Identifying Company Coherence

by Melanie Simko

In the readings and lecture this week I found Porter’s generic strategy choices: “differentiator”, “cost leader”, and “focus” very interesting as a method to help define a company’s coherence. The differentiator strategy involves positioning your products or services as unique and more desirable than your competitors and this can be achieved by offering special product features, superior quality, and brand name recognition. Cost leaders will strive to beat the competition on cost and need to incorporate efficient production methods to reduce operating expenses. The focus strategy is concerned with serving niche markets and serving those customers specific needs.

Both the differentiator and focus approaches are utilized by Corning in their business strategy. Their focus on innovation as their core value proposition¹ has allowed them to maintain their position as an industry leader in providing high tech solutions to a variety of manufacturers with very specific needs. Rather than specializing in several core products, Corning monitors emerging opportunities in seemingly unrelated fields such as automotive, life sciences, consumer electronics, and communications. By recognizing their strong capability in innovation early on, this provides a clear-cut value proposition to their customers. It can also lead to strategic partnerships such as Apple’s investment² of $250 million in Corning to develop bendable glass. Corning is the go-to provider for state-of-the-art glass-based technologies that other companies have come to rely on.

This strategy relies on a large, ongoing investment in research and development³ in order to maintain the knowledge and skills that their customer base relies on and this is one of Corning’s core capabilities. Corning also invests a large portion of its workforce and budget in its own global manufacturing facilities for its varied products. This allows the company to provide high quality products and also offers a dependable, steady supply of its products worldwide⁴. Corning has also been a cutting-edge technological manufacturing company for over 160 years and the brand name is recognized worldwide for its innovations and quality. These 3 core capabilities describe Corning’s coherence as a company and defines their enduring success and competitive edge.

Reference

1.     Gary Pisano, “You Need an Innovation Strategy,” (Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing, 2015), https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/4924/eae00c78d04a570253684cadaf150116564a.pdf?_ga=2.124139523.805082132.1591742696-964111359.1590761548, accessed June 9, 2020. 

2.     Jon Porter, “Apple invests an extra $250 million into glass supplier Corning,” 2019, https://www.theverge.com/2019/9/17/20870166/apple-corning-250-million-investment-foldable-displays-supplier-iphone-ipad-watch-glass, accessed June 9, 2020.

3.     “Corning Sets 2020-2023 Strategy and Growth Framework Targets” https://finance.yahoo.com/news/corning-sets-2020-2023-strategy-123012430.html, accessed June 9, 2020.

4.     Corning 2018 Annual Report, https://www.corning.com/2019-annual-meeting/2018-annual-report/HTML1/tiles.htm, accessed June 9, 2020.