisting a more effective brand positioning in its desired markets.

Muniz and O’Guinn (2001) describe the importance of building brand loyalty, which is a recurrent consumer faithfulness and fidelity to a particular company, product