Competitive Priorities

Competitive Priorities

Competitive priorities are essential components that a business process or supply chain must use to satisfy the organization's internal and external customers in the present and future. Competitive priorities are divided into four general competitive capabilities: cost, quality, time, and flexibility. Bohemian Raspberry's competitive priorities are ordered from highest to lowest importance in the list below:

Quality

Quality is the most important aspect of Bohemian Raspberry. There are several frozen yogurt businesses in downtown Westfield. In an effort to differentiate itself from its competitors, Bohemian Raspberry focuses on making top quality frozen yogurt and smoothies on a consistent basis.

Flexibility

Bohemian Raspberry is a self-serve frozen yogurt business. The store utilizes the three components of flexibility: variety, customization, and volume flexibility. Customers can choose from a wide variety of products. There are 16 different flavors of frozen yogurt that include sorbet, non-fat, and sugar-free options. Customers at Bohemian Raspberry have a high degree of customization. They can customize orders by mixing flavors or adding any of the 50 toppings to their yogurt. Furthermore, Bohemian Raspberry offers healthy alternatives, such as fresh juices, to satisfy customers with health needs and allergies.

The workforce at Bohemian Raspberry has to be flexible. Employees are trained to make a variety of coffee and espresso beverages, smoothies, and juices. Demand for Bohemian Raspberry’s products fluctuates. In order to accommodate this, the staff is trained to handle volume flexibility and accelerate the rate of production of services.

Cost

While it is not as critical as quality and flexibility, the Operations Manager works to achieve the lowest-possible cost of operations. However, there are several issues that affect costs at Bohemian Raspberry. The cost of Bohemian Raspberry’s products to external customers comes from a competitive pricing standpoint. In order to reach these prices, the owner had to make certain decisions that affected the store. There are certain costs that cannot be recovered, such as waste coming from a customer using too much frozen yogurt or toppings, spilling, or employee overproduction. While these costs are difficult to completely prevent, the owner decided to address the store’s largest cost: payroll. Employees are paid minimum wage ($8.38 per hour) at Bohemian Raspberry. In the past, at least two workers were required to work at all times during the day. Since daily and seasonal demand fluctuates, some of the workforce was underutilized, and annual payroll costs were exceptionally high. Now, only one employee works from opening - 3:00 pm and the afternoon shift from 3:00 pm - 7:00 pm, however two employees are still required to close the store every night. Ultimately, the reduced staff and low wages have allowed Bohemian Raspberry to maintain relatively low cost operations.

Time

The least important competitive capability is time. Since Bohemian Raspberry’s main product is self-serve frozen yogurt, customers are primarily in charge of their delivery speed; that is, they take as much time as needed to make their own dessert that fits their preferences. When a customer orders a drink, such as a milkshake, juice, or coffee, one employee will charge the customer while another employee makes the beverage. Materials are labeled throughout the store so employees know where to locate the necessary ingredients to increase the delivery speed.