Course Description
A substantial majority of U.S. businesses exist in a competitive environment, which makes achieving and maintaining a competitive advantage critical to long-term success. Because your competitors will also understand this, the business landscape is dynamic, constantly changing as businesses jockey for competitive position. While this leads to an active business environment, it can also lead to over-emphasis on short-term marketing strategies at the expense of establishing longer-term, sustainable advantage. Competitive advantage is about winning and keeping customers. A one-time marketing or promotional campaign, or a continuous stream of marketing gimmicks and costs, will not achieve or sustain this for any business. Rather, businesses must look to an overall plan that may require a single large investment up front to reap success that will last months to years.
In this course on the Core Concepts of Competitive Strategy, you will learn the five competitive forces that determine the profitability of any industry or business type. You will discover the value of differentiating your product or brand and how to use this distinction to your advantage to build and sustain your competitive edge. You will also learn that building a competitive strategy is different than short-term marketing tactics and that it requires understanding the customer’s value proposition for your business. Finally, you will recognize that competitive strategy naturally involves competitors, and these competitors will most likely copy your tactics and raise the stakes.
Learning Objectives
- Understand the five competitive forces that determine profitability
- Learn how these forces affect company costs, prices of products, and investments costs
- Discover why differentiation is vital to competitive advantage
- Recognize that competitive strategy is maintained by every department in an organization
- Understand that competitive advantage is a game of winning and keeping customers
Skills You Will Learn
- Brand Strategy
- Business Strategies
- Category Strategy
- Competitive Analysis
- Marketing Concepts
- Product Strategy
What You'll Learn
- Identify the five competitive forces that determine the profitability of any industry or business type
- Explain how these forces affect company costs, product prices, and investment costs
- Differentiate your product or brand to build and sustain a competitive edge
- Distinguish long-term competitive strategy from short-term marketing tactics
- Recognize how competitive strategy is maintained by every department in an organization
- Assess the sustainability of a competitive advantage over time
Key Takeaways
- A substantial majority of U.S. businesses operate in a competitive environment, making competitive advantage critical to long-term success.
- Competitive advantage is about winning and keeping customers, not one-time campaigns or marketing gimmicks.
- Five competitive forces determine the profitability of any industry or business type and influence costs, prices, and investment costs.
- Differentiation of a product or brand is vital to building and sustaining competitive advantage.
- Competitors will most likely copy your tactics and raise the stakes, so sustaining advantage requires an overall long-term plan rather than short-term tactics.
Frequently Asked Questions
What will I learn in this course?
You will learn the five competitive forces that determine the profitability of any industry or business type, how these forces affect company costs, product prices, and investment costs, why differentiation is vital to competitive advantage, that competitive strategy is maintained by every department in an organization, and that competitive advantage is about winning and keeping customers.
How is competitive strategy different from marketing tactics?
The course teaches that building a competitive strategy is different from short-term marketing tactics; it requires an overall plan and understanding of the customer's value proposition, whereas a one-time campaign or stream of marketing gimmicks will not achieve or sustain competitive advantage.
What topics or lessons does the course cover?
The course includes the lessons Who Needs a Competitive Advantage?, Ways to Achieve Competitive Advantage, Sustainability of Competitive Advantage, and a Test Your Knowledge assessment.
What skills does this course help develop?
This course covers Brand Strategy, Business Strategies, Category Strategy, Competitive Analysis, Marketing Concepts, and Product Strategy.
