A focused cost leadership strategy would be appropriate, in other words, a focus on consumers. Cost focus is a strategy that will focus on a particular buyer group or geographic market and attempt to serve only that location, to the exclusion of others. When it comes to cost factors, K-Mart has very few options to develop a pricing strategy that allows it to compete with Target or Wal-Mart. Therefore, K-Mart would not have many pricing strategy options. However, by using a cost-driven strategy and matching the quality of well-known brands while keeping costs low by eliminating advertising and promotion expenses, K-Mart will save money . Should Kmart and Sears maintain their own identities and have unique competitive strategies, or should they be combined in some way with a new overall corporate competitive strategy? Please defend your answer. The key issues in K-Mart strategies are finding the right cost level for an opportunity to be aggressive and differentiate the product for the consumer in terms of different consumers and different intangible product attributes. K-Mart and Sears should be combined with a new overall cost-driven corporate competitive strategy. This might turn out to be the only sensible strategy and the one that best describes the adopted strategy. Cost leadership and product differentiation strategies are often described as if they are mutually exclusive. You can choose one or the other, but not both. You can either minimize costs or aim for the highest quality of product and customize it according to the requirements. from the market place. Some products are standardized by nature. However, it is impossible to differentiate the product in the mind of the consumer. This tends to emphasize cost and therefore prices. There is no point in consumers paying extra for the same products. However, K-Mart and Sears should use strategies such as changing store locations to a more attractive destination. Both would require the development of new branded products, ones that would be less expensive and of higher quality for customers. Question 2 Carefully read the short Kmart case study on pages 161-162 and answer the following questions: What competitive business strategies have been used by each of Kmart's main competitors? Wal-Mart follows a lower-cost competitive strategy and cost leadership. For Wal-Mart, strategic thinking is the process of continually redefining its objectives. Competitive advantage over competitors, actual and potential, and management of risks at levels considered acceptable by key business stakeholders..