Unit 5: Sustainable Competitive Advantage
In this unit, we will explore the concept of sustainable competitive advantage, including competitive differentiation, competitive intelligence, and ethical brand management. Clearly defined, substantive, and trusted brands are the key to competitive differentiation and consumer confidence. This is especially true in over-saturated product and service industries. Most brands do not have clear points of competitive advantage and often rely on price or easy-to-copy factors. The competitive points of the parity strategy model are designed to identify the "weak" areas among the leading competitive brands that can be leveraged into unique points of difference (POD).
Completing this unit should take you approximately 7 hours.
Upon successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- evaluate the growth potential of a large industry;
- analyze how a mature brand sustains its relevancy and extends into a new product category;
- analyze the players in an oversaturated consumer category;
- evaluate the impact of financial metrics on a brand portfolio analysis; and
- analyze an underdeveloped product category for global potential.
5.1: Competitive Differentiation
A brand's point of difference, its unique tangible and intangible characteristics, is the critical factor that creates competitive differentiation. Accomplishing brand differentiation requires three critical factors: 1) an authentic, compelling brand story that signals unique solutions to the target customer's most important need; 2) the intentional communication of those unique characteristics of your brand; and 3) defined characteristics as the pillar for the differentiation. Once these three critical factors are established, the brand's next sub-factor of competitive differentiation includes five positioning options: 1) Brand differentiation: the unique perception consumers have of your brand; 2) Product differentiators: specific product-based characteristics like design, quality, and performance that give you an advantage in the marketplace; 3) Service differentiators: those UX experiences along the customer's journey that are intangible but memorable; 4) Price differentiation: among options include value-based pricing, premium pricing, and market penetration pricing; and 5) Channel differentiators: where your brand is sold, how it's distributed, and whether customers have immediate and easy access to it.
The competitive environment is an external impact factor that can be examined using Michael Porter's strategy. In this resource, locate Porter's three generic strategies impacting a firm's performance. Create a chart, and then choose one of the brands you have examined in the branding section. Apply these options to each brand and conclude which is the best match. To apply the concepts to real scenarios in brand management, complete the exercises in the boxes. Use your notebook to create 2-3 sentence answers to the challenge questions. You must refer back to key concepts in the resource and charts when included.
The intensity of differentiation plays a part in product, service, and even personal branding. Using the differentiation branding schematic, how do your skill set, experience, and offering in the area of business compare to one of your role models in the business arena (some would use Steve Jobs or another iconic leader)? Then identify the areas for points of difference. To apply the concepts to real scenarios in brand management, complete the exercises in the boxes. Use your notebook to create 2-3 sentence answers to the challenge questions. You must refer back to key concepts in the resource and charts when included.
5.2: Competitive Intelligence
As stated earlier, strategic planning shifts are often based on both internal corporate and brand-level performance and external factors. Monitoring and interpreting the competitive landscape is referred to as competitive intelligence. Brand managers aggressively collect and analyze competitive brand actions to make every decision "market-based" rather than brand only. This practice of persistently and consistently tracking competitive actions and consumer reactions is directly related to strategic success.
Apply the competitive intelligence process (Figure 1) in this research article to your analysis of external factors as prescribed by Michael Porter's Strategic Theory of Brand Growth. Then superimpose the consumer journey to identify how brand managers can spot shifts in both consumer attitude and external threats. Consider reviewing the SWOT analysis as part of this examination.
Brand managers are the champions of balancing innovation and brand strategy that deliver profit, revenue, and cost efficiencies. Review this overview of how businesses as a whole use financial metrics to measure organizational performance. This review of key performance indicators introduces alternatives to evaluate a more holistic view of an organization's performance by considering different performance perspectives.
There is abundant opportunity to take a domestic brand to global distribution. However, success in international business means understanding a wide range of cultural, economic, legal, and political differences between countries. Look at critical factors contributing to global brand management and choose a global brand to investigate whether that brand was altered for different countries. To apply the concepts to real scenarios in brand management, complete the exercises in the boxes. Use your notebook to create 2-3 sentence answers to the challenge questions. You must refer back to key concepts in the resource and charts when included.
5.3: Ethical Brand Management
Marketing and brand management, as a consumer-centered discipline within the corporation, is tasked to grow sales, increase profit and reduce costs. However, today's company cannot just focus on bottom line success. The "triple bottom" line is an emerging corporate mission focused on the purposefulness of business practices. Ethical marketing encompasses how firms need to expand the bottom line to include global sustainability and social cause landscapes. Brand management has evolved to realize that large-scale change while maintaining profitability is another critical factor to successful long-term brand growth.
Using the ICC Code framework of Ethical Advertising described in this resource, evaluate at least three brand campaigns along the factor of Objectionable Advertising (usually in gender-specific product sectors like cars or ethnicity, as the case study demonstrates). Then review the legal oversight governing "Potentially Dangerous Products: Advertising Bans " and identify brands that have been able to overcome these restrictions.
Unit 5 Study Resources
This review video is an excellent way to review what you've learned so far and is presented by one of the professors who created the course.
Watch this as you work through the unit and prepare to take the final exam.
- Unit 5 Review Slides File PDF document
You can also download the presentation slides so you can make notes.
We also recommend that you review this Study Guide before taking the Unit 5 Assessment.
Unit 5 Assessment
- Receive a grade
Take this assessment to see how well you understood this unit.
- This assessment does not count towards your grade. It is just for practice!
- You will see the correct answers when you submit your answers. Use this to help you study for the final exam!
- You can take this assessment as many times as you want, whenever you want.