Miles And Snow's Typology Analysis

Miles’ and Snow’s typology refers to the four strategies identified to address an industry. The four strategic types are prospectors, defenders, analyzers and reactors. Our text author describes prospectors and defenders as polar opposites, where prospectors are always looking for first-mover advantages and defenders only enter well established looking for stability and control in the industry so as to maximize its extensive division of labor, high formalization and high centralization (p. 196), the type A personality of the typology. Analyzers are referred to as the second movers, who tend to utilize strategies in combination with the prospectors and defenders, with tight controls over existing operations with lose control for new undertakings

The industry is marked by low cost, differentiated or focus, whole market. Dollar Tree and other smaller market players such as Dollar General are low end without focus, because they rely heavily on no frills items, with a marginal price that have limited research and development and other quality standards a differentiated product may have. Larger discount retailers such as Costco or Sam’s club too offer discounted items but the differentiation is in quality along with the membership one must have to even enter the stores. Sam’s club membership gives it a niche focus for differentiating its products and members have become accustom to the large warehouse feel from the store itself, but the idea of buying bulk (cheaper per item) and not needing to be a business. The consumer can get wholesale pricing and superior items through this type of service and that is something Dollar Tree and Wal-Mart for that matter will are not trying to achieve. When looking at the distinctions of an industry, and assessing the formidable opponents, an organization must clearly know where they fit and the consumers they attend to attract. In Dollar Trees case, they have offerings for the lowest of incomes, but with the acquisition of Family Dollar, can now operate in another industry segment they currently could not (Parnell,