Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 2

Management - Essay Example It can be even stated that, in general, both companies have rather similar marketing strategies and that the major sales tool of both is physical indoor sales. However, the reason for which Barnes & Noble has a leading position is its e-reader called the Nook. Surely, Borders Books, just like its rival, has some online presence. However, this online presence was present via Amazon.com only. In addition, the Nook, together with Kindle of Amazon, has opened a qualitatively different era in the development of the book and e-book market. Having created and market these electronic devices, Amazon and Barnes & Noble have, actually, created a totally different from traditional one niche of the book market. Selling electronic books involves working with a different market segment and target audience. This, in its turn, calls for much time and resources of the company. While spending on developing new technologies and broadening the range of prospects was a new concept for Amazon, Barnes & No ble, being a representative of traditional – paper – publishing, had to invest much into developing and implementing the change. However, this change, finally, became a competitive advantage of the company. This change can even be called a breakthrough innovation on the basis of using and improving existing technology, plus â€Å"departure from the existing market segment† (Benner and Tushman 2003, 239). Thus, having adopted or redesigned the newest technologies available in the industry, Barnes & Noble have created new benefits for their clients and, in such a way, might have even attracted new clients (Zhou, Yim, and Tse 2005, 43). This, according to Zhou, Yim, and Tse (2005, 42) shows that Barnes & Noble has managed to remain competitive because it is more market oriented: market orientation, according to the scientists’ research â€Å"facilitates innovations that use advanced technology and offer greater benefits to mainstream customers† (Zhou, Yim and Tse 2005, 42). Therefore, since the market is changing and is becoming more technologically advanced, the companies working in the industry must adapt to the changes and change themselves. This statement is also supported by Goksel Yalcinkaya, Roger J. Calantone, and David A. Griffith (2007), who outline that â€Å"firm capabilities related to product innovation are central to continued corporate survival† (Yalcinkaya, Calantone and Griffith 2007, 63). The major problem of Borders Books, therefore, is that it didn’t pay enough attention to the changes that took place in the market and, as a result, did not respond in a timely and effective manner. It should also be remembered that, in addition to Barnes & Noble and Borders Books, there is another huge player in the market – Amazon.com. This company can be said to be the most technologically advanced and, as a result, the most successful in the e-book market. Borders Books, according to Neary (2011, 4) w as for many years relying heavily on Amazon to handle their e-commerce function. This shows that, while Borders Books were working on expanding its physical world presence, not enough effort had been given to building online presence. This can be named one of the major mistakes of the company because, considering the recent growth of virtual marketplace, the niche should not have been overlooked by a company willing to grow and develop. A good lesson from history on this matter is presented by Utterback (1994, 8), who