Altyrian View

I’m not prone to generalizing, but this one is a lock: the company with the best strategy always wins. Forget luck and everything else, the better strategy gives a company what it needs to crush its competition. Every time.

Try to name one company that beat its competition without having the better strategy. Can’t do it, eh? Think you have one where luck made it happen? What about spending – maybe you found one where the strategy was weak but the company succeeded because their spending was strong? Not a chance. Dig deeper into the reason any company beats its competition and you’ll find a superior strategy working for them.

One of my favorite examples is the video format war between Sony and JVC (The Observer Online has a good article on this). Sony’s Betamax had better quality, was first out and virtually owned the home video market. JVC, however, had a clearly superior marketing strategy – whereas Beta tapes were just one hour, JVC’s VHS tapes were two full hours (feature-length film anyone?). Beyond that, VHS tapes and equipment were less expensive and JVC happily licensed VHS to movie studios (not so for Beta). Result? VHS crushed Betamax in the marketplace.

Okay, this is just one example, but it represents the universal truth. If you think you have a case where superior strategy lost to something else, I’d love to hear it. I’m betting one doesn’t exist.