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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
Thornton's is a premium chocolate supplier in the UK, selling though their own shops other outlets and on the internet. This 14 page paper is written in two parts. The first part identifies the strategies used by Thorntons and then looks at how they can be seen in action in the company. The second part of the paper looks at the way strategy may be developed and ho it appears to evolve at Thornton's and the way that organizational learning may be seen within the company. The bibliography cites 14 sources.
Page Count:
14 pages (~225 words per page)
File: TS14_TEthornstrat.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
strategy of a firm means not only looking at the theoretical approach, but looking at the way it manifests in the operations, and how this either supports or undermines the
corporate strategies. Thorntons are a well known confectionary firm, using tag line "chocolate heaven since 1911" indicates both the longevity of the firm and the way it is competing,
offering high quality chocolates. To consider how the strategies are seen in action the first consideration is to look at the strategies that are in place and then consider how
they are seen in the everyday operations. When looking at generic strategies Porter (1985) has argued that to be successful a firm needs a competitive advantage. There are two
ways a firm can compete to gain a competitive advantage; cost advantage and differentiation. In trying to undertake a cost advantage the company may seek to be the cost leader
in either the industry, or just the relevant segment of the industry. In each industry or segment only one company may occupy the cost leadership position. This means a company
will "find and exploit all sources of cost advantage... [and] ... sell a standards no frills product" (Porter, 1985; 13). This means that the cost to the firm of producing
the good is lower than to its competitors. This may be due to economies of scale as well as the way in which costs can be reduced, such as leveraging
the power held over suppliers and contracting out labour. To summarise the cost advantage this is seen as a strategy that bring goods of an acceptable quality to market,
but has lower production costs than its competitors, is able to maintain that cost gap and as a result benefits form higher than average profits. This is achieved by
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