- experience in data collection (study case)
- Its surveyors (N/A, 2007)
- trading fund status
-
funds from The National Interest Mapping Services Agreement (NIMSA)up to 2004 ( NIMSA, 2004),
- its shareholders – local authorities and organizations such as the Forestry Commission (Tamblyn et al, 2001) since they have an interest in the continuation of Ordnance Survey since it represents a security towards further problems that would need an accurate map. Indeed, if it was a complete private company, maybe it would invest so much in exchange of little benefit from it (NIMSA, 2004)
Thus, Ordnance Survey has created an entry barrier into the Geographic information industry since new entrants will need to put some effort to undermine these resources (Porter, 1980).
What competences are needed to exploit these resources?
Nevertheless, these resources aren’t really helpful without competences, that is, the activities and process that will improve the resources (Johnson et al, 2005).
Up to now, Ordnance Survey has been doing:
- Co-specialisation, partnership ( study case) , which on one hand creates dependence from the customer since it depends on Ordnance Survey in order to have competitive advantage too (Smith, 2007), and in the other hand gives to Ordnance Survey the opportunity to find ideas from other field that could be applicable in the Geographic Information one (Stuart, 2006).
- Capitalizing and investing on new technologies – for instance last year Ordnance Survey improved its Master Map Integrated Transport Network, which is the only one in the British market with such accuracy (N/A, 2007). Which is more important is that Ordnance Survey is trying hard to innovate according to the changes of the market (rapid improvement in the data collection)and to the needs of customer ( for instance the necessity to know not only the location of oneself but also what kind of services one can find around there – Stuart, 2006). Thus, for instance, IR and LIDAR which are giving the possibility to Ordnance Survey to have 3D maps (Stuart, 2006).
- A better supply management (Ordnance Survey, 2007)
- Being very protective with its copyright (case study).
- Off the shelf data ( Ordnance Survey, 2007)
- Structure of their customer database in 2 segments – on graphic based products and on digital based products – in order to better target them (Tamblyn et al, 2001)
These competences are very effective and give to Ordnance Survey a Competitive Advantage since they are dynamic and customer oriented needs (Ordnance Survey, 2007; Stuart, 2006).
How might a competitor undermine these resources?
As it is unlikely to compete with Ordnance Survey with other maps, new entrants will enter in the industry as substitute such as satellite and aerial data. Indeed, they are substitute since, according to Porter (1980) they perform the same function as Ordnance Survey data, they represent an alternative to it but at better price, and even for free (e.g. Google maps). Moreover, according to the Product Life Cycle framework (Day, 1981) every product has a standard way of behaving in the market: from growth to decline, passing by maturity and saturation in between. Thus, Ordnance Survey data is in its Saturation phase mainly due to the technological innovations and increase of customers’ demand, so it is easier for better products to attack the capabilities of the satured product.
In the past, competitors had been able to supplant Ordnance Survey resources by been more innovating. Hence, Ordnance Survey has been always well-known by its paper maps, however with the technology evolution; they have been replaced by electronic ones for mobiles phones, for example (Stuart, 2006).
Nowadays, competitors could undermine Ordnance Survey uniqueness by providing free Geographic information, that is, without copyright, which will give to anyone the opportunity to take advantage to this kind of information. Another way of undermining Ordnance Survey is by providing better services – since it is more difficult to compete with a different geographic information database ( Oxera, 1999). Thus, Bentley is doing two-tier approach and a full enterprise solution () which is unique in the Geographic industry; Intergraph is providing a combination of special information and security service (www.intergraph.com ). With these 2 examples, we could see that competitors are being better by being complex, that is, by linking competences, which represents one of the ways of having sustainable competitive advantage (Johnson et al, 2005).
In addition to that, according to Porter (1980), suppliers can not only stop supplying their customers but also do forward integration. So they represent also a threat for Ordnance Survey’s resources since the suppliers can create their own data too or provide services.
Conclusion
As a Conclusion, we can do a SWOT analysis of Ordnance Survey:
- Unique resources, above all the intellectual capital since it’s the only one that can be undermine.
- Unique Competences: copyright
- Possibility to undermine some of Ordnance Survey capabilities, above all regarding the rapid development of the technology.
- This rapid growth of the technology represents also a new market for Ordnance Survey, for example the further electronic papers ( Stuart, 2006)
- International market, above all Developing Countries such as Caribbean or Africa, where Ordnance is already mapping some areas for tourist aims (Ward, 2003)
- High level of competences in the Geographic Information Industry, mainly by big companies such as Google, Yahoo (Stuart, 2006).
- The Free our Data campaign: Mobilization of people in order to make Ordnance Survey maps free (www.guardian.co.uk )
References
Johnson, G. & Scholes K.(2002)Exploring Corporate Strategy, Pearson Education Limited.
Porter, M. Porter(1980)Competitive Strategy. Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors. The Free Press.
Day, G.S. ( 1981) The Product Life Cycle: Analysis and Application issues, Journal of Marketing, Fall
N/A (2007) OS nears 100% accuracy, Data Strategy, April 2007, Vol. 3 Issue 6
Smith, A. (2007) Achieving competitive advantage through the use of geographic information systems,
Stuart, N (2006) Mapping the future, Engineer, Vol 293, Issue 7711.
Ward, G (2003) Charting the future, Printing World, June 2
NIMSA (2004) The National Interest Mapping Services Agreement, Annual Report 2003-2004 , in
Ordnance Survey (2007), Annual Report, in www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk
Oxera (1999) Ordnance Survey. The economic contribution of Ordnance Survey GB, in www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk
Tamblyn, J., Lloyd, S. & Brendish, C. (2001) Quinquennial Review of Ordnance Survey, in
[visited in March 2008]
[visited in March 2008]
[visited in March 2008]
[visited in March 2008]
Appendix 1
Macro environmental analyse:
- Change of its status: from a governmental agency to a Trade fund status
- NIMSA up to 2004
- National interest on geographic information
- The current society is the society of the information
- Changes in customer needs of Geographic Information, from location to “where-ness” (Stuart, 2006)
- Rapid evolution of the digital data, from paper to satellite photography (Stuart, 2006)
- Innovation in fixed and mobile communication(Stuart,, 2006)
- Future: electronic paper (Stuart, 2006)
