ABSTRACT
This chapter contains four routes to strategic advantage; the principles on which it is based; underlying assumptions; guidance on application, and relevant issues; and related models. The four routes are: key factors for success, relative superiority, aggressive initiatives, and strategic degrees of freedom. Improved strategic advantage is a function of the nature of the business or product offered and the way in which the organization seeks to compete. Competitors' weaknesses are exploited using new technology or other strengths, such as an effective sales force. An effective short-cut to success is to concentrate principal resources early within a single strategically significant organizational function. Innovation in products or markets where advantage may be gained can be achieved by first determining the extent and scope of potential changes that might maximize customer satisfaction. Organizations may use this model to dissect the market imaginatively in order to identify key segments, discover the particular strengths of winning companies, and analyse differences from losing companies.
