What are the basic strategic postures associated with the SPACE approach?
The basic strategic postures associated with the SPACE approach are the following. Each of them is being explained as each different post. You can just go through them to get a better picture.
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Aggressive Posture
This is suitable for a company that
- enjoys a competitive advantage and considerable financial strength
- belongs to an attractive industry operating in a relatively stable environment.
An aggressive posture means that the firm should fully exploit opportunities available to it. It seriously looks for acquisition possibilities in its own or related industries and concentrate resources to maintain its competitive edge, and enhance its market share. The aggressive posture is similar to the generic strategy of overall cost leadership.
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Competitive Posture
This is appropriate for a company that
- enjoys a competitive advantage but has limited financial strength
- belongs to an attractive industry that operates in a relatively unstable environment.
The key plants of the competitive posture are the following:
- maintain and enhance competitive advantage by product improvement and differentiation
- widen the product line
- improve marketing effectiveness
- augment financial resources.
There is a great deal of uniqueness between the competitive posture described and the generic strategy of product differentiation.
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Conservative posture
This is suitable for a company that
- enjoys financial strength but has limited competitive advantage
- belongs to a not-so- attractive industry that operates in a relatively stable environment.
A conservative posture has the following actions, such as
- prune non-performing products
- reduce cost
- improve productivity
- develop new products
- access more profitable markets.
The conservative posture described has some similarity to the generic strategy of focus.
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Defensive Posture
This is appropriate for a big company that
- lacks competitive advantage as well as financial strength
- belongs to a not- so- attractive industry that operates in and on an unstable environment.
A defensive posture contains the following actions, such as
- discontinue unviable products
- control costs aggressively
- monitor cash flows strictly
- reduce capacity
- postpone or limit investments
The defensive posture thus defined may be likened to gamesmanship that calls for employing maneuvers to keep the company afloat, check the onslaught of competition, and eventually facilitate withdrawal or exit .
