Core Concepts

Core Concepts


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|Competitive jockeying among industry rivals is ever changing, as rivals initiate fresh offensive and defensive moves and emphasize |
|first one mix of competitive weapons and then another in efforts to improve their market positions. |
|High entry barriers and weak entry threats today do not always translate intohigh entry barriers and weak entry threats tomorrow. |
|The stronger the forces of competition, the harder it becomes for industry members to earn attractive profits. |
|A company's strategy is increasingly effective the more it provides some insulation from competitive pressures and shifts the |
|competitive battle in the company's favor.|
|Industry conditions change because important forces are driving industry participants (competitors, customers, or suppliers) to |
|alter their actions; the driving forces in an industry are the major underlying causes of changing industry and competitive |
|conditions—they have the biggest influence on how the industrylandscape will be altered. Some driving forces originate in the outer|
|ring of macro environment and some originate from the inner ring. |
|An important part of driving forces analysis is to determine whether the collective impact of the driving forces will be to increase|
|or decrease market demand, make competition more orless intense, and lead to higher or lower industry profitability. |
|Driving-forces analysis, when done properly, pushes company managers to think about what's around the corner and what the company |
|needs to be doing to get ready for it. |
|The real payoff of driving-forces analysis isto help managers understand what strategy changes are needed to prepare for the |
|impacts of the driving forces. |
|Strategic group mapping is a technique for displaying the different market or competitive positions that rival firms occupy in the |
|industry.|
|A strategic group is a cluster of industry rivals that have similar competitive approaches and market positions. |
|Strategic group maps reveal which companies are close competitors and which are distant competitors. |
|Not all positions on astrategic group map are equally attractive. |
|Good scouting reports on rivals provide a valuable assist in anticipating what moves rivals are likely to make next and |
|outmaneuvering them in the marketplace. |
|Today's market leadersdon't automatically become tomorrow's. |
|Managers who fail to study competitors closely risk being caught napping when rivals make fresh and perhaps bold strategic moves. |
|Key success factors are the product attributes, competencies, competitive capabilities, and market achievements with the greatest |
|impact on...