|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Choose a Favorable Battleground |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Control of the location of the battleground results in control of offensive and defensive actions. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
At Continental Airlines, president Gordon Bethune, found it was costing more money to have problems than to solve the problems of planes being late or dirty or needing maintenance. In a survey of customers, Continental found that nothing else scored as high in importance as having planes on time. On-time performance was chosen as the battleground and major metric. Continental agreed to reward employees for on-time performance. If the customers won, the employees won. Soon, Continental was rated first in on-time arrivals. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Although planes were arriving on time, baggage wasn't, so Continental expanded the battleground to include performance in the entire system. Soon, everyone understood that his or her primary job focus was to run a good airline.
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
In order to discover new marketing battlefields, Pfizer organized its drug-discovery teams to pursue drugs for every major disease. It built speed into the process so that its drug-discovery teams needed less than one-third the industry's average person-years to move a compound from conception to clinical trials. When Pfizer researchers found themselves in a race with a Japanese company for an Alzheimer's drug similar to theirs, they opted to drop research and form a more favorable joint venture so they could co-market the drug. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Twenty-five thousand new products are launched every year, and the average forecast is that one in several hundred launches will succeed. Research, targeting, and luck are critical to determining the battleground where you will invest your resources. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Big Island Candy in Hilo, Hawaii, selected a unique battlefield that is more immune to moves of big competitors. It avoids retail distribution where its product would compete with the bigger mass-marketed brands. Instead, the focus is on the tour operators who are pleased that the visit to the Big Island Candy store and factory offers their customers branded products that are not available in retail stores at a discount. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The most favorable battleground is always where you can concentrate your resources profitably with minimal competition. To control the battleground, you must offer a distinctive differentiation and the customer must desire that differentiation. Otherwise, you are another commodity in a low margin commodity market. |
|
|
|
|
|