Bacalao-two supply chains for two markets

Q1:
The competitive advantage of Company Noruega is cost focus as the case mentioned that the company focuses on volume in order to benefit from the economies of scale，which will contribute to its low price and make the product more competitive than their competitors’ while the company Superior is focus on premium customers who can accept a higher price so the low price strategy is a big advantage for Noruega. In order to keep low price, the company uses undifferentiated packaging, single facility and single factory to produce its product in a more efficient way that can help to decrease the production costs and lead to low price. The case also mentioned that the company only trades in full truck loads which means every transportation is in full capacity without any wastes which can absolutely reduce the delivery fees and contribute to the company’s low-price competitive strategy. However, since the company has little differentiation with other competitors’ products and uses generic packaging that may not be so appealing to customers, another main competitive advantage of the company is the continuous supply. Production is stabilized through the whole year and they accepted greater variation in terms of type of fish which can ensure the customers to meet their different needs anytime in a year since the case also mentioned that the Dominican Republic are less concerned with size and 80 percent of sales go to Dominican Republic which means that satisfying the Dominican customers and let them chose the Noruega’s product is the most important thing to do in order to keep the stable profit. By creating a buffer for 3 to 4 months and continuous supply in a year with a low-price strategy can definitely strengthen the relationship with customers and be competitive in the market.

Q2:
For the Company Superior, it achieves its competitive advantage mainly through value focus and the differentiation. The case said that the Cod is nearly three times more expensive than Pollock and is preferred by Portuguese customers, so the company only exported cod to