Sviluppare un vantaggio competitivo sostenibile

A sustainable competitive advantage is an advantage in providing value to customers that cannot be imitated.

Numerous cases abound where the first mover in a market develops a competitive advantage, but soon loses it.  In the 1990s, AOL had a competitive advantage as an Internet Service Provider (ISP), becoming the preferred provider for consumers new to the internet. It offered more features in one easy-to-use platform. Some customers used “AOL Keywords” to search just as much as they used Yahoo and Altavista to search. Yet, as customers became more sophisticated and as competing ISPs launched cheaper substitutes (e.g. Netzero, Earthlink), that advantage became difficult to sustain.  It can be a challenge to sustain a competitive advantage because once a product or service is made, other competitors can reverse engineer a company’s success, taking the competitive advantage away.

Fonti di vantaggi competitivi sostenibili:

• Competenze superiori
• Risorse superiori
• Esperienza di utilizzo unica
• Caratteristiche uniche del prodotto
• Progetto
• Modalità di spedizione
• Marchio
• CRM
• Ricerca di mercato
• Costi di commutazione elevati
• Barriere all'ingresso
• Brevetti
• Leadership di costo
• Differenziazione
• Messa a fuoco

An example of sustainable competitive advantage through differentiation is Starbucks. The company essentially serves a commodity: coffee. But it has made the coffee-buying experience cater to its customers’ lifestyles and psychographics. Customers buy at Starbucks to relax and purchase many of its additional products in the meantime. This superior and unique customer experience is an example of a competitive advantage.

Come le ricerche di mercato generano un vantaggio competitivo

La ricerca di mercato è fondamentale per sviluppare un vantaggio competitivo sostenibile perché scopre ciò che vogliono i clienti. Può:

• Scopri informazioni che non sono disponibili ai concorrenti
• Identificare i fattori chiave di successo
• Guidare il posizionamento sul mercato
• Adattare i movimenti strategici per stare al passo con la concorrenza

Contattaci per il tuo prossimo progetto di ricerca di mercato.