Assignment Task :

Maytag Corporation

“For the better part of a century, Maytag brand appliances have been synonymous with dependability and quality. “Appearing on the Maytag Corporation’s Web site, this statement suggests that Maytag believes that dependability (or reliability) and product quality are competitive advantages for the firm. As competitive advantages, reliability and product quality are associated with use of a differentiation strategy rather than a cost leadership strategy for firms targeting a broad competitive scope.

It is arguably difficult in today’s global appliance market to develop competitive advantages on the basis of reliability and quality. Lower-cost competitors have learned how to produce products that provide customers with years of solid, reliable service (because of this, repairmen for Maytag’s competitors are also “lonely guys”).Global competitors from Korean, LG Electronics and Samsung, and China’s Qingdao Haier Ltd.(more commonly referred to as the Haier Group),produce appliances with reliability levels close if not equal to Maytag’s. Reliability is no longer a source of competitive advantage—it is the price of market entry. In the words of an analyst talking about Maytag’s efforts to outperform competitors: “Reliable products or service is the table stakes. You’ve either got that or you aren’t playing. “The same can be said about product quality. For a host of products, including appliances, quality is increasingly becoming a necessary but not sufficient condition to attract customers ‘purchases. This means that without quality, customers won’t consider buying a good or service. However, because virtually all firms are producing products with acceptable to high levels of quality, it is difficult for a firm to outperform competitors on the basis of the quality of its product.

If Maytag isn’t able to differentiate its offerings in terms of reliability and quality as the basis for successfully using a differentiation strategy, might it have the ability to earn above-average returns through the cost leadership strategy? The evidence isn’t encouraging here either. Maytag has high labor costs. Moreover, it is losing the battle to establish a firm position in low-cost distribution channels. Maytag recently exited Best Buy and is losing space to LG Electronics and Samsung at Home Depot. Relying on higher-cost distribution channels such as full-line department stores and independent retailers makes it difficult for Maytag to keep its costs low. In combination, then, Maytag has a host of operational issues: “High labor costs, lack of innovation, and Asia-based rivals. “Stated very directly, Maytag’s costs are too high to allow it to compete as the low-cost leader, and it lacks the innovation needed to consistently produce differentiated features that will create unique value for customers on an industry-wide basis. But Maytag Corporation does own valuable brands such as Jenn-Air, Amana, and Hoover in addition to the core Maytag brand .Some competitors believe that there is hidden value in those brands and have launched bids to purchase the firm. In August 2005, Whirlpool Corp. offered the highest bid to purchase Maytag .If the transaction is 

 completed, analysts expected that Whirlpool would be able to “drive significant efficiencies to help repair Maytag’s overburdened cost structure [and] could better extend Maytag’s pipeline of innovation.” As part of another corporation such as Whirlpool, Maytag might be able to successfully implement the differentiation strategy and avoid being stuck in the middle

 

Assignment Questions 

  1. Analyze the case on cost leadership and broad differentiation grounds.

  2.  Prepare a chart to show strengths and weakness of Maytag Corporation.

  3. Which of the two strategy cost leadership or differentiation you recommend for this case and why?

  4. Identify key success factors for this home appliances industry. Don’t perform any analysis.

 

This Leadership Assignment has been solved by our Leadership Experts at UniLearnO. Our Assignment Writing Experts are efficient to provide a fresh solution to this question. We are serving more than 10000+ Students in Australia, UK & US by helping them to score HD in their academics. Our Experts are well trained to follow all marking rubrics & referencing style.

Be it a used or new solution, the quality of the work submitted by our assignment experts remains unhampered. You may continue to expect the same or even better quality with the used and new assignment solution files respectively. There’s one thing to be noticed that you could choose one between the two and acquire an HD either way. You could choose a new assignment solution file to get yourself an exclusive, plagiarism (with free Turnitin file), expert quality assignment or order an old solution file that was considered worthy of the highest distinction.

Eureka! You've stumped our genius minds (for now)! This exciting new question has our experts buzzing with curiosity. We can't wait to craft a fresh solution just for you!

  • Uploaded By : Mia
  • Posted on : July 27th, 2018

Whatsapp Tap to ChatGet instant assistance