Porter (1986)

Management > Crisis Management > Lectures > Independent Research > Porter > The Value Chain > The Value System > Competitive Scope > Configuration/Co-ordination > Configuration/Co-ordination con'd

Configuration and co-ordination of activities continued

Operations

• Configuration – location of production facilities for parts and final products
• Co-ordination – networking of plants, such as transferring of information

Marketing and sales

• Configuration – which product lines to choose
• Co-ordination – commonality of brand name, co-ordination of sales to multinational accounts

Service

• Configuration – location of service
• Co-ordination – similarity of service

Technology and development

• Configuration – location and numbers of R&D centres
• Co-ordination – interchange among centres, sequence of product introductions globally

Procurement

• Configuration – location of purchasing division
• Co-ordination – managing suppliers in different places, co-ordinating purchases of items

Configuration – location and numbers
Co-ordination – how they are connected/managed (like cooking, where everything needs to be finished at the same time)

A global strategy is one which seeks competitive advantage by the co-ordination and configuration of value-adding activities. Pg20

Concentrating an activity – economies of scale, learning curve, comparative advantage in the location, co-ordination advantages of co-locating linked activity sites, such as R&D and marketing

Dispersion of activities – differing local product needs