Different tactics are used by organizations to gain competitive advantage and outperform rivals. Positions, assets, and economies of scale have historically been used by top multinational companies with a wide range of product or service offerings as sources of competitive advantage.
Today's top business players pursue competitive advantage in a totally different way. Critical competencies are being used by market leaders today to outbid their competitors. They place more of an emphasis on developing distinctive, long-lasting qualities rather than relying on possibilities for quick growth. Their strategy entails developing a single, potent value proposition based on a small number of essential talents. Throughout the process, they are essentially transforming their entire businesses.
These industry leaders are referred to as "Supercompetitors" due to their unique abilities, dominance, and capacity to alter the character of their industry. Supercompetitors build unique competences to provide results that are pertinent to the business by utilizing the best configuration of processes, systems, insights, and resources across diverse units. Some Supercompetitors employ Mergers and Acquisitions to stay on top of the game.
Supercompetitors are aware that the success of these deals depends on a capabilities fit; their products or services should complement those of the acquired business. They sell off businesses where their abilities don't complement each other well or where a new partner wouldn't gain from them.
Supercompetitors fall into one of three major categories:
- Innovator—frequently releasing new offerings.
- Value Player—offering low-cost products.
- Aggregator—selling products developed by others.
Supercompetitors have the power to change the dynamics of the market. If other companies want to compete with Supercompetitors, they must rearrange their portfolios, analyze the market carefully, and focus on the value propositions in which they excel. Based on these four crucial considerations, a complete evaluation of a company's potential to become a Supercompetitor in a market should be made:
- Analysis of the industry and its change potential
- Analysis of upcoming Supercompetitors and their core competencies
- Assessing the Future State
- Devising a Strategic Plan
The evaluation enables the firms to comprehend where they and their competitors stand in the future race to become Supercompetitors.
Let's examine the key elements of the Supercompetitors evaluation in greater detail.
Industry Analysis
To determine whether a firm will be a Supercompetitor, a detailed assessment of the market must be performed. Leadership needs to identify the answers to a number of crucial questions in order to assess their industry and determine whether their business has the potential to become a Supercompetitor. For instance:
- Have your leaders remained consistent over the past 10 years? Are newcomers taking on leadership positions within the business?
- Are competitors focusing on unique value propositions, with just a small number of them successful overall?
- Do top businesses compete using the same tactics as the forerunners of old?
- Are multinational corporations breaking up into separate businesses?
Why Are competencies, rather than assets or product portfolios, the key to the success of the best businesses in a certain industry?
- Do leaders in the industry possess scalable capabilities? Is it feasible to scale without costs increasing?
- Do current capabilities contribute to the distinctiveness of products or services?
Supercompetition Analysis
The next phase in the evaluation process to identify which companies have the potential to become Supercompetitors is assessing the level of the competition. Leaders must be able to recognize potential Supercompetitors in their particular industries and discover more about the crucial abilities, talents, and structural characteristics that give them the upper hand. At least 3 to 5 Supercompetitors from the concerned industry should be picked in order to conduct a complete analysis.
Interested in learning more about the other critical elements of the Supercompetitors potential evaluation? You can download an editable PowerPoint presentation on Supercompetitors here on the Flevy documents marketplace.
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