Yeah, there's a better way to pursue an economy that works. Also a
company that works. One way through is to transform your definitions.
What it means to have a competitive advantage in a marketplace (or an
ecology) can be considered a "winner takes all" type of statement where
there must be a loser for each winner.
Try this one. A competitive advantage is a relative statement in
particular circumstances that has no limit to the number of situations and
related competitive advantages. A competitive advantage is a result of -
or even just a statement of - an identity. To have a competitive advantage
of the sustainable type, you need to be something (someone) unique. That
is, you only need to realise some of your unique possibility.
I have a competitive advantage in the marketplace for a mate, for sex, for
jobs, for many things because of who I am. I also have competitive
disadvatage in those same areas in different circumstances with exactly
the same "who I am".
One of the requirements will be to transform the game from one of linear,
incremental mechanisms to one the complex phenomena of life. Yes, there
will be continual leapfrogging of technology - of all kinds - but there is
no leapfrogging Mike McMaster or even Disneyland. Each is unique and will
have a niche in which it has competitive advantage and those who attempt
to copy - or even leapfrog - will not win that game.
The beauty of this interpretation is that it is a call to becoming what is
wanting to be expressed in your own unique being - whether company or
person.
-- Michael McMaster <Michael@kbddean.demon.co.uk>