New Release: The MFS Guide to Competitive Strategy

Today we announce the release of our newest resource - The MFS Guide to Competitive Strategy: How to Develop and Execute an Effective Competitive Strategy. This guide goes in depth on the topic of competitive strategy - covering the key ideas, concepts, frameworks as well as detailing some examples of expertly-executed competitive strategy.

ACCESS THE MFS GUIDE TO COMPETITIVE STRATEGY HERE →

Competitive Strategy in Business Today

It is our belief - and we will lay it out over the course of this guide - that competitive strategy and overall company strategy are fundamentally interlinked. Companies can not develop a strategy without first developing a deep understanding of their target industry and competitive environment.

Even companies such as Cirque du Soleil who go on to position themselves as pioneers in a new or redefined industry must first possess a deep understanding of the competitive environment. Without that initial knowledge, it would not be possible to develop and execute what has become known as a Blue Ocean Strategy. This strategy has been popularized by Cirque du Soleil and other successful companies who have redefined their competitive space to position themselves apart from their competitors in what has been termed a “blue ocean”.

Upon establishing their blue ocean, companies like Cirque have been able to operate in a market of one where it could be argued that competitive strategy becomes less important, but, this initial positioning - which is itself a competitive strategy - becomes the company’s raison d'être with dual goals of low costs and differentiation built into everything the company does.

Switching to the competitive strategies developed by Michael Porter who outlined what he termed the Generic Strategies of Cost Leadership, Differentiation, and Focus - it is his belief that, in order to succeed, companies must commit their whole system of activities to only one generic strategy. Walmart, for instance, would be one of the most cited examples of a company who have instilled the concept of cost leadership throughout their entire operation.

The point, ultimately, is that strategy can not and does not exist without competitive considerations. Within business strategy, there are external or more macro considerations to weigh up, but, the real value of macro understanding is that it allows companies to place competitive considerations within their correct context - external and internal market dynamics can not be looked at in isolation.

Over the course of this guide, we hope to be able to shed some light on competitive strategy in the modern and evolving business landscape - particularly around the strategies, frameworks, and tactics that can help you identify and position your company for success.

The guide is free to access on this link, and we welcome feedback of all kinds! If you have a marketing challenge you are looking for support with, you are more than welcome to set up a no obligation initial conversation with our team.