PLEASE HELP ME GIVE FEEDBACK WITH CONCISE EXPLANATION.

1.

In consideration of business level strategy and value chain activities, as it pertains to the relationship between them, business level strategy identifies the unique methods of instituting the value chain activities which provides the means production for consumers. business-level strategy is an integrated and coordinated set of commitments and actions the firm uses to gain a competitive advantage by exploiting core competencies in specific product markets. (Hitt et al., 2017) It is the determination by a firm of how they should accomplish their work, either by perform activities differently or to perform different activities than rivals (Hitt et al., 2017) to gain a leg-up in the competition. The specific functions of those activities fall to the value chain, which constitutes the production, storage, distribution, marketing, selling and servicing of a product or service. Thus, the firms business-level strategy is a deliberate choice about how it will perform the value chains primary and support activities to create unique value. (Hitt et al., 2017)

If a firm has a disruptive business model, meaning bringing something new and innovative into an existing market, it may alter the value chain by causing conflict within the perspective links. For example, if a company selling widgets in a storefront switch to selling online to broaden their reach, they may disrupt the market, selling and even storing parts of the value chain as each section will have to adapt or redirect their efforts to accommodate the change. Additionally, they run the risk of losing the customers which they catered to directly, of the potential gain of customers they have not dealt with before, which may also significantly change their customer service model. However, the innovation may spur greater success for the company if they took the changes into consideration and planned accordingly. They may even revolutionize the industry and creating more success for the company.

While competitors might take advantage of the transition in service, taking customers and potentially vendors away from the company who made the change; the competitors may be faced with adapting their own practices to the changes, if the other company finds success. For example, when Walmart began doing more online sales to compete with Amazon, it made significant impact on Sears, a former competitor. Sears was faced with the dynamic changes in marketing, production, sales, and storage that Walmart had created with by moving to an online brick and cloud-based sales. Sear, unfortunately, waited too long and did not adapt; accordingly, and while their value chain maintained as is, their overall brand lost value. If the company would have changed their business level strategy to find new ways to perform the tasks associated to their value chain, they may still be a competitor today.

2. A business strategy is an integrated and coordinated set of commitments and actions the firm uses to gain a competitive advantage by exploiting core competencies in specific product markets; the value chain activities are the activities or tasks the firm completes in order to produce products and then sell, distribute, and service those products in ways that create value for consumers (Hitt et al., 2017) A business strategy has a close relationship to the value chain analysis; as firms use the value chain analysis to understand the parts of its operations that create value and understand the parts that do not; it is a template used to facilitate implementation of those chosen business strategies (Hitt et al., 2017). When a business alters the value chain model, they fail to anticipate and recognized changes in its customers needs as they may lose its customers to competitors whose products can provide more value (Hitt et al., 2017). The purpose of a business-level strategy is to create differences between the firms position and those of its competitors; how the firm is positioned differently than the competitors and how it intends to perform differently; this is key, as there are implications for the business and for its competitors; choosing to perform activities differently or to perform different activities than rivals is the essence of business-level strategy (Hitt et al., 2017).

3. it is difficult to have any type of business-level strategy in the health care industry currently. Specifically, for companies that produce surgical masks, ventilators, and other critical medical supplies. The companies had not forecasted for a virus of this magnitude. It is obvious the hospital had a supply of what they normally needed prior to the outbreak of the Covid-19. For example, they were most likely utilizing a chase strategy, which is where production is set equal to forecast demand (Heizer, Render & Munson, 2017). They most likely stocked more medical supplies in the winter based on it is the flu season. But, certainly not enough to supply a worldwide shortage as a result of a pandemic. At this point, there is no way to have a competitive advantage because everyone will have to join in to make all of these supplies to support the shortages. There is no way they can utilize a differentiated strategy because these supplies have specific requirements.

4. Differentiation benefits a company in competition to be able to distinguish themselves from their competitors. I might even go so far as to say that it is necessary for a company to have a unique identifier in their market or run the risk of being overlooked by the consumer. This may be why many firms invest greatly into their marketing departments; as brand awareness and image uniqueness can set a company apart from its competitors and even increase value in their products.

For example, McDonalds, in 2020, spent over $1.62 billion in advertising (Statista Research Department, 2021); which is almost 14% of its budget. (Macrotrends, n.d.) Of course, marketing is just one avenue a company can take in differentiating themselves from their competitors, what other ways would you suggest?