CHAPTER 2:LITERATURE REVIEW- SMMES IN DEVELOPING
2.6 SMMEs’ Strategies to Succeed
2.6.4 Porter’s generic strategies
The three well-known generic strategies instrumental to enterprises are cost leadership, differentiation and focus strategies. Porter’s theory on competitive strategy provided a model which states that firms in the disjointed SMMEs sector, more especially the small and medium-sized enterprises, may highlight one or two of these generic strategies in order for them to gain competitive advantage (Wheelen and Hunger, 2011).
23 Figure 2.1: Porter’s Generic Strategy Matrix
Source: Porter (1980)
2.6.4.1 Cost leadership
This strategy encourages an enterprise to accomplish lower costs than competitors, to reach consumers who consider price as important when purchasing (Terblanche, 1998).
McGee et al. (2010) state that the cost leadership strategy helps firms increase their market share and make use of a low-cost strategy. This strategy does not suggest however, that an enterprise will market the lowest price product or service in the industry. More often, the lowest prices are perceived by customers as sub-standard products and only appeal to a proportion of the market. According to Grant et al.
(2002), low cost does not necessarily mean cheap and low-cost enterprises cannot have a high-class charm. Low cost also does not mean employees and stakeholders will receive low rewards; rather it means that SMME owner-managers intend on acquiring a cost advantage over their rivals, retaining a strong product position in customers’ minds and achieving a high profit margin.
(Grant et al., 2002) add that cost leadership strategy is achieved through enterprises focusing on a market segment with needs considerably below average and the
Competitive Advantage Target Scope
Product Uniqueness Low Cost
Differentiation Strategy Cost Leadership
Strategy Broad
(Industry wide)
Focus Strategy (Differentiation) Focus Strategy
(Low cost) Narrow
(Market segment)
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company’s costs are saved by meeting their needs exactly to avoid unnecessary additional costs. In trying to keep costs low, small and medium-sized enterprises must include product features that are regarded necessary to the target market. Strickland and Thompson (2008) state that a product offering that is too basic weakens an enterprise’s competitiveness .Furthermore, they suggest that in achieving a cost advantage, a firm considering the cost leadership strategy must lower their costs across the value chain and they must be lower than that of competitors.
2.6.4.2 Differentiation
The differentiation strategy entails providing a product or service that is different from that of competitors. The value added by the uniqueness of the product may allow an enterprise to charge a premium price for it and the higher the price of that product, the more it will cover the extra costs incurred in making the product unique (McGee, Thomas and Wilson, 2010). According to Thompson et al. (2008), the core of differentiation is for SMMEs to be unique in ways that are valuable to customers and to make sure that they can sustain the uniqueness for a long period of time. They add that an enterprise must study the buyers’ needs and behaviour wisely to determine what buyers are willing to pay for. This will enable enterprises to integrate customers’ desired traits into their products and service offerings, and to ensure that they differ from competitors.
Thompson et al. (2008)state that “it is not enough for an entrepreneur to simply add value to the products or services but the customer must also distinguish and escalate the difference, and if it cannot be clearly visible to customers, the products or services must be communicated to them through advertising.” According to Terblanche (1998), successful differentiation has to be built on a unique capability, something that the firm is better at doing than competitors. A large number of small businesses are known to be failing at a high rate within five years of start-up. However recent research shows that it is their small size that makes it vital for small businesses to have unique product and service features, focusing on a narrow market segment so they can outdo their competitors, which then makes their potential to grow, survive, compete and grow a success (Erasmus et al., 2013).
25 2.6.4.3 Focus
The focus strategy concentrates on a targeted segment of the market to attain either cost advantage or differentiation. McGee et al. (2010) state that a firm or business using this strategy often enjoys high levels of customer loyalty, and entails the constraining of activities to only a targeted segment by offering products and services at low costs to that segment. The business employing this strategy may either use cost leadership or differentiation. A strategy of cost focus pursues an enterprise to focus on low costs in its target segment only. With a strategy of differentiation focus, the retailer must focus on differentiating their products or services to the target segment only as compared to competitors (Lynch and Smith, 2000).According to Terblanche (1998), the firm’s strategy is to concentrate on a particular segment of the market rather than trying to gratify all customer requirements for a specific need or want. Terblanche (1998) further adds that the main objective of the focus strategy is to generate a monopoly for the firm in the specific market or niche. A focus strategy is perfect for small businesses because most of them do not have access to resources in order to serve big markets with deviating needs and wants (Segel and Thomas, 2006).
Wheelen and Hunger (2011) state that the cost focus strategy is cherished by those who believe that an enterprise which focuses on its determination is better able to serve its narrow target market more efficiently than competitors. One the other hand, the differentiation focus is valued by those who believe that an enterprise that focuses their efforts in providing unique products and services is able to serve the special needs of a narrow target segment better than competitors. However, a recent study by Erasmus et al. (2013) shows that, of the three generic strategies outlined by Porter (1980), the focus strategy which concentrates on particular market segment(s) is the most applicable strategy to SMMEs. Erasmus et al. (2013) suggest that the three generic strategies most applicable to SMMEs are:
The niching strategy - filling the market gap by offering products and services that differ but can be substitutable to that of the large enterprises,
The free-riding strategy - exploiting the development of the markets served by large enterprises in offering products and services similar to theirs, and;
Forming strategic alliances with other enterprises to gain competitive advantage.
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According to Reynoso et al. (2014) SMMEs regularly exist in niche markets where they are capable of taking advantage of monopolistic situations to influence market prices.