MNG3701 ASSIGNMENT 2 SEMESTER 2 - 2022

MNG3701 ASSIGNMENT 2 SEMESTER 2 - 2022. This essay focuses specifically on analysing the micro environment of Mr Price Group Limited. Mr Price Group Limited is an omnichannel fashion value retailer serving women, men, and children primarily in South Africa and 12 other African countries such as Botswana and Namibia. Founded in 1985, Mr Price opened in 1987 after the owners bought a controlling interest in John Orrs Holdings, whose trading divisions at the time were The Hub and Miladys. The Group operates through three segments: Apparel (MRP, MRP Sport, and Miladys), Home (MRP Home and Sheet Street), and Financial Services (MRP Money) offering clothing, underwear, footwear, cosmetics, accessories; furniture, and homeware; sporting, outdoor, and fitness products. The Group also provides financial services such as credit, store cards, cellular products, and value-added services such as airtime, and insurance products. Its customers are served through an omni-channel retail distribution of 1 386 corporate-owned stores and 8 franchised stores in 13 countries, as well as through online channels (store websites and mobile application sales for delivery or click-and-collect). The essay is structured as follows: It starts by discussing the concept of resources, whereby we differentiate between tangible and intangible resources. The next section focuses on discussing the concept of capabilities, followed by an explanation of the capabilities of MRP. The essay concludes by explaining the various business-level strategies used to create and sustain competitive advantage. Throughout, practical examples will be provided to substantiate the discussion. S - The study-notes marketplace Downloaded by: motloungjn | Distribution of this document is illegal S - The study-notes marketplace 3 1.1 Resources are productive assets owned by an organisation. They can either be tangible or intangible. Discuss the concept of resources. a) Your discussion should differentiate between 'tangible and intangible resources. Use the case study to provide examples for each. 1.1. Resources: Resources are the productive assets owned by organisations used to transform inputs to marketable outputs. Resources can be grouped into five primary categories namely; financial resources, physical resources, human resources, organisational resources and technological resources. Resources are further categorised as is either tangible or intangible (Nieuwenhuizen, 2019). Table 1 below differentiates between tangible and intangible resources. Table 1: tangible and intangible resources: T has a combination of tangible and intangible resources. Examples of tangible resources include: Money - The group’s pool of funds consists of cash generated from operations, interest income and funds reinvested. The group has R4.6bn cash available & new capital invested of R0.9bn. Structures – The group has stores, distribution network and general infrastructure throughout Southern, East and West Africa, which enables the retailer to procure, import, deliver and sell its products and services. Furthermore, the group has 1 721 stores plus 130 new stores opened; 884 758 of gross space plus 12.5% new weighted average space growth as well as various distribution centres and depots. S - The study-notes marketplace Downloaded by: motloungjn | Distribution of this document is illegal S - The study-notes marketplace 4 Examples of intangible resources include: Reputation of the organisation – MRP is the No.1 ranked most valuable fashion apparel brand in South Africa and is the highest ranked apparel retailer in the JSE Top 40. While Mr Price Apparel and Mr Price Home have the highest brand equity in their segments. Employee know how - MRP employs over 18 000 employees that are knowledgeable and contribute towards making MRP the most valuable fashion apparel brand in South Africa.