
Generic Competitive Strategies
- Cost Leadership. Cost leadership is intended to achieve scale economies and utilizing them to produce high volume at a low price.
- Differentiation Strategy. ...
- Focus Strategy. ...
- Focus strategy has following advantages: Better consumer satisfaction: By implementing the focus strategy, a firm focuses on specific target markets.
What are the 5 generic competitive strategies?
The five industry forces are:
- Entry barriers
- Buyer power
- Supplier power
- Threat of substitutes
- Rivalry
What are the generic types of competitive strategies?
- Cost Leadership Strategy.
- Differentiation Strategy. Broad Differentiation Strategy. Focused Differentiation Strategy.
- Focus Strategy. Focused Low-Cost Strategy. Focused Differentiation Strategy
- Best Cost Strategy.
What have we learned about generic competitive strategy?
Questionnaire development
- Low-cost strategy. The low-cost strategy was measured using 11 items adapted from previous such as Dess and Davis (1984), Kim and Lim (1988) and Robinson and Pearce (1988).
- Competitive intensity. The competitive intensity was measured using seven items. ...
- Firm performance. ...
- Control variables. ...
What are the three generic strategies?
What Are The Three Generic Strategies Of An Organization
- identifying competitive advantage. Dilemma To survive and thrive, an organization must create a competitive advantage. ...
- The Discipline of Market Leaders Customer Value Model. ...
- Porter Airlines. ...
- Case Study : Costco Business Level Strategy. ...
- Panera Bread Company. ...
- Hummer. ...
- Business Policy and Strategy

What are three generic competitive strategies?
According to Porter's Generic Strategies model, there are three basic strategic options available to organizations for gaining competitive advantage. These are: Cost Leadership, Differentiation and Focus.
What is meant by generic strategies?
Generic strategies as the name suggests are generic in nature and is a way for a company to pursue its competitive advantage across the market scope of choice. While the advantage can be in the form of low cost or product differentiation the scope can be broad (Industry-wide) or narrow (Market Segment).
What are the 5 generic strategies?
What are Porter's Generic Strategies?Cost Leadership Strategy.Differentiation Strategy.Cost Focus Strategy.Differentiation Focus Strategy.
What are the 4 competitive strategies?
4 competitive strategy are as follows:Cost Leadership Strategy or Low-cost strategy.Differentiation strategy.Best-cost strategy.Market-niche or focus strategy.
What are the 3 types of strategy?
Three Types of Strategy: What Are They & How to Apply ThemBusiness strategy.Operational strategy.Transformational strategy.
What is Michael Porter's competitive strategy?
Michael Porter defines three strategy types that can attain competitive advantage. These strategies are cost leadership, differentiation, and market segmentation (or focus). Cost leadership is about achieving scale economies and utilizing them to produce high volume at a low cost.
What are the four main generic strategies?
Four generic business-level strategies emerge from these decisions: (1) broad cost leadership , (2) broad differentiation , (3) focused cost leadership , and (4) focused differentiation . In rare cases, firms are able to offer both low prices and unique features that customers find desirable.
What is Porter's generic strategies PDF?
Generic strategies include 'overall cost leadership', 'differentiation', and 'focus'. Generally firms pursue only one of the above generic strategies. However some firms make an effort to pursue only one of the above generic strategies.
Which of the following is not a generic competitive strategy?
The answer is 5) A market share dominator strategy. The strategy to dominate market share is not one of Porter's generic strategies for competition. The key generic types of competitive strategy are the best-cost provider, low-cost provider, differentiation, and focused low-cost.
Who developed the competitive strategy?
In 1979, five common competitive strategies were introduced by Michael Porter of Harvard Business School and they provide different ways of thinking about how your business can sustain its long-term success. Your chosen competitive strategies should make up for your strengths while minimizing the negative effects of your weaknesses. ...
What is Porter's competitive strategy?
Porter’s competitive strategy is a way to get a competitive advantage – in other words, “edge” develops which sells you and it takes you away from your competitors. There are two main ways to achieve this in a cost-led strategy:
How to achieve market success?
To achieve market success and success, have a strategy to manage business competitions, and stand out from the crowd. Five basic generic competitive business-level strategies set the foundation of optimum long-term growth of a company. They must know what makes their company special and to let them know, they should be clear about their views ...
What is cost leadership strategy?
A focused cost leadership strategy wants to offer lower prices in a particular segment of the market rather than capture the entire market as a part of generic business-level strategies.
What is a comprehensive discrimination strategy?
Summoning a Comprehensive Discrimination Strategy To fully understand the public psychology, requirements, and emotions so that the products can be made, they fully meet the requirements that no one else fulfills.
What is focus strategy?
Companies using focus strategies pay attention to the special market and develop a low price or specific products for the market by understanding the dynamics of that market and the unique needs of its customers.
Why are these three methods considered generic techniques?
These three methods are “generic techniques” for example because they can be applied to all industry products and services and resources of all sizes. In 1985, Michael Porter’s first book was set in “Competitive Advantage: Creating and Staging Superior Performance”, cost leadership strategy examples.
What is generic competitive strategy?
The Generic Competitive Strategy (GCS) is a methodology designed to provide companies with a strategic plan to compete and gain an advantage within the marketplace. According to Porter, a company can leverage its strengths to position itself within the competition. When classifying the strengths of a company, they can either be placed under ...
How to determine the best strategy for a company?
To determine the best strategy for the company, follow a few simple steps: Create a Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, Threats (SWOT) chart for each of the three strategies. Once that is completed, it may be clear that a strategy would not be appropriate.
What is the benefit of GCS?
The primary benefit using a GCS is to establish a methodology of doing business that will drive the company in a certain direction. Rather than simply maintaining the status quo, a GCS gives a company a blueprint to follow that will create the structure of the company. Critics of Generic Competitive Strategy denounce the idea ...
Why is GCS important?
The GCS is useful when a company is looking to gain an advantage over a competitor. If a company wants to ‘win’ the advantage over other businesses, it does so by winning sales and taking customers away from competitors. An advantage in business, though, does not come easily.
What is the focus strategy?
Focus. The company that uses the Focus strategy is selecting a niche market, and then determining the scope of the focus. Within the Focus strategy is the option to use either cost leadership or differentiation. It may be confusing to keep in mind that the Focus strategy is dealing with a specific, niche market.
Is a business strategy a one off?
Using a business strategy is not a one-off or a weekend exercise; it must become the driving force of the company. In order to do this successfully, a company must implement a Generic Competitive Strategy.
Can GCS be used in for profit?
Not confined to a specific industry or company, the methodology can be used in for-profit companies of any kind, as well as not for profit organizations. No matter what type of business, the principles behind the GCS are universal and can be applied to any company.
Who developed generic competitive strategies?
Harvard professor, Michael Porter, developed the phrase “generic competitive strategies or GCS” in his business planning and strategizing book, “Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance.”. Porter’s generic competitive strategy is a framework that is useful for planning the strategic direction of your business ...
What is Porter's generic competitive strategy?
Porter’s generic competitive strategy is a framework that is useful for planning the strategic direction of your business that assists with gaining an advantage in the marketplace over your competitors. Related: Ultimate Guide To Strategic Planning.
What are the three generic strategies of GCS?
GCS is composed of three generic strategies: cost leadership, differentiation and focus. A company may decide to select one of two types of competitive advantage. For instance, they may choose to lower costs or differentiate based on what is important to their customers to demand higher prices on products.
How to use Porter's generic strategies?
There are many ways to use Porter’s generic strategies in your business. Here are some ways your business may begin using GCS: 1. Choose a strategy. The most important step to consider when you use Porter’s generic competitive strategies is to select the appropriate strategy for your business. Consider your business’s strengths ...
Why is Porter's strategy useful?
Business strategies are useful for contributing to the success of your company. There are a variety of strategies you can employ depending on your business’ needs. Porter’s generic competitive strategies are useful tools that will likely assist with the management, growth and profitability of your business to create a sustainable competitive ...
What is focus strategy?
Focus. Focus strategy provides the option to use cost leadership or differentiation within the niche market. This doesn’t mean that the market will be smaller because your company might be small, but rather that your company wants to build product value and generate a loyal but specific client base.
What is cost leadership?
Cost leadership. A business that wants to gain a marketplace advantage by using cost leadership will likely need to develop expertise for lowering costs while maintaining prices. The idea and goal of this are to maintain the same prices as competitors while reducing the costs associated with conducting the business.
What is the main goal of competitive strategies?
As mentioned above, the main goal of employing competitive strategies is to gain a competitive advantage. Industries and competitive markets are hardly stagnant, though. The competitive edge gained through the implementation of the competitive strategies can only be maintained for so long.
Why is it important to have a competitive strategy?
Employing a competitive strategy based on a thorough market analysis can help businesses attract customers, survive a competitive market, and earn a heightened position in the market they serve. More market share can lead to more profit. If a business hopes to survive, it will need to continue growing its profit share.
What factors can help determine and sustain competitive advantage?
The factors that can help determine and sustain competitive advantage are: Imitation. They say “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery”— or at least Oscar Wilde did. The full quote is, actually, “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness.”.
Why are Porter's strategies considered generic?
The four types of competitive strategies identified by Porter are considered generic due to their ability to be applied to any business or organization, regardless of company size or industry served.
What is sustained competitive advantage?
The ultimate goal is sustained competitive advantage, which is defined as earning a higher than average (for the industry or niche) profit over several fiscal years. The amount of time the competitive edge can be maintained is dependent on a variety of factors.
What are Porter's four generic strategies?
The four generic strategies as defined by Porter are divided into two camps: leadership and focus. Leadership. These strategies focus on the strength or core competency of the business. The goal here is to stand out from competitors, meeting a demand that others can’t achieve.
Is the software industry a competitive advantage?
The software industry, for instance, is constantly evolving with innovations made in leaps and bounds. Industry dynamism will certainly play a large role in your ability to sustain a competitive advantage. Competitive advantages will be short-lived in industries with a high rate of innovation.
What is generic strategy?
Generic strategies developed by Porter explains how a company pursues competitive advantage across its chosen market scope . Competitive strategy relates to all the different numerous strategies that company implement in order to gain a competitive advantage, Retain existing market share, Capture new market share, Identify and access new market opportunities, Satisfy wants and needs, Provide superior value in a product or service, Position and differentiate the product, Optimize manipulation of the marketing mix and achieve its goals in the competitive market place. It is well established that Generic strategies can support the organization to cope with the competitive forces in the industry and perform better than other organization in the industry. Michael Porter categorized competitive strategies as cost leadership, differentiation, or market segmentation (Lynch, 2000).
What are the characteristics of generic strategies?
Generic strategies can be pursued in different kinds of industry environments. It results from a company’s consistent choices on product, market, and distinctive competencies.
What is differentiation strategy?
Differentiation Strategy. Differentiation is a strategy that creates a unique service or product offering, either through good branding or strong internal skills. This strategy offers unique tactics that is difficult to copy and is strongly related with an organization's brand.
How do companies win over other businesses?
If a company wants to ‘win’ the advantage over other businesses, it does so by winning sales and taking customers away from rivals. The main advantage using a Generic competitive strategies is to establish a method of doing business that will drive the company in a certain direction.
What is focus strategy?
In a focus strategy, company concentrates only on a particular or a limited range of market segments. In this strategy, the firm focuses on a few target markets. It is also known as a niche strategy. It is anticipated that by focusing marketing efforts on one or two narrow market segments and altering marketing mix to these specialized markets, company can successfully meet the needs of that target market. It is suitable for small firms but can be used by any company. Focus strategy may be used to select targets that are less susceptible to substitutes or where a competition is weakest to earn above-average return on investment.
Why is targeted approach important for small business?
Additionally, the targeted approach is also useful to a small business since large companies usually neglect small niches. Competitive advantage: A company who adopt the focus strategy naturally looks for the competitive advantage by brand marketing and product innovation, instead of efficiency.
What is cost leadership?
Cost leadership is intended to achieve scale economies and utilizing them to produce high volume at a low price. Margins may be narrower, but large quantity, enabling high profits streams. Cost leadership means having the lowest per-unit (i.e., average) cost in the industry that is, lowest cost relative to competitors.
What are generic strategies?
These three are: cost leadership, differentiation and focus.
What is focus strategy?
The 'focus' strategy involves focusing on a narrow, defined segment of the market, also called a 'niche' segment. For example, Porche markets to the particular segment that likes fast and expensive cars and can afford it.
What is a niche market?
A company in a niche market has customers who understand, appreciate and can pay a premium for their indulgence. Competitive advantage - either by cost or differentiation- is created specially for the niche. But the risks are that the niche may not grow, or it may disappear with time and change. PREV DEFINITION.
What is the definition of marketing?
Marketing. Definition: The categorization of potential markets on the basis of gender i.e. male or is what entailed in the process of ‘'Gender Segmentation'’. Though both males and females can come under the target market for a given product but it is also possible that the share of one gender may surpass the share of another gender in ...
Can a male and female come under the target market?
Though both males and females can come under the target market for a given product but it is also possible that the share of one gender may surpass the share of another gender in the company’s target market.

What Is Generic Competitive Strategy
When Is The Generic Competitive Strategy Useful?
- The GCS is useful when a company is looking to gain an advantage over a competitor. If a company wants to ‘win’ the advantage over other businesses, it does so by winning sales and taking customers away from competitors. An advantage in business, though, does not come easily. It must be developed and established firmly within the framework of a company. Using a …
Components of The Generic Competitive Strategy
- GCS is based on three generic strategies: cost leadership, differentiation, and focus. Each strategy has a different mechanism for reaching success. Companies within the same industry may not choose the same strategy – it is a choice that must be made with the company’s management, based on the desired outcome for success and the company’s strength...
Creating The Generic Competitive Strategy
- Before creating a Generic Competitive Strategy, a company must decide which strategy to employ. Taking into account the strengths of the company may give an indication of the best strategy to choose, but should not be rushed simply to move to the next item. To determine the best strategy for the company, follow a few simple steps: 1. Create a Strengths, Weakness, Opp…
Using The Generic Competitive Strategy
- Prioritizing the company’s activities based on the chosen strategy will help maximize the success of the plan. The Generic Competitive Strategy will affect the daily decisions of a company, and the industry forces that a company has to deal with may change the way the company operates. The five industry forces (entry barriers, buyer power, supplier power, threat of substitutes, rivalry) wo…
Examples of Generic Competitive Strategy
- Wal-Mart is perhaps one of the most well-known companies that use Cost Leadershipas their business strategy. With efficient distribution methods, huge volume discounts from suppliers, and their control of manufacturing and inventory, they are able to offer low prices. They have minimized costs and are able to pass the savings on to customers, resulting in higher number o…
What Is A Competitive Strategy?
- A competitive strategy is a long-term product development and marketingplan with the goal of gaining a competitive advantage over direct competitors. Employing a competitive strategy based on a thorough market analysis can help businesses attract customers, survive a competitive market, and earn a heightened position in the market they serve. More ...
Michael Porter’s Four Generic Competitive Strategies
- Michael Porter is a professor at Harvard Business School and is considered to be one of the most cited scholars in both economicsand business. It was over thirty years ago, in 1980, that he published his first book focusing on competitive strategies. Those strategies and his philosophyare still followed and implemented today. The four types of competitive strategies ide…
Sustaining A Competitive Advantage
- As mentioned above, the main goalof employing competitive strategies is to gain a competitive advantage. Industries and competitive markets are hardly stagnant, though. The competitive edge gained through the implementation of the competitive strategies can only be maintained for so long. The ultimate goal is sustained competitive advantage, which is defined as earning a highe…