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Gain Relative Superiority |
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Deploy resources to concentrate strengths against weaknesses. |
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Known as the "Killer B's," Barnes & Noble and Borders have swept across America opening 600 superstores in five years and driving hundreds of small bookstores out of business. |
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Bookstores that continue to thrive have found a niche where they can achieve relative superiority. In a megastore built long before the chains came to Portland, Oregon, Powell's main bookstore stocks 200,000 titles of new books, a third more than the average Barnes & Noble, plus 300,000 used books. New and used books are stacked side by side so that readers find an awesome selection in every category. Says Michael Powell, "One way to survive is simply to be bigger and offer a more diverse stock than they do." In addition to the giant main store, Powell's has six satellite stores and kiosks in a nursery, hospital, and hardware storeall acting as feeders to the main store.
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An inferior force can think strategically about winning if it can tactically achieve relative superiority at each point of contact. This is the way small companies get to be big companies and competitors in every endeavor get to be champions. That is the way guerrillas winthey find out where the enemy is weak and overwhelm him at that point. |
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When you attempt to concentrate everywhere, you have no concentration. The more thoroughly you specialize, the more sure you are to win. Winning strategies mass resources on the main effort and allocate minimal resources to secondary efforts. |
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Relative superiority is the best strategy for most companies. Although relative superiority is most often thought of as weight of numbers, there is a variety of ways to achieve relative superiority: |
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| Continuous actionfor example, consistent, small ads | | Segmenting by finding a niche or particle market | | Concentrating on your own strengths | | Forming an alliancefor example, joining a franchise |
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When you cannot have absolute superiority, you must concentrate your strengths against your opponent's weaknesses to achieve relative superiority. It's a marketing fundamental that you must focus your resources where you can achieve decisive results profitably. |
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