Brands With Respect To Porter's Competitive Strategies

In his book “Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance”, Michael Porter classifies competitive strategies into three categories: COST (no frills), FOCUS (creating product or service in a niche market) and DIFFERENTIATION (creating unique and attractive product and services). 

Here, I will be analyzing the following brands in comparison with two competitors based on Cost, Focus and Differentiation with respect to Porter’s generic strategy. 

AMAZON (Competitors- Flipkart and Snapdeal) 

Amazon uses cost leadership as one of its strategy focusing on minimization of operational costs. It uses advanced computing technology and networking for cost efficiency. Amazon launched Kindle for ardent book readers, thereby following differentiation as well as focus. It is a unique product, specialized in reading and focusing on a niche market of avid book readers. The company provides one-day delivery for their prime members, unlike Flipkart and Snapdeal, in order to achieve excellent customer service that creates word of mouth and also understand the customer better. 

HINDUSTAN UNILEVER (Competitors ITC Limited and Britannia Industries) 

HUL mainly uses differentiation as its generic strategy, focusing on its brand image and to make the company’s product and services stand out against its competitors- ITC Limited and Britannia Industries. For example, HUL produces Comfort fabrics softeners to satisfy customer needs for liquid that is not harsh on clothes. The company attracts customers their unique products using their highly valued brand image 

JIO (Competitors Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea) 

Jio has adopted a combination of all three – cost, focus and differentiation strategies to handle the competition in the market. The company uses cost leadership strategy in order to hold the market leadership position by providing services at an efficient cost. Reliance Jio largely focuses on affordability and accessibility to expand their market share by targeting the middle-class sector. Through differentiation, Jio positions itself as a brand that offers unique plans in a way to stand out in the market. It has made a strong brand image across the country through extensive experience and being the oldest brand, in comparison with Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea. Jio adopts cost focus strategy by serving a niche market at low price and satisfy the customers’ expectations. 

STAR NETWORK (Competitors Zee Enterprises and Times Group) 

Through focus strategy, Star Network’s Disney+ Hotstar offers packages to middle class as well as privileged group. For example, Hotstar VIP subscribers can watch English movies dubbed Hindi and Hotstar Premium subscribers watch in English itself. Star differentiates itself as brand from others, by catering largely to the regional audience as well. 

CURE.FIT (Competitors Lenskart and Vernacular.ai) 

All three brands are new ventures are all doing considerably doing good in the market. Cure.fit adopts focus strategy in order to cater to a niche market, to fitness enthusiasts or people who are willingly to become fit. The company provide efficient, unique and high-quality videos and other services to satisfy consumer needs and build their brand image, thereby following cost leadership and differentiation strategy,