Competitive Strategy, Step by Step for 2027

Helps you work out why customers should choose you over specific rivals, build an advantage that is hard to copy and renew it before it fades.

Who it's for

Managing directors, business unit heads, commercial leaders, consultants and founders who need to win against specific rivals in a specific market. It assumes you already know which market you are in and asks a sharper question: why should customers choose you rather than the alternatives?

What you'll learn

• Measure your advantage against two named rivals with the value stick (after Brandenburger, Stuart and Oberholzer-Gee) and map rivals with strategic groups
• Choose one of Michael Porter's generic strategies and find advantage in your value chain
• Build a cost advantage from cost drivers and the experience curve, and differentiation customers pay for with the Kano model
• Create new market space with Kim and Mauborgne's strategy canvas and ERRC grid
• Test your claimed advantages against Hamilton Helmer's seven powers and deepen the one or two that matter most
• Profile competitors with Porter's four corners model and rehearse their moves in a half-day wargame
• Renew advantage with Rita McGrath's wave of transient advantage and write a competitive strategy statement your team can repeat

What's inside

• 80 pages, 11 chapters
• Every chapter follows the same pattern: key concepts, a step-by-step method, an illustrative example from a fictional UK organisation, a ready-to-use tool, common mistakes, a key-steps recap and a "Try it" exercise to apply the chapter to your own work
• Tools to copy and use, including the Value Stick Comparison, Strategy Canvas Table and ERRC Grid, Moat Audit and Wargame Facilitation Pack
• A 90-day competitive strategy plan with a quarterly competitive review, plus a glossary
• PDF in A4 format — read on screen or print
• Instant download after purchase

Contents

1. Measuring Advantage with the Value Stick
2. Mapping Rivals with Strategic Groups
3. Choosing a Generic Strategy
4. Finding Advantage in the Value Chain
5. Building a Cost Advantage
6. Building Differentiation Customers Pay For
7. Creating New Market Space with the Strategy Canvas
8. Building Moats Rivals Cannot Cross
9. Profiling Competitors with Four Corners
10. Wargaming Competitive Moves
11. Renewing Advantage Before It Fades

Part of The Business Library

This title is one of the 55 ebooks in The Business Library, available together for £109 (worth £1,437 if bought separately: the total of the individual prices of the included titles in our store). It is also included in The Ultimate Business Bundle, which adds 8 checklists and toolkits and 10 workbooks — all 73 products for £147.