Competitive Strategy

The textbook by Armstrong and Kotler mentions Competitive Strategy as the company's strategy to gain strategic advantage by positioning their offerings strongly against competitors' offerings in the minds of consumers. No single competitive marketing strategy is best for all companies. Thus, each firm should consider its own size and industry position compared to those of its competitors. There are winning strategis for large firms, but there are also losing ones. (Kotler, 67)

An example of two strong competitors in luxury-car industry are BMW and AUDI. Take a look at the picture of two billboards above, where both are dueling, with AUDI's bilboard showing the all new Audi A4 along with the headline: “Your move, BMW”. Santa Monica BMW, a local dealership, took on the challenge and entered a virtual chess game by responding, "checkmate.", with a much bigger billboard showing BMW M3 Coupe. When talking about competitive strategy, companies think through a complete contingent plant. They do not just think about the best, but they try to think and foresee all possibilities that their competitors might do. The advertising battle war between AUDI and BMW is a good example of how BMW could identify its competitor, AUDI. BMW proved to have thought broadly, by responding to take on the challenge using the chess jargon, equipped with a bigger picture of the car on the billboard.

To be able to win a competitive advantage over a competitor, a company needs to not only be creative, but be able to develop competitive actions and reactions that allign with their objectives / goals. Audi and BMW is and will still be competitors, however, both prove to be battling in a healthy competitive environment. Certainly, with different target markets and approaches to the consumers, both companies will strive to achieve their goals / objectives.

Clairine B. Runtung
Section G