Column 1 · Strategy and Positioning · Era 3, Competitive Advantage (1980s)
Competitive Positioning
Formulation, content · Landmark · Cluster I, Strategic Choice
Description
Porter derived generic strategies of cost leadership, differentiation, and focus from the analysis of industry structure, and Ries and Trout argued that positioning is the battle for a distinctive place in the prospect's mind, together defining positioning from the market and from the mind.
Managerial Implications
Positioning is a choice about where to compete and how, made in the customer's mind as much as in the market. Choose between cost leadership, differentiation, and focus, and avoid the middle. Then own a single clear idea in customers' heads; crowded minds reject complexity. The practical test is whether your position can be stated in one sentence that a competitor could not also claim.