Big guns always not a winner
By Md Rezaul Karim, 9th Jun 2012 | Follow this author
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Posted in WikinutBusinessBusiness Opportunities
This is a business game plan that never means good resources will rule the market, if intelligence is not effective there.
Competitive Weapon and intelligence
The essence of strategy is to position one’s company in such a way as to take advantage of its unique strengths against the competitors’ weaknesses. Using blind spots as a competitive weapon may sound like a nice theoretical concept. It is not. The value of learning rivals’ blind spots is never more rewarding than when they are using their really big guns. A roman general, Scipio Africanus, faced Hannibal and a larger Carthaginian army in the Battle of Zama. Hannibal, a seasoned and successful strategist, deployed 80 elephants in front of his line. One elephant was able to disrupt an entire army. Alas, Scipio had learned Hannibal’s methods well. In the battle of Zama, the young nontraditional Roman, who was a persona non-Grata in Rome, was the one who used his opponent’s blind spots against him. Hannibal opened the battle by ordering his elephants to charge the Roman center.
Scipio expected this strategy, which was the traditional way of using elephants in battle. He equipped his front line with trumpets. When the attack began, Scipio ordered a blare of trumpets. The elephants were terrified by the unexpected noise and crashed into their own troops. Hannibal’s wings were thrown into confusion, the Roman wings used the opportunity to attack them, and the road was paved for Hannibal’s final defeat. The principle behind Scipio’s success was the same as that behind Dell Computer’s. in the 1980’s all the giant computer companies- IBM, Apple, Compaq- fell victim to the ‘margin creep’ blind spot: They focused on the upscale market, where corporate customers pay higher prices for higher margin, top end products, and turned a blind eye to the lower end market. Michael Dell then grabbed it from under their noses.
If we know our competitor is committed to a certain way of thinking about itself and its market, we have in our possession a lethally potent competitive weapon. Toyota’s Lexus and Nissan’s Infinity cars exploited Mercedes Benz’s advertising taboo: its ads did not acknowledge competition even with a hint. Johnson & Johnson’s Vistakon, the world leader in disposable contact lenses, took advantage of giants Bausch & Lomb’s and Ciba-Geigy’s unchallenged assumption that contact lenses were unsuitable for disposables to snap up 25% of the US market by 1992. We have to develop a deep understanding of our competitors to be able to pinpoint their blind spots- an understanding to the level that we can guess the way they think. The assumptions they make when thinking. The things they can’t or won’t see anymore because of who they are or how they think.
Comments
10th Jun 2012 (#)
Consumerism is tricky business, and you are right big guns are not always a winner. Great read.
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10th Jun 2012 (#)
Great to have you here Teila again. Thanks.
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10th Jun 2012 (#)
Very Interesting article! You are teaching us valuable insights about business! Thanks!!
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10th Jun 2012 (#)
My great Judy thank you for visiting me.
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10th Jun 2012 (#)
A good business lesson again. Thank you my friend.
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11th Jun 2012 (#)
Welcome Bro Pradeep.
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24th Jun 2012 (#)
Your title reminded me of The Spanish Amada, when the small British ships sailed under the guns and fired into the holds of the Spanish fleet, thereby winning the battle. Your page is very much appreciated, Rezaul. Thank you.
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24th Jun 2012 (#)
Yea we also remember the story of Lion and rat. Great that you guys liked it. Thanks again Ivy.
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