Assignment Task: How would one respond to the following discussion post?
A. How could Jeff's attitude toward social responsibility impact Perry's strategy? Justify your rationale with support from course materials.
Jeff Perry's attitude on social responsibility can have a great influence on the strategy for Perry's Printing as his main focus is on the statement of their competitor, Donovan's Printing, and not on Perry's current operations. Perry's currently has majority of the same features as Donovan's, but Jeff is concerned that consumers will use this company since they are advertising their sustainability activities in which can impact profits. Jeff should be reminded that the social responsibility of business is not about profit, but serving stakeholders and shareholders to have a powerful, inspiring, and successful business (The Saylor Foundation, 2014, p. 314). If Jeff's attitude continues, he may be inclined to change Perry's strategy to mention green manufacturing in which would be unnecessary since the company is currently practicing sustainability.
B. Should Perry's Printing respond to this new strategic plan published by their competitor? Why or why not? Justify your opinion with support from course materials.
Since Perry's is currently operating under more sustainable conditions, the company does not necessarily need to respond to Donovan's statement. As an alternative, Perry's should focus their efforts on understanding their target market and their behaviors on sustainability (White et al., 2019). This will help determine if Perry's should market their green manufacturing and the best ways to communicate their sustainability operations to consumers. Additionally, Perry's can evaluate the environment in order to recognize any opportunities, threats and trends to know if these elements will have an impact on their strategic plan (The Saylor Foundation, 2014, pp. 74-76).
C. Porter identified one of the most commonly accepted definitions of strategy as "choosing a unique and valuable position, rooted in systems of activities that are difficult to match." In other words, differentiation is the key to strategy. If all competitors are choosing sustainability as part of their processes, can sustainability really be a strategy? Support your opinion with course materials.
Sustainability can be a strategy although all competitors are incorporating it into their processes. The key is for businesses to do sustainability different or better than their competition. One way is for each business to promote differently by providing innovative and aesthetic solutions based on consumer needs (Andersson et al., 2017). Additionally, there is pressure from governments around the world to reduce emission impacts on the environment (Gurría, 2013). Due to this, all businesses will eventually have some sort of sustainability process in their strategies.