10 – Should you trade to gain an advantage? And what is opportunity cost?

Business Strategy

In previous article #7 we looked at the competitive advantage of comparative advantage. I wanted to explore comparative advantage further, and give an example that can apply to any combination of trade deals, be they intercompany departments, companies interacting...

9 – What did Rudolph have, that gained a competitive advantage?

Business Strategy

Just for fun, for the season and the year-end, these are the lyrics to, yes Rudolph the red nosed reindeer. The poem was written by Robert May an advertising executive commissioned by Montgomery Ward department stores in the USA, and made famous in song by Bing Crosby...

8 – The Stone Age didn’t cease to exist because they run out of stones (Anon).

Business Strategy

While reading through many articles on strategy and competitive advantage, I came across the above statement that I thought was a gem of an expression about innovation, disruptive technologies and ultimately competitive advantage, a statement that expresses in a...

7 – Comparative Advantage, how it is a Competitive Advantage?

Business Strategy

I thought it would be useful to readers of these strategy blogs to understand what comparative advantage is, and that a firm(1) can generate competitive advantage from it. Competitive Advantage: According to Porter(2) “competitive advantage is about how a firm...

6 – What is vertical and horizontal market differentiation?

Business Strategy

In articles one to five we covered the basics of strategic competitive advantage and how a firm(1) starts at the beginning of a strategic plan and defines its internal and external helpful and harmful aspects, through to understanding the resource based view (RBV) and...

5 – How do competitive forces affect competitive advantage?

Business Strategy

In article 4 we looked at the VRIO of competitive advantage with regards to the internal aspects of a SWOT. This week we will review the competitive forces with regards to the external aspects of a SWOT framework (see article 3). Michael Porter1, as I stated in...