Ompetitive Advantage Paper

Competitive Advantage Paper
Riordan Manufacturing is a global plastics manufacturer founded in 1991 that specialize in making plastic products ranging from water bottles to Medical Stents and heart valves. In 2000 the company expanded operations to China allowing them to specialize in manufacturing at their various locations in Michigan and Georgia.   The headquarters is in San Jose, which serves as the location for most of their research and development in which they focus on identifying market trends.  
The focus of this paper is to examine the competitive advantages that Riordan has in comparison to other organizations such as Wal-Mart and Sprint.   The paper also overviews the strategies affect sustainability of long-term organizational performance. Last the paper also focuses on how the global market affects Riordan’s business strategy.
Competitive Advantages Similarities to Previous Researched Companies
By researching other companies such as Wal-Mart, Walgreens, Sprint, HP, and Apple, Riordan can determine which competitive advantages they have in common with these companies. To start some competitive advantages Riordan has are the patents they hold with processing polymers into high tensile strength plastic substrates. Sprint also holds many ViOP patents, along with many other patents they control, which hinder other companies from using the particular product or service. In addition, Apple also uses patents to gain a competitive advantage over their competition with the products and features of the products they sell. “Firms have come to use patents to gain a competitive advantage in a variety of ways” (Rao, 2005, p. 1). All the organizations mentioned use patents to remain leaders in their respective industries.
Competitive Strategies Riordan Can Use to Improve Innovation and Sustainability
One competitive strategy that Riordan can use to improve their innovation and sustainability is to form strategic alliance with other organizations, like...