Olam Autosaved 
Nicole K. Norman
Olam International
I. In my opinion Olam faces a major issue pertaining to how they can continue their growth over the next 10 years. Growth came easy for them in the beginning; they continued to improve their core competencies which directly added value to the company. The way they attacked improving the supply chain management as well as cultivating their employees was continually changing. With each change they were able to advance their competitive advantage, which led to great outcomes. So they are now left with how to continue to make improvements to a well run process. So plain and simple the key problem lies in: How will the resources that Olam built carry them into the future so they can maintain a competitive advantage that it has strived to build?
II. There are going to be 2 avenues we must examine in order to see if the company really is going to be able to keep their competitive advantage. The first is their Supply Chain Management and the second is going to be their Human Resource Department. The best way to examine our 2 avenues is to apply the VRIO Framework. So how is Olam’s supply chain valuable? They provide value to their customers by being able to provide them with products all year round. Olam also has the capability to provide multiple products to a customer; which in turn allows their customers to deal with fewer suppliers allowing customers’ processes to be simplified. Next we will look to see if Olam provides a rare service? We can yes to this too based on how the company is able to process their products in multiple locations / countries. They run such a lean and efficient supply chain that their competitors are not able to compete. Now let’s look at the internal strength that Olam possesses by making the resources too costly to imitate or I should say posing such a long path for competitors to get where Olam is. All acquisitions have put Olam into one of the top producers in each of its products
Olam International
I. In my opinion Olam faces a major issue pertaining to how they can continue their growth over the next 10 years. Growth came easy for them in the beginning; they continued to improve their core competencies which directly added value to the company. The way they attacked improving the supply chain management as well as cultivating their employees was continually changing. With each change they were able to advance their competitive advantage, which led to great outcomes. So they are now left with how to continue to make improvements to a well run process. So plain and simple the key problem lies in: How will the resources that Olam built carry them into the future so they can maintain a competitive advantage that it has strived to build?
II. There are going to be 2 avenues we must examine in order to see if the company really is going to be able to keep their competitive advantage. The first is their Supply Chain Management and the second is going to be their Human Resource Department. The best way to examine our 2 avenues is to apply the VRIO Framework. So how is Olam’s supply chain valuable? They provide value to their customers by being able to provide them with products all year round. Olam also has the capability to provide multiple products to a customer; which in turn allows their customers to deal with fewer suppliers allowing customers’ processes to be simplified. Next we will look to see if Olam provides a rare service? We can yes to this too based on how the company is able to process their products in multiple locations / countries. They run such a lean and efficient supply chain that their competitors are not able to compete. Now let’s look at the internal strength that Olam possesses by making the resources too costly to imitate or I should say posing such a long path for competitors to get where Olam is. All acquisitions have put Olam into one of the top producers in each of its products