Business Comparison 1 Class Business Comparison Name Date Instructor Very good job on the week 2 team assignment Business Model Comparison The paper is well written formatted and referenced Good work with the word count recommendation 700 1050 words A few minor typos for example nation wide shouldn t be hyphenated You omitted the business matrix a side by side comparison of various aspects of the 2 companies Although a template wasn t provided you could have used information from the reading EBOOK COLLECTION Annual Editions Entrepreneurship Article 16 for example and picked out various aspects of the business plans Good evaluation comparison of the various components of the 2 business models Good discussion of how each business has built a sustainable competitive advantage I liked the discussion of online ordering Good explanation of the advantages and disadvantages of each company s form of ownership 9 10 points Business Comparison 2 Business Comparison When an entrepreneur decides to start a business entrepreneurs must consider many issues at start up Some of those issues include deciding on the business model and the form of ownership The issues are Leon Leonwood Bean of L L Bean and Donald and Doris Fisher of Gap had to consider for their business L L Bean and Gap each differs in their business model and are very successful today Regarding these clothing retailers Team A evaluates and compares the different components of each of their business model The team also describes the benefits associated with each business by evaluating how they built a sustainable competitive advantage and show the advantages and disadvantages of each business s ownership Benefits of Competitive Advantage Gap Inc has multiple stores linked considered as sub stores In all of the stores affiliated with Gap Inc they have a certain customer base around all of them Gap Inc has a mentality in all of their stores that they have great people great place and a great culture They have created a company that is all about the customer within the physical store locations as well as online LL Bean is an online store business based on the needs of customers that do not like the store atmosphere and like to shop from home The competitive advantages between these two Business Comparison 3 companies is that Gap Inc is a company that attracts both sides of the customers as LL Bean only has the ability to attract the shop from home customers The basis of the advantages is on the different customers and their needs In this case there are advantages of Gap Inc that create the customer base that gives them one on one interaction with employees LL Bean is a phone based customer service business so the advantage is that even if they are not happy with the customer they can be mad but no one can see it On the other hand they can have either a pleasant voice and still be irritated and the customer not knows or they can show the irritation and then the customer does know and they chance loosing the customer In retail there are many ways to help a customer may it be one on one interaction or over the phone The biggest thing to all customers is the respect of the employee either in person or on the phone Retail is a customer service orientated business that no matter the competitive advantages of the company they must have employees that care about their jobs and the customers that they take care of Advantages and Disadvantages L L Bean is primarily an online and catalog company with14 stores nationally one store based in Maine that also serves an operations base for the catalog and online store The first noticeable advantage of this model is the simplicity of online and catalog retail versus multiple stores nation wide from stores such as the Gap Inc that have physical stores nation wide internationally and the online store L L Bean 2010 For L L Bean management is in one location and that location handles all areas of business in one place instead of many The second advantage is that the company serves the entire United States as well as other countries from two sources instead of many The third advantage is the ability to serve other countries through the Business Comparison 4 online store and catalog The only disadvantage for L L Bean is the only way a customer physically sees items before purchase is to visit the one store in Maine The Gap Inc has 3 076 stores nationally and internationally as well as the online store The Gap Inc 2010 The first advantage of the Gap Inc s model is the availability to see most merchandise physically and in person before purchase The next advantage is the multiple stores internationally to shop during business hours and the online store to shop at leisure for customers everywhere that a store is not available The disadvantage of multiple stores is multiple locations require multiple areas of management in many cities and continents controlled by a single source This disadvantage requires different people to make choices about similar issues but with different backgrounds and in different places but reporting to one person at the top of the hierarchy This model is complex and creates situations of different opinions on similar topics causing a disadvantage should everyone disagree Conclusion L L Bean s and Gap Inc s approaches to retail are different yet both companies have found success L L Bean being a specialty retailer of outdoor apparel has centralized operations and conducts business through mail order and online channels that keeps costs low Gap Inc On the other hand has decentralized operations relying on its distribution network as its competitive advantage Both companies are great examples of how the design of business models is to exploit a competitive advantage Business Comparison 5 References The Gap Inc 2010 Company fact sheet Retrieved from http www gapinc com public About abt fact sheet shtml L L Bean 2010 Background Retrieved from http www llbean com customerService aboutLLBean 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