Three Kinds of Competition to Have on Your Radar

In traditional strategic thinking, beating the competition, by finding an attractive position in an attractive industry, is the name of the game. An updated perspective suggests you need to be paying attention to at least three categories of competition.

Traditional strategy textbooks would describe competitors as those making products or offering services that are near-substitutes for whatever you are doing. That is, of course, important! I mean, if you’re selling widgets, of course other widget-makers should be part of your strategic analysis. The encouragement of this short piece (hey, it’s summer vacation season) is not to stop there.

Traditional competition

Traditional competitors occupy a lot of the mind-share of strategy groups, and are often the subject of much maneuvering as rivals seek to gain an advantage over others. Entire strategy texts have been focused on how you can use pricing, positioning, advertising, and clever market entry to gain an advantage over these kinds of competitors.

A terrific podcast that focuses on competition of this nature is Business Wars. Tesla vs. Detroit. Haagen Dazs vs. Ben & Jerry’s. Gucci vs. Louis Vuitton. This podcast features the maneuvers, the feints, the finances and the emotions behind traditional competition. It makes for riveting…