1. Forming product power through monopoly
For monopoly enterprises, the commercial value of monopoly is the greatest. Monopolies can always ask for a high price for their products, can develop new products according to their own needs, and can pay less attention to consumer needs. The most typical example is Microsoft, since windows98, Microsoft's operating system has little innovation worth mentioning, but this does not prevent Microsoft from gaining more than 90% market share and 86% profit, this is the power of monopoly.
In most cases, it is difficult for a company to achieve monopoly, but it can pursue "monopoly power". For example, Cisco in the network communications market, Granz in the microwave oven market, Intel in the computer chip market, new distributors in the regional market, super terminal in the urban retail market, relying on this "monopoly power", the enterprise can not only maximize the security of operation, but also the pursuit of higher profits.
2. Intellectual property rights and technical standards
In the early years of the market economy, the vast majority of successful enterprises in China took advantage of the huge market opportunities in various industries in China, and followed a marketing-based scale expansion path, which led to great progress, but in the last few years, the limitations of this path have been more and more exposed, as the competition has gradually deepened into the competition for intellectual property rights and the fight for technical standards.
In the fields of IT and home appliances, Chinese enterprises have to pay a lot of patent fees, and the cost of their products has remained high, seriously affecting their competitiveness. Many famous enterprises claim to have obtained a number of patents, in fact, "more hype than effectiveness", almost nothing to get out, worth mentioning the technological innovation. Small and medium-sized enterprises can rely on "hype" and get short-term benefits, to grasp the momentary opportunity, but large enterprises, especially the industry's leading enterprises must be in accordance with the objective laws of industrial development, make real efforts to achieve key technological breakthroughs, otherwise there will not be a way out of the last few years, a lot of famous enterprises stagger, is because of In the technical aspects of the shortcomings caused by.
It is gratifying that there have been many enterprises in the technology to taste the bitterness of the constraints of others, began to really commit to the accumulation of technology, and some companies are also trying to rely on China's huge domestic market, the development of industry technology standards, which is undoubtedly a good thing to improve product competitiveness.
3. Shaping product power through strategic alliances
Strategic alliances can form a systematic force, especially the strategic alliance of complementary products can have a single product can not counterbalance the power of the strategic alliance if the complementary enterprises were formed in their respective fields of leadership, the power of this strategic alliance is even more amazing.
The most famous strategic alliance in the history of business is the strategic alliance between Microsoft and Intel, i.e., wintel alliance, this alliance makes both sides of the cooperation at the same time in their respective fields to occupy an overwhelming competitive advantage. ibm opens up the standard of pc machine, and the pc industry, hardware manufacturers and machine manufacturers have formed a de facto alliance, so that has the advantage of first-mover Apple pulled down the throne. throne.
4. Take the lead in launching products on new technology platforms
The advancement of technology will bring about a step change in society as a whole, and provide enterprises with opportunities for extraordinary development. If an enterprise can adjust its strategy in a timely manner during the period of technological change, take the initiative to adapt to the requirements of new technologies, change its concepts, adjust its strategy, and develop products in the new technological platform, it will make itself stand out quickly.
In any era of great change, most of the vested interests in the old era will consciously and unconsciously resist change, always in the external situation forces themselves to change only when they begin to change, the action is very slow, while the emerging forces are no historical drag, directly into a market rich in new meaning, occupy the market, rapid development, replacing the original leader.
Sony, Fujitsu, Hitachi, NEC, Toshiba as the representative of the Japanese companies in the analog technology era, is the analog era of the consumer electronics field of vested interests, but in the digital technology era is slow to react, and Samsung Corporation, such companies but due to the baggage of a small, so very quickly adapted to the technological requirements of the digital era, the competitive advantage between Japanese and South Korean companies to appear in the reversal.
Intel in the 1970s, Microsoft in the 1980s and Cisco in the 1990s, their rise was invariably accompanied by the arrival of a disruptive technology: microprocessors, PCs and networks. The secret of their success was that they capitalized on the disruptive technology revolution.
5. Enriching the product portfolio
When there are multiple market segments, if a company only enters some of them and lets competitors develop in others, it will miss market opportunities on the one hand, and at the same time, when competitors are successful in those segments, their strength is enhanced, and they will turn to attack more segments. To prevent this from happening, a company should endeavor to enter as many market segments as possible, that is, it should form a complete product line.
While the segregation between market segments is not rigid, and there will be some influence between the segments, and there will be some competition between the various products within a company's product line, and the best-selling of one product will take away some of the customers from other products, the company will gain a competitive advantage overall, which is where the value of forming a complete product line lies.
The weaker companies and new entrants in the industry can generally only form offensives in individual segments of the market, and can only gain advantage in individual segments of the market. These companies have limited resources and cannot strike out in all directions. However, leading companies in the industry should strive to form a complete product line to minimize market gaps and reduce the opportunities for weaker companies to attack and develop, in order to consolidate their leadership position in the industry as a whole.
Leading companies in various industries have generally adopted this tactic to fully tap market potential and strengthen their market position. In the water market, Wahaha launched pure water, mineral water, very cola, and a variety of tea drinks; Lenovo's PCs, Haier's air-conditioners, and Granz's microwave ovens all rely on complete product lines to gain and consolidate competitive advantages.
6. Rapid introduction of new products
In an increasingly competitive market, speed has become a particularly important competitiveness. Whether an enterprise can quickly launch products to the market is an important element of the differentiation advantage. Some enterprises pursue the perfection of product quality one-sidedly, but ignore the importance of speed. To gain an operational differentiation advantage, an enterprise must pay attention to the speed of launching new products. Even if the product itself still has some defects from the technical point of view, as long as it will not bring danger or loss to consumers, the enterprise should launch the product as soon as possible, so that those consumers who are waiting anxiously can apply it as soon as possible, which is also the added value transferred to consumers. As for the technical problems of the products, they can be remedied in the subsequent products. Microsoft's various versions of the operating system has been a variety of faults, but it is precisely because of Microsoft's timely introduction of new products, in the rapid introduction of improved products, allowing Microsoft to occupy the market, but also to bring benefits to consumers.
In the stage of product massification, the rapid introduction of new products has greater value. Because this stage is characterized by a high degree of market segmentation, consumer demand is ever-changing, companies only continue to launch all kinds of new products, in order to occupy a mainstream position in the market, otherwise, it is easy to be taken by competitors to catch up with this strategy or beyond.
7. cheaper to launch homogenized products
The homogenization of the product so that consumers are distressed, more so that manufacturers are distressed. Consumers suffer because of the lack of effective selection opportunities, manufacturers suffer because of the inability to create product differentiation. When the enterprise can not get the advantage of product differentiation, we must strive to get the advantage of business differentiation. And speed and price are important elements of the operational differentiation advantage. Cheaper introduction of homogenized products means that the enterprise's similar products have a price advantage over competitors.
Changhong gained a competitive advantage by being "cheaper" when it launched its fine-display rear-projection color TVs. Changhong's fine display rear projection is much cheaper than similar products from foreign manufacturers. Because of the competitive advantage in rear-projection color TVs, Changhong's financial situation in 2001 and 2002 quickly improved, out of the trough since 1999.
There is another outstanding representative in launching homogenized products more cheaply: Granz microwave ovens. Using the cost advantage, Granz started from the low-end market, and gradually extended its product line to the high-end market, wherever it went, competitors have been defeated,
8. Brand pull
In the face of consumer competition, brand competition is increasingly becoming the core content of marketing management. Especially in the situation of product homogenization, the brand is the most differentiated advantage of the place.
Not only the final consumer-oriented products need to establish a brand, the intermediate products of the industry chain should also try to establish their own brand in the final consumer, and then, through the final consumer "pull" to increase the negotiating power with downstream manufacturers. For example, Intel's chips and DuPont's "Lycra" are all based on the establishment of a strong brand position with the final consumers, which strengthens the negotiating power with the manufacturers and plays a leading role in the whole supply chain.
9. Reducing or increasing services
This practice essentially separates a new market segment, where costs can be reduced by reducing services and simplifying the product, with the aim of tapping into a group of consumers who do not require a high level of service and product functionality.
Among the various services of a product, not all consumers need all of these services. If you can remove the services that consumers don't need and lower the price at the same time, you can tap into this consumer group more competitively. Second- and third-tier companies are particularly well suited to this strategy, avoiding the areas in which leading companies specialize, entering a neglected market segment, and strengthening their position in the overall market by establishing an advantage in this segment. Southwest Airlines' inexpensive "Airbus" is a good example of this strategy.
In addition to reducing services or simplifying products, companies can increase the competitiveness of their products by doing the opposite: increasing services. If there is no substantial difference between the products provided by the enterprise, the enterprise can extend the value of the product to consulting, after-sales service, etc., to make up for the similarity of the core value of the product by increasing the overall value of the product.
10. Product Innovation or Entering New Market Segments
Only product innovation can shape product differentiation advantages. Small innovations are for the product's subsidiary attributes, such as appearance, packaging, etc.; large innovations are for the product's core attributes. Through product innovation can be the first to enter a new market segment, so that the enterprise to obtain a competitive advantage. On the contrary, when a new market segment appears, if it is late to enter, it will miss the opportunity. Between one entry and one exit, the competitive situation may be fundamentally reversed.
Small Sheep, which opened more than 600 chain stores nationwide in just two years, with an output value of 2.5 billion, relies on its product innovation of "shabu-shabu with no dipping".
11. Launching better value-for-money products
How can a second-tier company compete with a first-tier company when it does not have an advantage in terms of technology, brand influence or product differentiation?
The answer is: to introduce better cost-effective products. China's enterprises in the competition with multinational corporations, but all can achieve victory in the enterprise, are more or less use this tactic.
The meaning of second-tier companies is relative, for example, General Motors is a first-class automobile manufacturer in the international arena, ranked No. 1 in the world's top 500, but in the Chinese market, GM is truly a "second-tier company". GM has quickly built its reputation and position in the Chinese market by launching cars with the best price/performance ratio, such as the Scion and the Buick.
12. Building relationships with customers
In almost all industries, the cost of developing new customers is always higher than the cost of maintaining old ones. Therefore, building long-term relationships with existing customers and retaining old customers by giving away some of their value is very cost-effective for companies. In the hotel and hospitality industry, civil aviation and other industries, the common use of "membership" and "old customer reward program", through the cumulative consumption of consumers to provide more services or additional benefits, in order to retain old customers.