At the moment Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. holds a strong position in the cruise industry but the company should come prepared to the tightening competition in the industry. In such a situation, the company should be able to use its competitive advantages to the full extent.
The competitive advantages of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. is briefly presented in the following table:
Table 4 Four Criteria Test for Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.’s sustainable competitive advantage
Resource
Or Capability |
Valuable | Rare | Costly
To Imitate |
Non-
Substitutable |
Competitive
Consequence |
Performance
Implications |
|
Brand Image | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Sustainable
Competitive Advantage |
Above Average Returns | |
Innovation | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Sustainable competitive advantage | Above Average Returns | |
Financial Position | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Temporary
Competitive Advantage |
Above
Average Returns |
|
Human resources | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Competitive
Parity |
Above Average
Returns |
|
Knowledge base | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Temporary
Competitive Advantage |
Above Average Returns | |
Communications | Yes | No | Yes | No | Competitive
Parity |
Average Returns | |
Brand Image
As the top class cruise company in the world, Royal Caribbean has strong brand image. It has 45 years old brand history, 6 subordinates companies, 41 luxury cruise ships, and 460 diversification cruise lines. More important, the company is recognizable in many countries of the world and, at the moment, they operate worldwide. Even though the target customer group of the company is located in well-developed countries, their services are still available to virtually any customer in the world. The brand image helps the company to gain more and more customers because, when they decide to choose services of Royal Caribbean, they count on the high quality of services and the brand is often the determinant factor, when customers make their choice.
At the same time, to maintain their competitive position strong, Royal Caribbean invests heavily into innovations which help the company to renew their fleet and introduce technological innovations along with new services for customers. For example, the company has introduced recently a new class of ships, which is superior compared to ships of their rivals. In such a way, Royal Caribbean can offer exclusive services, which rivals cannot offer to their customers so far.
The financial position of the company is also strong because the company has stable revenues, which keep growing, while liabilities of the company do not expose Royal Caribbean to any threats, at least in the nearest future. In fact, the growth of the company can slow down, if they keep borrowing heavily to conduct their aggressive marketing strategy but, at the moment, the company has sufficient resources to keep growing steadily and maintain a strong competitive position in the global market.
Human resources also play an important part in the maintenance of the competitive advantage of Royal Caribbean because the company employs well-qualified professionals, who can perform their functions effectively and deliver services of the top quality. In addition, professional crews ensure the high level of safety of cruises offered by the company to their customers. Royal Caribbean also trains their employees and motivates them to keep progressing in terms of their professional development.
The knowledge base of Royal Caribbean is solid and lays the foundation to the competitive advantage of the company in a long-run perspective. As the company pays a particular attention to innovations, they help the company to accumulate knowledge and be always in advance of their major rivals. The company tends to introduce new products and services before their major rivals that helps to attract more customers and create a positive brand image that is now well-known worldwide.
Moreover, the company focuses on the maintenance of the effective communication with their customers. In this regard, the company develops online services that facilitate the communication between the company and their customers. Royal Caribbean attempts to use the personalized approach to every customer that helps to maintain the effective communication with customers and retain loyal customers.
The analysis of the competitive power of resource strength of the company reveals the fact that innovations and branding contribute consistently to the sustainable competitive advantage of the company compared to its rivals (Volti, 2013). In this regard, the financial position of the company is important but it rather gives the company the temporary competitive advantage because the financial performance of the company relies on other factors and resources, such as human resources, innovations, brand image, the fleet of the company and its renovation and many other factors. At the same time, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. is competitive in terms of virtually all resources and capabilities that means that the overall competitive position is strong and the company still has the potential to grow.
Conclusion
Thus, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. holds a strong competitive position and expands its business successfully. In this regard, several key resources, capabilities and competences of the company play the particularly important part. First, the focus on the company on innovations helps to outpace its major rivals. Second, the company introduces new products and services, among which it is possible to single out the Quantum class cruise liner introduced in 2014 that the company expects to make the breakthrough in the market that means that this product can enhance consistently the competitive position of the company. Third, the company maintains six brands and pays a lot of attention to the enhancement of its brand image that contributes to the customer loyalty and interest. Finally, the financial position of the company is quite strong and the company can invest into the further global market expansion and business growth.
References:
Volti, R. (2013). Society and Technological Change. New York: Random House.
The terms offer and acceptance. (2016, May 17). Retrieved from
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"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016
"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016
"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016
"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016