Worksheet+5F

[|[i]] WORKSHEET 5F Competitive Advantage

Instructions
q Pull out your answers to Worksheets 5D (Success Factors) and 5E (Competitor Profiles). Place them on a grid with your business and the competition across the top and success factors along the side. q Using this information, and what you know about your organization and its capabilities, complete the remainder of the worksheet. _
 * 1. From Worksheet 5D, what are the success factors for this venture idea?**
 * **Customer** School administrators
 * Success factor** Low-cost meal plan
 * Why does this matter to customers?** Even though parents pay part of the meals, the school needs to pay a share. The price parents pay has been set by the Vancouver School Board, so there is no way that the schools ask parents to pay more for the meals. Prices can't be higher to what schools already pay. ||
 * **Customer** Students
 * Success factor** The taste and appearance of the food must be good and appealing to their senses and ideas
 * Why does this matter to customers?** They get to experience a better option during their meal time at school. Students spend the majority of the day at school and away from home, so it is important for them to get the proper exposure to food choices and food options. With capitalism and market economy everything has become a commodity. Food as many other goods tends to give meaning to a specific identity, to a way of living. Fast and junk food is still seen as "cool". Therefore we need to offer a product that is appealing to them while raising awareness about healthy habits and about the impact of our consumption habits in ecology and society. ||


 * **Customer** Parents
 * Success factor** The well-being of their sons and daughters
 * Why does this matter to customers?** We are assuming that all parents want their children to be as healthy as possible and to succeed in school and sports. ||
 * 2. From Worksheet 5E, who will your key competitors be?**

- **Cafeteria chains**: high school might lease out their food services to food catering company that would supply food and drinks sold within campus. If they have sole proprietorship on campus, then it would be difficult to integrate this new plan into it.


 * 3. On each of the success factors, how will you compare with these competitors? It is important to be objective and realistic rather than promotional. With rare exceptions, only one organization can be ranked with a “5” as market leader for any success factor. If you find that your answers will differ markedly by customer segment, create a separate table for each segment.**

Low-cost meal plan
 * Segment:** All of them (Cafeteria Chains are the biggest competitors in every segment)
 * Competitor:**
 * 5: major strength 4: Strength 3: Neutral**
 * 2: Weakness 1: Major weakness**
 * Success Factor**
 * Us**
 * Them**
 * Success Factor**
 * Us**
 * Them**
 * Us**
 * Them**
 * Them**
 * Them**

3 5 The taste and appearance of the food must be good and appealing to their senses and ideas

4 4 The well-being of their sons and daughters 5 1

That we are stronger because students and parents can be happy with our product. It is important that our food plan is prepared with produce that are healthy and rich in nutriments but that are not expensive, so we compete in prices as well.
 * 4. What does this table (and other data you have gathered) indicate about the relative strengths of your key competitors?**

- Able to connect supplier dirrectly to the schools, so the produce are expected to be more fresh. - Able to create a food plan that will improve academic and physical skills of studente - Able to provide a new outlook and new ideas in the food plan that other companies lack - meet the market demand. - Able to link food with education in terms of raising awareness about health, sustainability and local economy.
 * 5. What are //your// competitive advantages?**

- We are not sure we'll be able to provide the service at the same economical prices as the more well-known establishements.This is because we are promoting fair prices for local produce, which is not the commonality among our competitors. - Lack of experience and hands-on knowledge of the industry. - Do not have raport with schools and community yet, so need time to built trust.
 * 6. What are your competitive disadvantages?**

[|]//Copyright 2002 Amherst H. Wilder Foundation Published by the Amherst H. Wilder Foundation, 919 Lafond Ave., St. Paul, MN 55104// May not be copied or altered except for use by organization or individual who purchased this book. May not be resold.