Talking straight about competitive strategy

This paper argues that the offering—what customers choose to buy—should be the primary focus of competitive strategy. A classification of competitive strategies based solely on how an offering could be positioned is developed, and a new output‐ or buyer‐based vocabulary devised for it. It is argued that this language provides a surer way of becoming customer orientated than an input‐ or seller‐based language. This new perspective leads to a surprising and novel insight about the appropriate unit for framing competitive strategy. It also helps in providing a more realistic model of the dynamics of competitive strategy, and the role it plays in achieving profitability. Finally, the new language and concepts are put to the test; it is shown that they are of practical value, since they would help managers in better framing and answering some key competitive questions.