The last fifteen years or so have brought increasing interest in avoiding the evils of direct competition, and the runaway price wars that usually accompany it. As the global economy shifts, buckles and rocks with changing demand pressures, no one can afford to race to the bottom anymore.
Different business analysts have approached the problem from different directions. Kim and Mauborgne’s book Blue Ocean Strategy went after the challenge from a technical market analysis perspective, demonstrating a system for breaking down fundamental market drivers and using them to identify undiscovered customer demands. Other experts went after the problem from a design angle – for lack of a better name, the Apple Path – and argue that the best way to break free of market pressure is simply to make great products and let the market sort itself out. Still others, pointing to the growing advent of service-oriented companies, talk up relational “integrity selling” as the best way to keep the inside track in difficult sales environments.
They all have their valid points, but no one strategy has ever seemed to provide the end-all, be-all answer to the big question: how do you achieve high competitiveness in a market dominated by other players?
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