Gaining a competitive advantage | Business Queensland (2024)

FAQs

How can a business gain competitive advantage? ›

These are: become the low-cost supplier. develop differentiated, innovative products and services. target a niche: geography, industry, product/service.

There are a number of ways to create a competitive advantage. One is to offer a unique product or service that is not available from any other company. Another is to offer a lower price than your competitors. Still another way to create a competitive advantage is to offer superior customer service.

A company's competitive advantage is the way it excels compared to its rivals. This advantage may be through cost leadership, differentiation, or focus.

Competitive Advantage in the Marketplace

Apple: Apple uses a differentiation strategy to appeal to its consumer base. It provides iconic designs, innovative technologies, and, therefore, highly sought-after products; this ensures that consumers are willing to pay a premium for Apple devices.

Porter's four competitive strategies are cost leadership, differentiation, cost focus, and differentiation focus strategies.

The four primary methods of gaining a competitive advantage are cost leadership, differentiation, defensive strategies and strategic alliances.

Understanding Competitive Advantage

Competitive advantage refers to any characteristic that allows a company to outperform its rivals. This can be achieved through several means, such as offering lower prices, providing superior quality, innovating new products, or delivering exceptional customer service.

A competitive advantage is an advantage over competitors gained by offering consumers greater value, either by means of lower prices or by providing greater benefits and service that justifies higher prices.

Competitive advantage is the favorable position an organization seeks to be more profitable than its rivals. To gain and maintain a competitive advantage, an organization must demonstrate a greater comparative or differential value than its competitors and convey that information to its desired target market.

Seven Attributes of a Sustainable Competitive Advantage

1) Cost advantage 2) Value-added advantage 3) Focus advantage 4) Speed advantage 5) Maneuverability advantage Page 2 2 The culmination of building advantages is a set of sustainable competitive advantages (SCAs) for the business.

What are the six factors of competitive advantage in business? ›

The six factors of competitive advantage are: Price, location, quality, selection, speed, turnaround and service.

Big data can help businesses cut down their outgoings. From analysing energy usage to evaluating the effectiveness of staff working patterns, data collected by companies can help them identify where they can make cost savings without having a negative impact on business operations.

Greater productivity means better growth potential

Saving money and resources on producing your output can mean a greater budget to market to new customers, trial new products or offerings, or upgrade your assets. This allows you to grow your business while still producing your core offering uninterrupted.