Dyson - Case Study

* Introduction

James Dyson, inventor of the first bagless vacuum cleaner in 1979, created a company by the name Dyson in 1993. The Dyson Company operates in over 65 countries nowadays and thus would need a sustainable strategy in order to compete in the market. (Dyson.co.uk, 2016). Dyson is known for being the market leader when it comes to vacuum cleaners, though in order for a company to be able to survive in the market, the company needs to analyse its internal and external environment, using accordingly its capabilities.

Strategic Capabilities of Dyson

Strategic capabilities can be defined as the capacity of a company to prosper at a certain level, supported by its resources as well as its capabilities.

These capabilities can be analyses and broken down into two sections:

According to Michael Porter (1985), resources are assets used by a firm in order to generate differentiation or cost advantages.

Capabilities can be defined as being the effective use of these resources by a company.

Therefore, Dyson’s analysis of the strategic capabilities are as follows:

Source: Johnson, Whittington and Scholes, 2007

Figure 1: Resources and Competences

This table guides the study of strategic competences in comparing resources and competences of a company on one hand and on the other, threshold capabilities, namely, the necessary capabilities to be able to compete in a given market, and capabilities for competitive advantage. This analysis includes physical (tangible) as well as non-physical (intangible) resources, which gives an opportunity to acknowledge the company’s ability in terms of information, knowledge but also the image that customers have of it, its reputation.

Strategic capabilities analyses three main criteria, these are:

* Physical resources: these include the machines, buildings and more globally, what will make the production capability of an organisation.

* Financial resources: namely, capital, credits, cash and debtors

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