According to Porter (1980), every company must have its own competitive strategy to make use

of its resources and capabilities, and to acquire a unique position within an industry (1). In other words
it explains how a firm can effectively compete with other firms in order to gain a strong market position.
This strategy might be acquired by: a planning process, based on market conditions, or an evolving
process, based on activities and capabilities of the firm. This paper would discuss the resource based
strategy acquired by our team in the footwear industry. This approach implies the combination of the
firms internal resources and skills with the conditions and risks created by external factors (Grant, 2002).
The strategy acquired at the beginning of our BSG was to focus on a broader section of buyers
pursuing a Low-Cost approach to gain a competitive advantage. Our team concluded that the firm would
pursue a cost saving strategy while maintaining our quality level of products based on the industrys
average. The strategy emphasized on the firms internal activities that form the entire value chain
system, from manufacturing to the end consumer. The major objectives stated by our team were:

To have the lowest per-unit price relative to competitors within the industry.
Capital investment on new practices and facilities to: 1) reduce products rejected, 2)
increase production to achieve higher economies of scale (Asian plant), 3) reduce costs
of production without reducing the quality of products
An incentive pay for workers (fixed wages plus per piece pays)
Constant evaluation of operating costs
Be less sensitive to raw material costs fluctuations and currency rates change.

The starting point was to formulate our direction, in other words, our identity and our purpose.
In the footwear industry, we concluded that the firm would focus on the industrys average price and
average quality. Our image was to provide good quality shoes (5 stars) at an affordable price, which is
lower than our competitors. The main market constituted the wholesale segment and production would
satisfy only the exact amount of demand, while our overhead production emphasized on the private
label segment. This was done to ensure that the plants were working at it maximum capacity to push
costs down and to ensure lower ending inventory handling at the end of each year.

References
Grant, R. M. (2002) The Resource-Based Theory of Competitive Advantage. Strategy: Critical
Perspectives on Business and Management [online]. 135, pp. 114-135. [Accessed 5 November
2014]
Porter, M.E. (1980) Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors [online].
New York: Free Press. [Accessed 4 November 2014]