A Global Business Concept - Essay Example

The difference between successful and failed firms in a competitive industry arises from strategies adopted by firms to manage the competition. Firms with enhanced competition strategies will flourish as compared to firms will little or no competition strategies.
The CVS Company is well known for its quality healthcare products. CVS Health Company operates at least 7700 CVS pharmacies and Long Drugs stores. It is the largest pharmacy healthcare provider in the U.S. with approximately 200, 000 employees. With the increasing globalization, the company is regarded as one of the companies that are making a global mark in the drug stores industry. However, the company faces stiff competition from other pharmacy providers such as Express Scripts Holding (ESRX) and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT). In terms of market capitalization, CVS has a value of 93.50 billion compared to 54.28 billion and 245.91 billion for ESRX and WMT respectively. This shows how competitive the industry is. With the increasing competition in the industry, these firms have to design proper strategies to remain relevant and competitive enough in the industry. Express Scripts Holding and Wal-Mart Stores Inc.-as the main competitors of Wendy’s company-have some strengths and weaknesses that are worth noting. The main strength and weaknesses include:
Strength
Express Scripts Holding and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. are among the known leaders in developing innovative drug stores. Express Scripts Holding and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. draw their strength from their brand image globally. Express Scripts Holding and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. have effectively marketed their products and in addition, understand the importance of quality services. They are continually improving their stores through enhanced technologies. Express Scripts Holding and Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s important sustainable competitive advantage are their intangible assets, such as brand image and organizational culture. However, the CVS Company is taking these strengths as challenges to help them improve better. In this regard, the company is focusing on improving its brand globally to help it market its services in the global market. In addition, the company is also focusing on adopting technologies in its service provision to ensure efficiency and effective cost management in the production process.
Weakness
Express Scripts Holding and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Brands strategically use partners to deliver most of their services to have a cost advantage, it should be noted that this does not directly translate to bigger profit margins. This is because these companies have a bloated promotion budget that includes huge amounts of money spent on their service products. The CVS Company will use this weakness to its advantage by reducing its promotion budget. This will reduce the cost of production hence increasing its profitability.

To adapt to this changing environment, these companies adopt a flexible international policy to allow them to outsource production from partner counties hence making business operations fairly easy. In terms of competition, these companies divide their customers into different segments in terms of taste and preferences. This will enable them to differentiate their products to suit the customers. Read More