Figure 2.2: foundation of aligned supply chains

CHAPTER 2.3: PORTER’S ANALYSIS According to Porter, companies must look for having a superior comparable performance regarding competitors in the same industry, and described that the competitive advantage is to have a profitability level greater than those in the industry on the long run. He also described the cost leadership and the differentiation as the two types of competitive advantage a company can have, depending on the sources on which it is based on. In 1985, Professor Porter defined competitive advantage as the ability of adding value in the eyes of consumers, meaning the value perceived might be superior than the sum of the amount of costs related to the production processes. Subsequently, Porter’s conception of strategy is that it is a matter of competitive position, that a company creates by differentiating themselves in the eyes of its valuable customers, including a process of adding value along a structure of different activities interrelated in a way imperceptible for competitors, and so that this complex mix differs from those created or used by competitors. By 1980, Porter defined the competitive strategy as all the offensive or defensive actions a company does in order to create a favorable and sustainable position within an industry with the objective of having a superior performance which at the end will be convert as a considerable ROI (return over investment). Additionally, he explained that these actions were the response to the competitive five forces that according to him were the ones that determined the business environment and competition level around a company. The sources of competitive advantage are described as a necessary issue for a company to superior the competitors, over which the strategy must be created, as those leverage the main activities of a business. On the literature