What is a competitive strategy?

In the early 1990s, Motorola, Xerox, Kodak were the world leaders in their industries, and by the beginning of the 2000s they had lost ground. There are many such examples. This suggests that successful strategies have lost strength over time. To survive and maintain market share, business representatives need to consider the changing competitive landscape.

A strategy is a plan for winning a market in a competitive environment. Without a strategy, a company can only adapt to the actions of rivals in order to defend its position. In this way, it will not be possible to win in any direction. And as soon as a strong competitor appears, one will have to bear big losses.

A strategy can be considered competitive if, with its help, it is possible to maintain a balance in simultaneously achieving two goals:

1) Act in the current conditions better than other organizations;

2) Form the basis for future market success.

The secret to survival and leadership is caring for the present and future. This can be compared with the actions of an athlete. If he trains only to enter the top ten, sooner or later he will be forced out of this position. There will be rivals who will build the training process not only for current successes, but also with an eye to new records. The difference in approach seems insignificant, but the lifestyle in the first and second options are very different.

This happens with organizations. Successful companies take advantage of the competitive advantages that have been achieved at the moment, so that after some time - after appropriate preparation - to get ahead, changing the rules of the game for all participants.

To achieve the goal, you must adhere to ten strategic principles:

• Strategy is not a momentary change in something, but an ongoing process. The benefits that exist today may come to naught tomorrow. Therefore, a constant analysis of internal and external procedures for compliance with the market situation is necessary.

• A good action plan should create new opportunities.

• To take advantage, changes are needed within the company.

• The strategy creates and implements changes that must be consistent with the market environment.

• The plan must continuously adapt and expand.

• To achieve the goal, it is necessary to create new values ​​for consumers.

• Focus on the future.

• The company must constantly strive to beat competitors - be smarter and prudent.

• It is necessary to act so that the opponents do not have time.

• The strategy must be evaluated in several ways and understand that its implementation will never be a finally solved task.

“MBA Course in Strategic Management”, L. Faei, R. Randall, 2005.