STUDENT 1 (Johanna):

Warren Buffet has been successful in picking winners. He has said that, “The key to investing is not assessing how much an industry is going affect society, or how much it will grow but rather determining the competitive advantage of any given company and above all, the durability of that advantage”.

The term competitive advantage refers to a unique advantage a company has over the company offering comparable goods and services, allow it to generate higher sales volumes, or attract more customers. In establishing a strategic competitive advantage there are three attributes to consider: Cost leadership, differentiation, and focus (Amadeo, 2020).

Cost leadership is a strategy in which a company can utilize economies of scale and produce products at a reduced cost. With this strategy, the company would be able to gain profits due to its advantage over its competitors (Amadeo, 2020). McDonald’s or the Dollar general store is a great example of how they utilize economies of scale and produce products at a lower cost, compared to their competitors.

Differentiation is a strategy in which the company’s products differ from its competitors (Amadeo, 2020). This can be achieved by offering higher quality products, offer coupons, sales and discounts, or a loyalty program. A company that utilizes this advantage is Christian Louboutin. The company focuses to be a leader in the luxury market of shoes and clothing. Customers pay substantial amounts of money to possess a pair of red bottom shoes.

The final strategy is a focus oriented. A company focuses its product to a certain market or group of consumers.

An example of a company trying to capture a competitive advantage and is marred in ethical violations is Nike. In May of 1998, the CEO of Nike received criticism for child labor practices. The criticism was due to retaining child workers and subpar working conditions at Nike factories in Indonesia, Thailand, and Pakistan (1998).

Not only is scandals of this nature occur in corporate America. But also, within the world of Government Contracting. An example, is a former Air Force Chief Acquisition Official, Darleen Druyun was sentenced to a nine-month prison sentence for her part in the Boeing Tanker Scandal and trying to negotiate a job. She was in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 208, which deals with personal financial conflicts of interest.

References:

Amadeo, K. (2020, July 12). What Is Competitive Advantage? Retrieved from

https://www.thebalance.com/what-is-competitive-adv…

Federal Contractor Misconduct Database. Retrieved July 14, 2020,

from http://www.contractormisconduct.org/index.cfm/1,73,222,html?CaseID=48

Nike CEO Knight on new labor tack. (1998, May 12). Retrieved July 14, 2020,

fromhttps://money.cnn.com/1998/05/12/companies/nike/

STUDENT 2 (Jeremy):

I hope you all are doing great, I know we are coming to an end very soon, but let’s finish strong and retain what we can for the future. I know this week is ethics, which has been one of my first picks when the opportunity arises for papers. Remember ethics doesn’t stop with contracting but the conversation we have outside the office, and in every step, we take, and word we say to those around us.

Forum Question:

1. Summarize strategies to achieve a competitive advantage and describe potential ethical issues or ethical problems that may arise when attempting to accomplish an organization’s mission of achieving a competitive advantage.

Strategies to achieve a competitive advantage would be understanding your business background, and brand. The ability to push you brand and, and to be consistent in the work done is a huge step forward. Additionally, finding our niche and how you want to operate in the federal government. Through those few steps it will provide the next phase of the contracting, which is, the business model or strategies, and how to accomplish them. Lastly is the ability to be unique in the market, which drives the need for your company.

Ethical issues that could arise through this phase is the falsification of niches, or even the quality of your work. Ethically, the business should provide accurate numbers, and plans when acquiring a government contract, not to mention acquiring those numbers through proper channels. Sadly, some contractor finds out more information than they should have access too, through a close contact working near the project at hand.

Competition is great, but if it breaches the ethics laid out, the possibility of recovering when caught would be almost catastrophic.

1. Search for a report on a current event that has happened in contract management that violated ethics rules.

I found a great article covering this week ethical issues we will face in the contracting world. The reality we will face is there will be companies, and even personal that would attempt to manipulate and award contracts when the information provided does not suffice. This is what happened with The McKinsey’s, (Macdougall, I. 2019). The article attached in the references below, describes the situation being, when the contracting officer requested additional information on pricing to satisfy the federal contracting rules, McKinsey went above and beyond to not follow the rules.

References

Macdougall, I. (2019). How McKinsey Makes Its Own Rules. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/14/sunday-review/mckinsey-ice-buttigieg.html