I posted recently about how competition operates through 3 distinct mechanisms: I mentioned that these 3 mechanisms feature more or less strongly in different markets, vary in their influence over an industry’s life, and most often operate simultaneously, though with varying significance. This graphic shows how type-1 competition dominates the…

You can beat a competitor by taking out the “loose bricks” in their wall – customers, products, even staff – that are most easily taken, but valuable, until the wall falls over.  But how do you actually do it? Here, I will give a couple of examples to illustrate the…

To illustrate a point in my post on digital twin business models as a strong platform for strategy implementation … that strategy is not only about the long-term, but can concern short-term, fast-moving episodes too. And digital twin business models are a huge help in such cases. I first saw…

Strategy very often includes a need to beat competitors as well as running our own business well, and we have long understood how competitive forces affect industry profitability. Those forces include not just existing direct competitors, but customers’ buying power, suppliers’ control of key inputs, and pressure from substitute products and new competitors. Firms can and do try to manipulate those forces to support stronger profits, for example by getting their customers locked-in to buying from them in some way.

But you can go further…

McKinsey Qtly survey finds that firms can easily anticipate what competitors will do next. Another article explains how to get inside competitors’ heads. .. but I’m still puzzled so little is written in this or any other strategy sources about what to actually do against competitors. It was a key…

More (mostly) helpful advice re the downturn from HBR is Seize the advantage in a downturn in which David Rhodes and Daniel Stelter of BCG offer thoughts to stabilize your business and find opportunities … but beware!