Competitive Advantage: How to Get and Maintain It

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Anyone who has started a business (or is even thinking about starting one) has thought about the competition in the market and how it affects their chances of success.

After all, you need to understand what you're up against to ensure you have the resources and strategy to keep up when starting a business.

This is where competitive advantage comes into play.

But what is it? Simply put, it is a broad business theory that helps companies stay competitive with each other in their industry and in their target market .

In this article, we’ll define competitive advantage and why it’s important, discuss some of the types, and look at how to achieve (and maintain) it for your business.

Shall we begin?

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Competitive Advantage: Definition
What is competitive advantage?

Before delving into how to gain a competitive advantage and what thailand email list strategies to use, let's look at the definition of this marketing concept.

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Competitive advantage in economics is a theory that describes proven approaches to beating the competition.

The concept reached mainstream popularity in 1985, when Harvard University graduate Michael Porter published a book titled Competitive Advantage.

Competitive Advantage: Michael Porter
There are two main ways to gain a competitive advantage according to Porter: reducing costs and differentiating your offering from the competition (we'll look at these in more detail shortly).

Interestingly, his theory can be applied almost anywhere. For example, countries can use the theory to be economically competitive with other countries, and individuals can use it for personal or professional gain.

But for the rest of this article, we’ll assume you’re not here because you’re looking for advice on running a nation.

Instead, we'll focus on how to gain a competitive edge for your business, especially an online business like a dropshipping store.