This paper proposes a structural interpretation of competitive advantage and firm failure. Traditional strategic theory often explains firm performance through resources, positioning, or execution capabilities. This article argues that an overlooked variable—structure—plays a more fundamental role in determining how value is created, transferred, and retained within competitive systems.Using cases including Kodak, Apple, Amazon, NVIDIA, and Uber, the paper demonstrates that firms frequently fail not because they lack innovation or strategic insight, but because their internal structures cannot sustain disruptive change or retain value under competitive pressure.The paper introduces the concept of “value flow structure” and argues that competition itself functions as a structural process that continuously erodes advantage through substitution, imitation, and optimization. Scale, therefore, does not inherently generate strategic advantage; it amplifies the underlying logic of the structure in which a firm operates.The article concludes that strategy should no longer be understood primarily as competitive positioning, but as the design and control of value-retention structures.
Fan Zhao (Fri,) studied this question.