Chapter 6

A competitive advantage is when a product has something that is superior to the competition, a benefit that differentiates this product from the rest. This is a very important thing marketers and businesses have to have in mind, find that special thing that differentiates the product or service from the competitors, something that makes them unique when compared to the rest.
The book says that if a product cannot find something that differentiates it from the rest a company must be able to lower their costs, a strategy marketers use to do so is called Economies of scale. This means that a great number of products are produced lowering the price of each unit, increasing productivity is another strategy that can be used. Another competitive advantage strategy that can help a business to avoid competitors if done successfully is to focus on a single market within one country.
Financial resources are a very important thing for every business, you can have the best idea in the world but if you don’t have the financial resourses to support and develop this idea you have nothing. Big companies have this problem solved but for small companies this is a challenge. A strategy that is very successful is the development of micro-loans, a very small loan, of around $100 that allows entrepreneurs to start a business and make some money.
As we all know, understanding our marketing environment is the key element to a successful marketing plan, understand our customers, supply and distribution networks and competitive products. One of the most important marketing resources is the distribution channel, which consists of the companies and individuals who participate in the exchange of goods or services. Knowing how to distribute the products is essential when marketing a product or a service on a foreign country. U.S firms have found it difficult to enter the tight social networks of Japan for example.
There are two types of competitors direct and indirect. Direct competitors are the ones that work within the same industry and indirect competition comes from the sale of products that gives similar benefits.
A product market the name given to a product in a single market. When a company decides to expand to new markets they determine if they want to stay in that market or if they want to expand to a different one. After deciding whether to stay or to move to a different market they chose a large number of different options and the screen the process down until they find the best product-market based on the market factors.