Building a Competitive Strategy

DYNOMITE Haircuts Stage This case study concerns the needs and objectives of a particular business known as Dynomite Haircuts. Dynomite Haircuts first opened in a college town where it was the only business of its kind in a 10-mile radius. This was ideal as it allowed the company to establish roots, gain a solid reputation and client base and begin to expand in a marked and concerted manner. Now there is a much higher level of competition which has developed over time in this area.

In spite of this increased competition, the business is still performing well. However, it could be performing even better: it could still reach a higher level of competition and effectiveness necessary to bring in a higher level of revenue. The areas that need to be improved are: scheduling, supply ordering, inventory management, collecting customer information and marketing. Once these areas are improved, and these obstacles are adequately overcome, nothing will stop Dynomite Haircuts from thriving with effectiveness and permanence. II.

Five Forces Analysis: The first force in accordance with Porter is Supplier Power: this force determines how easy it is for supplier to make the costs of supplies more or less expensive (mindtools.com, 2014). The ability of suppliers to do this depends on a range of factors: "This is driven by the number of suppliers of each key input, the uniqueness of their product or service, their strength and control over you, the cost of switching from one to another, and so on.

The fewer the supplier choices you have, and the more you need suppliers' help, the more powerful your suppliers are" (mindtools.com, 2014). The ability of the supplier to drive up prices is largely negative for a business like this. However, in this case, the reality of this force is mixed: it all depends on what types of supplies Myra chooses to buy.

In the profession of hair grooming and care there are supplies available to every budget: it's really up to Myra in regards to whether she wants to spend more or to spend less: she can always find quality supplies regardless of her budget. This will not affect Myra's strategy for competitive advantage. The second force according to Porter refers to the power of buyers to drive prices down.

Such a force is impacted by "the number of buyers, the importance of each individual buyer to your business, the cost to them of switching from your products and services to those of someone else, and so on. If you deal with few, powerful buyers, then they are often able to dictate terms to you" (mindtools.com, 2014). In the case of Myra, buyer power is not very high and this will not impact her strategy for competitive advantage.

Buyers in this case have more power because of the rivalry present, but otherwise they can't strongly impact Myra's prices. Myra just has to be careful not to price herself out of her business. The third force is the threat of rivalry. Rivalry refers to how many competitors a given business has. As alluded to earlier, the level of rivalry is exceedingly high and this is one of the elements which will have a strong impact on Myra's strategy for competitive advantage.

More competitors means less power, as buyers can easily go elsewhere if they don't feel like they're getting the best deal from the company. The fourth of Porter's five forces refers to the threat of substitution. "This is affected by the ability of your customers to find a different way of doing what you do if substitution is easy and substitution is viable, then this weakens your power" (mindtools, 2014).

In this case, substitution is exceedingly high: given the amount of other professional venues for hair services, customers can easily find another place to go. This gives Dynomite haircuts a lower amount of power. This element should definitely impact Myra's strategy for competitive advantage.

The final of Porter's five forces is the threat of new entry: this largely means the threat of new competitors: "If it costs little in time or money to enter your market and compete effectively, if there are few economies of scale in place, or if you have little protection for your key technologies, then new competitors can quickly enter your market and weaken your position" (Mindtools.com, 2014).

In this case the threat of new entry is mixed: while it's not easy for a person or entity to enter the world of professional hair services, it's not impossible either. Thus, this is a factor which will have an impact on Myra's hair services and the overall business output. III. Strategy for Competitive Advantage: In order to revamp Dynomite Haircuts so that it can compete more aggressively in the playing field of professional hair care, the following strategy for competitive advantage needs to be embraced.

Features and Benefits of the shop. Myra needs to add a uniqueness of branding to the store in general so that customers feel like it specializes in something specific or exclusively, such as razor cuts or trims. The location also needs to be more aggressively used in all marketing efforts as a means for selling directly to the public.

Myra needs to aggressively determine if her location is still as beneficial as she once believed it to be and to consider partnering with another company that might have a more desirable location (Ehmke, 2014). Myra also needs to fine tune her operating procedures, keeping employees on a rotation, and using software for the business to thwart scheduling conflicts. When it comes to price, Myra could also use that more strategically as a.