TEAM CASE 1: OPERATION STRATEGY AT GALANZ 1. What were the order winners/qualifiers for Galanz in the microwave oven business during the early stage of its development?
Order winners are "those competitive characteristics that cause a firm's customers to choose that firm's goods and services over those of its competitors. Order winners can be considered to be competitive advantages for the firm” (APICS Dictionary, 2008). Order qualifiers are "those competitive characteristics that a firm must exhibit to be a viable competitor in the marketplace" (APICS Dictionary, 2008). In the case of Galanz, the large production scale and cost-leadership strategy are considered to be the order winners for the company; the qualified products with affordable price are the order qualifiers. This classification of winner and order qualifiers is on the basis of development that had been done in the company during the early stage of development.
During the early stage, due to lack of technology and technicians at the home market, the company “did not have any competitive edge in production technology but only an abundant supply of cheap labor and land. Offering a low price thus was the only way to compete in the market” (4). To deal with winning orders, the company previously implemented the low-price strategy that was based on selling products at low cost in comparison with the competitors. As a result, the company had successfully achieved cost reduction that led them to achieve the large economies of scale. With the great advantages of low price strategy, the company was able to achieve increases in demand that resulted reduction of cost and price. Due to high economies of scale achievement, the company had always been up for the price wars and was able to sell products at a lower rate than its competitors. In addition, the company had successfully made full utilization with