Honda's Competitive Advantage
Honda's Competitive Advantage:
There are several factors that can contribute to a firm's ability to be competitive in its industry. Building blocks of a competitive advantage include efficiency, quality, innovation, and responsiveness to customers. A firm with a competitive advantage may experience higher profits than the average profit in the industry while competing for the same customers. In the case of Honda, this is true. Honda has many distinctive competencies based on its resource and capabilities that allow it to have a competitive advantage in the auto manufacturing industry. Three areas that give Honda a competitive advantage in the auto industry include Honda's engineering and design, research and development, and brand equity. In order to determine whether Honda's competitive advantage in these three areas is sustainable, we analyze and apply each one to the VRIO framework.
Honda is unique in that its corporate structure is made of three companies. Honda Research and Development is in charge of research and development of innovative products for the company. Honda Motor produces, sells, and services the all Honda products. Honda Engineering develops manufacturing processes, systems and equipment used to build all Honda products. Honda's superior design capability has enabled it to build high-quality reliable products and has also added value to the Honda brand. Honda's efficient manufacturing processes have also kept production costs low relative to other automakers in the industry (Snipes 2008). In terms of value, Honda excels at using its engineering expertise and design skills to build reliable cars that simply work. This ability is quite valuable to the company and its industry. Although valuable, Honda's engineering and design is not rare, because there are other car manufactures with excellent engineering and design capabilities. For car manufacturers who are not already competitive with Honda in its engineering and design ability, it would be
There are several factors that can contribute to a firm's ability to be competitive in its industry. Building blocks of a competitive advantage include efficiency, quality, innovation, and responsiveness to customers. A firm with a competitive advantage may experience higher profits than the average profit in the industry while competing for the same customers. In the case of Honda, this is true. Honda has many distinctive competencies based on its resource and capabilities that allow it to have a competitive advantage in the auto manufacturing industry. Three areas that give Honda a competitive advantage in the auto industry include Honda's engineering and design, research and development, and brand equity. In order to determine whether Honda's competitive advantage in these three areas is sustainable, we analyze and apply each one to the VRIO framework.
Honda is unique in that its corporate structure is made of three companies. Honda Research and Development is in charge of research and development of innovative products for the company. Honda Motor produces, sells, and services the all Honda products. Honda Engineering develops manufacturing processes, systems and equipment used to build all Honda products. Honda's superior design capability has enabled it to build high-quality reliable products and has also added value to the Honda brand. Honda's efficient manufacturing processes have also kept production costs low relative to other automakers in the industry (Snipes 2008). In terms of value, Honda excels at using its engineering expertise and design skills to build reliable cars that simply work. This ability is quite valuable to the company and its industry. Although valuable, Honda's engineering and design is not rare, because there are other car manufactures with excellent engineering and design capabilities. For car manufacturers who are not already competitive with Honda in its engineering and design ability, it would be