OXFORD INSTRUMENTS GROUP Intr

The Oxford Instruments Group case is analyzed within the contexts of four issues. These issues are the key characteristics of the company's business environment, the core competencies at Oxford Instruments, explanations of the company's success through 1984, and requirements for the future success of Oxford Instruments.

Key Characteristics of Business Environment and Implications for Strategy

Profitability at Oxford Instruments is dependent on high volume, production efficiency, and product innovation. The three factors are interlined at Oxford Instruments. High volume, however, has also required the company to follow a consolidation and diversification strategy. Another strategic implication of the company's business environmental characteristics is the need to target growth markets.

New product introduction is essential to the maintenance of high volume, and new product introduction is itself dependent upon high levels of technological innovation. The promotion of continuous technological innovation has caused Oxford Instruments to organize around subsidiary operations with responsibilities in specific technological and product areas. To foster high volume, the company pursues a strategy that places a strong emphasis on defensive development, which Oxford Instruments defines as incremental development of existing and wellplaced product lines.

The development of new technologies and products, however, is

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s a concept in business strategy that, while appearing to be a contradiction in terms, is a rational evolution in competition and marketing theory. In effect, the term mass customization refers to a practice of mobilizing technological innovations in communications, information systems, and production processes to mass produce products that are designed to satisfy the demands of a particular market segment as opposed to being designed to satisfy an assumed universal demand. The concept of mass production is based on assumptions of stability in both product and process change. Within the framework of such assumptions, both product specifications and demand are relatively stable and predictable. Such stability facilitates the standardization of products, the centralization of decisionmaking, the routinization of work and rewards, the development and enforcement of standardized rules and procedures, and the allocation of work on a dedicated basis to specialized tasks. The emergence of the mass customization concept stems from the dynamism of the global market place. The essential battlegrounds of domestic markets are existing, welldefined markets. The essential battlegrounds of the global market place is new markets. Succes
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Approximate Word count = 1831
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)