Desenvolvendo uma vantagem competitiva sustentável

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.

Fontes de vantagens competitivas sustentáveis:

• Habilidades superiores
• Recursos superiores
• Experiência de uso única
• Recursos exclusivos do produto
• Projeto
• Modo de entrega
• Marca
• CRM
• Pesquisa de mercado
• Altos custos de mudança
• Barreiras à entrada
• Patentes
• Liderança em custos
• Diferenciação
• Foco

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.

Como a pesquisa de mercado impulsiona a vantagem competitiva

A pesquisa de mercado é crucial no desenvolvimento de uma vantagem competitiva sustentável porque revela o que os clientes desejam. Pode:

• Descubra informações que não estão disponíveis aos concorrentes
• Identifique os principais fatores de sucesso
• Orientar o posicionamento no mercado
• Adapte movimentos estratégicos para ficar à frente dos concorrentes

Contate-nos para o seu próximo projeto de Pesquisa de Mercado.