excellence can be a competitive advantage I have sat through many a strategic planning session during which managers have crapped on about the strategic competitive advantage of the business – or better still, sustainable competitive advantage. Unfortunately, in most cases, most of the conversation has been – crap. Few understand the importance or power of […]

excellence can be a competitive advantage I have sat through many a strategic planning session during which managers have crapped on about the strategic competitive advantage of the business – or better still, sustainable competitive advantage. Unfortunately, in most cases, most of the conversation has been – crap. Few understand the importance or power of a strategic competitive advantage, and fewer still understand the requirements of a sustainable competitive advantage. Many seem to think that if they promote a competitive advantage hard enough and long enough, whether it is real or not will be immaterial. They are, of course, wrong. A competitive advantage always works better when it is real, tangible, meaningful, apparent, and demonstrated. The best sustainable competitive advantage is built around a feature or characteristic that is demanded by the primary target market and is rare among competitors. Given the commitment that most businesses seem to have to…