Strategies and solutions to improve the competitive position of enterprises producing and trading branded packaged bread in Ho Chi Minh City

However, there are many economic factors that affect businesses, but businesses need to identify the economic factors that have the greatest impact on them, because they are directly related to the business results of the business.

 Political and legal factors

Political and legal factors have an increasingly large influence on the operations of businesses, including: the system of government policy views, the current legal system, government diplomatic trends, political developments in the country, the region and the world. Businesses must comply with regulations on taxes, loans, safety, prices, advertising, factory locations and environmental protection.

 Cultural and social factors.

The socio-cultural environment includes the norms and values accepted and respected by a particular society or culture. The impact of socio-cultural factors is often longer-term and more subtle than other factors, and is sometimes difficult to recognize.

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The socio-cultural environment has a strong influence on business activities, usually the following factors: concepts of aesthetics, ethics, lifestyle, occupation; customs, practices, traditions; social priorities; general level of awareness and education of society,...

 Natural factors.

Natural conditions include geographical location, climate, natural landscape, land, rivers, seas, underground mineral resources, marine forest resources, cleanliness of water and air environment, etc.

Their impact on business decisions has long been recognized by businesses. In many cases, natural conditions become an important factor in forming the competitive advantage of products and services.

Problems of environmental pollution, poor quality products, waste of resources and increasing demands on limited resources force businesses to change their decisions about related operational measures.

 Technology factor

A major force shaping human life is technology. Technology has created wonders like penicillin, open-heart surgery, and the birth control pill. It has also created horrors like the hydrogen bomb, nerve gas, and the submachine gun. It has given us things that are both good and bad, like cars, video games, and more.

Technology can change the product life cycle, change consumer behavior, and reduce product costs. Businesses need to understand the ever-changing technological landscape and understand how new technologies can serve human needs. They need to work closely with research and development people to encourage them to do more market-oriented research to build consumer trust.

Working environment.

The operating environment includes factors within the industry and external factors for the business. It determines the nature and level of competition in that industry. In the operating environment, there are 5 basic factors: competitors, buyers, suppliers, potential competitors and substitute products. This relationship is shown in the following diagram:

Figure 1.3: Diagram of the operating environment in the industry.

New competitors

latent form

Possibility of price pressure from suppliers

Risk of competitors

Industry competitors



Competition among existing firms in the industry

Possibility of being forced to lower prices by buyers

Supplier

Buyer

Risk of being replaced by new products or services

Replacement products.

To develop a successful strategy, each of these factors must be analyzed so that the business can

The business sees the strengths, weaknesses, risks and opportunities that the industry faces.

 Competitors.

The level of competition depends on the correlation of factors such as: Number of competing businesses, industry growth rate, fixed cost structure and product diversification level.

Competitors determine the nature and extent of competition or tactics for gaining advantage in an industry. Therefore, businesses analyze each competitor to understand the possible responses and actions they can adopt. To do so, it is necessary to understand some of the following basic issues:

 Identify and develop business goals.

 Identify key potentials, advantages and disadvantages in distribution and sales activities,...

 Consider the consistency between competitors' goals and strategies.

 Study the adaptability: endurance (ability to cope with prolonged competition); responsiveness (ability to counterattack) and growth potential of competitors.

 Customers.

Customers are an integral part of the competitive environment. If you better satisfy the needs and tastes of customers, you will gain the trust of customers - the most valuable asset of the business.

Customers can reduce a company's profits by forcing prices down or demanding higher quality and more service. If the company fails to meet its goals, it must negotiate with the customer or find a less advantageous customer.

Therefore, to develop the right business strategies, businesses must create a classification of current and future customers to identify target customers. In general, there are 5 types of customer markets.

 One is the consumer market : individuals and households that buy goods and services for personal use.

 Second is the producer market : organizations that buy goods and services for use in production.

use them in the production process.

 Third is the wholesale intermediary market : organizations that buy goods and services to then resell for profit.

 The fourth is the government market : organizations that buy goods and services to then use in the public service sector or transfer those goods and services to those who need them.

 The fifth is the international market : foreign buyers include consumers, intermediary producers and foreign government agencies.

 Supplier.

Suppliers are business firms and individuals who provide the company and its competitors with the resources needed to produce specific goods or services. Events occurring in the supplier environment can have a serious impact on a company’s marketing activities. In the short term, this can mean missed sales opportunities and in the long term, it can mean lost customer loyalty. Businesses need to deal with organizations that provide various sources of resources such as materials, equipment, labor, and finance.

For suppliers of materials and equipment: To avoid the situation where organizations supplying materials and equipment cause difficulties by increasing prices, reducing the quality of products or accompanying services, businesses need to have relationships with many suppliers, minimize monopoly and the choice of suppliers must also be carefully considered and analyzed.

Capital providers: at some point, most businesses, even profitable ones, have to borrow temporary capital from financiers, such as short-term loans, long-term loans, or issuing shares.

Employees are also a key part of a business’s competitive environment. The ability to attract and retain talented employees is a prerequisite for ensuring business success.

 New potential competitors.

Potential new competitors are competitors that we may encounter in the future. Although businesses do not always encounter new potential competitors. However, the risk of new competitors entering the industry will greatly affect the business strategy of the business. Therefore, it is necessary to anticipate

Predict these potential competitors to prevent outside intrusion to protect the competitive position of the business.

 Replacement products.

Goods can be substituted for each other, leading to competition in the market. When the price of the main product increases, it will encourage the trend of using substitute products and vice versa.

Since the maximum price is controlled by the presence of substitute products, it will limit the potential profits of the industry. Therefore, businesses need to constantly research and check for potential substitute products.

Internal environment of the business.

A thorough analysis of the internal factors of the enterprise aims to clearly identify the advantages and disadvantages of the enterprise. From there, measures are proposed to reduce the disadvantages and promote the advantages to achieve maximum advantage. Therefore, the administrator will have a better understanding of the internal situation by analyzing the following main factors:

 Human resource factors.

Human resources play a very important role in the success of a business. Because it is people who collect data, plan goals, choose and implement the testing of business strategies and to have good results, effective people are indispensable. When analyzing the human resources of a business, it is necessary to pay attention to the content, professional qualifications, experience, skills and ethics of the staff; the business's human resources policies; the ability to balance the level of labor use at the maximum and minimum levels; the capacity, level of interest and qualifications of the highest leadership...

 Research and development factor.

Research and development efforts can help a company maintain a leading position in its industry or, conversely, cause it to fall behind other companies.

leading industry. Therefore, enterprises must constantly improve technology and products.

products and raw materials.

 Factors of production.

Production is one of the main activities of a business that is closely related to the creation of products. It has a strong influence on the success of the business. Producing products of relatively high quality at relatively low cost will bring many benefits to the business because: products are easier to sell, saving financial resources and creating a positive attitude among employees. The contents that need to be noted when analyzing production factors are: price and supply level of raw materials, inventory turnover level, arrangement of production facilities, efficiency and cost of equipment, cost and technological capabilities compared to the whole industry and competitors...

 Financial accounting factors.

The functions of the finance department include analyzing, planning and checking the implementation of the financial plan and the financial situation of the enterprise. The finance department has a profound influence on the entire enterprise. When analyzing financial accounting factors, managers need to focus on the following contents: the ability to mobilize short-term and long-term capital; the total capital of the enterprise; the flexibility of the investment capital structure; the ability to utilize financial strategies; the ability to control cost reduction; an effective accounting system and to serve the purpose of cost planning; financial and profit planning.

 Marketing factor.

The functions of the Marketing department include analyzing, planning, implementing and controlling the implementation of established programs, maintaining relationships and communicating with customers on the principle of mutual benefit. Therefore, in general, the task of Marketing management is to adjust the level, time and nature of demand between customers and businesses to achieve the set goals.

1.2.2 Determine the functions, tasks and objectives of the strategy.

After having specific assessments of the company's situation, we need to consider a very important factor in managing the business strategy of the enterprise; that is the function, task and goal of the strategy.

 Identify functions.

Determining the function of strategy will contribute to the correct choice of goals, the success of the organization and the strategy of the company. At the same time, it has an impact on creating the image of the company before the public, society and creating attractiveness to relevant subjects (customers, suppliers, authorities).

 Identify tasks.

A mission is a long-term statement of the business, the beliefs and ideas of the people involved in the organization. When defining the mission of a strategy, we will have some benefits as follows:

 Ensure unity of thought.

 The basis for us to mobilize many resources for the organization to achieve the set goals.

 Reverse distribution.

 Create development pressure for the target.

 Create a work environment and culture for the company.

 The basis for units to achieve their operational goals.

To determine the mission of the strategy, we need to consider the following factors:

 Must identify who the business's customers are?

 Which market area does the company's product belong to?

 What technology is being used?

 Must evaluate yourself.

 Concern for members of the organization.

 Identify goals.

Objectives are the expected results that an organization will have and need to have after a certain period of time. Objectives will answer the question: why does our business exist?

The objectives of the strategy include the following characteristics:

 Goals must be quantitative .