Sublime

Competition-based red ocean strategy assumes that an industry’s structural conditions are given and that firms are forced to compete within them, an assumption based on what the academics call the structuralist view, or environmental determinism.

If your value chain looks like everyone else’s, then you are engaged in competition to be the best.

“End the practice of awarding business on the basis of price tag. Instead, minimize total cost. Move toward a single supplier for any one item, on a long-term relationship of loyalty and trust.”

Competition should not occupy the center of strategic thinking.

For a repositioning strategy to work, you must say something about your competitor’s product that causes the prospect to change his or her mind, not about your product, but about the competitor’s product.

build a “firewall” brand at the bottom of the pyramid: a strong, low-priced brand that is produced at a profit, however slim. The purpose of this brand is to deter competitor entry, thereby protecting the enormous profit margins at the top of the pyramid.