Entrepreneurship: Strategy and Hardware Store

114) contain that you are a consultant to a small independent ironware store in a town where a retail behemoth such as Wal-Mart, Kmart, or Target is about to open. The large retail merchant sells many of the same items the small hardware store sells, but at lower prices. What advice would you offer the owner concerning the hardware stores strategy?Explain.In order to stay being alive in a bigger and stronger competitor , the owner of every small business must create and develop a real competitive advantages and point of strength and assortediation , that will conceal him away from any giant competitor like Wal-Mart.A successful strategical plan must be developed , converting the factors making this business considered as a small business to be the point of strength and success . Small Business has fewer product lines , well defined database and muckle serves in such a specific geographical area , unless it has some(prenominal) branches , and at that time , he can get val uable development and accurate needs of the clients through close relation and close contacts with customer , this is what is not available that easy in a mass retail merchant like Wal Mart .117) assume you own a small bring out shop. Who are your competitors and why is it important for you to monitor your competitors activities? Describe at to the lowest degree five techniques you exponent use to monitor competitors strategies and actions ethically and inexpensively.Specific techniques that I might use include Asking customers and suppliers Talking to employees Attending trade shows purchase competitors products (benchmarking) Obtaining credit reports Visiting competing businessesMini-Case 3-1 Finding a Competitive AdvantageCopreneurs Ed and Yolanda belatedly opened a vintage used car lot called cherry-red Lane. They sell antique and collectible cars on consignment for the owners at a fee of 30 percent of the selling price. The price is further minify by 10 percent if a p articular car is not sold within the first 30 days. One of the first customers convince Yolanda that this was the only fair thing to do, and in an effort to provide something for the cost conscious buyer, she provided what she thought was excellent customer service and implemented the idea.Ed and Yolanda flavour reddened Lane has an ideal location. It is located adjacent to the citys baseball stadium, aboard the freeway in the center of all the other car dealerships. Although Cherry Lane has significant foot traffic, most people never own offers to buy.In an effort to increase sales, Ed and Yolanda are working on a new grocerying strategy that they believe should be quite different from the shotgun approach they had been using over the last few months.Ed and Yolanda should line these nine stepsStep 1Create a pull ahead vision and convert it into a realistic mission statment. Step 2Analysis to get the company weakness and strength points Step 3Scan the environment for signif icant opportunities and threats facing the business. Step 4 range the key factors for success in the business. Step 5Study the market & analyze the competition.Step 6Create company goals and objectives. Step 7 spurt strategic options and select the appropriate strategies. Step 8Translate strategic plans into action plans. Step 9Accurate controls.The above steps are a continuous process that will keep continuing from the showtime and will never ends.