How Brands Built Its Sustainable Competitive Advantage?: The Key Success Factors -Amazon, Walmart, Starbucks, Netflix, McDonalds and Nike

By Shah Mohammed M.

The book is a collection of the personal blogs of the author.The first Amazon website had a rudimentary search engine and so people were worried about sharing credit card details over the website. Many naysayers predicted that Amazon would be swallowed by Barnes and Noble. But... within two decades, the company scripted an impressive success story, growing exponentially and transforming into the reigning badshah of online retailing.How did Amazon manage to build such a strong and sustainable competitive advantage?In the year 1962, hundreds of discounting stores had popped up across the USA, along with three giants, Woolworths, K-mart and Dayton-Hudson. Everybody thought that the market was saturated and there was no scope for any additional player. And then a guy started a small discounting store called 'Walmart' in a small town, Rogers in Arkansas. Nobody gave him any importance and he received no media coverage. However.... five decades later, Kmart had 365 stores with the sales of $25 billion, Target Store's revenue in 2017 was $72 billion while Walmart had to its credit 11,718 stores with the sales of $500 billion. How did Walmart manage to carve a niche for itself and then actually go on to overtake one of the leading departmental stores of its time? So how did Amazon and Walmart build sustainable competitive advantage? What are the factors responsible for their success?An English teacher, Jerry Baldwin, a History teacher, Zev Siegel and a writer, Gordon Bowker came together to open their first Starbucks store in Seattle on March 31, 1971. Driven by the financial uncertainties in the mid-1980s, they sold their six stores to their former employee Howard Schultz. Howard, who then re-imagined, re-invented and rebuilt the world-renowned coffee brand, Starbucks. As of 2018, the company operates 28,218 stores worldwide.How did Howard Schultz build sustainable competitive advantage for Starbucks? What were his success factors?In the year 1997, two technology entrepreneurs, Reed Hastings & Marc Randolph came together to start an online DVD rental by mail company called Netflix, to exploit the growing demand for online services. The odds of survival for the company against offline retail-chain stores such as Blockbuster, Hollywood Video, and Movie Gallery were slim. Yet, Netflix overcame all challenges and slowly but surely managed to establish market leadership.What are the reasons behind Netflix's growth? How did the brand build its sustainable competitive advantage?In the 1950s, one German company dominated the American shoe market. Yet, athletes were not able to get the shoes they wanted. In this backdrop, in the year 1964, Phil Knight, a track athlete, who had just graduated out of college, started a company called 'Blue Ribbon Sports' in partnership with his track and field coach 'Bill Bowerman', with an initial investment of $1000. The company launched the 'Tiger' brand sports shoes. In the year 1971, he began manufacturing his own brand of shoes under the name 'Nike'. By 2017, Nike had become the world's largest supplier of athletic shoes and sports apparel and a major manufacturer of sports equipment.How did Phil Knight build Nike's competitive advantage? What are his success factors?Ray Kroc, aged 52, diabetic, and with medical problems in his knee and hip, purchased a franchise right for one of McDonalds' stores with an aim to sell more multi-mixers. But he actually went on to transform McDonald's business completely. In the next 63 years, McDonald's network grew to nearly 35,000 stores in 119 countries.How did McDonald's become a leader? How did Ray Kroc and his team get it right?

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1091526524
• ISBN13: 9781091526525
• Release Date: March 2019
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 178 Pages
• Weight: 0.59 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 6.0" x 9.0"