Strategic Planning in the Small Business

(Ron) #1
Unit
3

HO
3-1

Distinctive
Competence:
A Marketing
Strategyfor Survival'

by Thomas Neil'

ABSTRACT:
DIFFERENTIATION:
UNE
STRATEGIE
DE VENTE POUR
LA SURVIE

De plus en
plus, la petite entreprise
fait face a une forte
competition des
compagnies nationales
et des

franchises, et ce,
quelque soit l'industrie.
I1a ete suggere
dans plusieurs articles
que la petite entreprise
a besoin

de se developper
un caractere particulier,
ou de se specialiser.
Une etude a ete
faite sur un echantillon
de 15 petites

entreprises immobilieres.
En general, les
petites entreprise- immobilieres
n'apparaissent
pas entre en mesure
d-.

st trouver une niche
pour concurrencer dans
un marche qui change
rapidement. Les
entreprises optent pour
les

memes publicites,
medias, recherches
de part de marche,
et mecanismes de controle
qu'elles avaient
utilises en des

temps
ou la competiv-n etait
moins rude.

On fait des suggestions
pour aider les
petites entreprises a
se differencier afin de
concurrencer avec
plus

de succes les
autres PME et grandes
entc'zprises.

The concept of
distinctive competence
has

been discussed as
a strategy to be considered

by businesses
in increasingly competitive

markets.
Distinctive
competence is
the

development
of a specific
ability related
to

production of a
good c- service
which is

highly visible
to the consumer.
For exam-

ple, Maytag
washers are identified
with

reliability, while
McDonald's has
become

associated
with consistency
and cleanliness,

Peters and Waterman,
authors
of In Search

of
Excellence, found
the commitment
to

being
"the best ,,t one
thing" to be a guiding

principle for
the highly successful
corn-

pany.

2

Barker and Gimpl
cite the need for

siall
businesses,
especially service
busi-

nesses, to create
a unique personality.


3

They
saw the ability
to differentiate
one's


service as
essential in competitive
markets


where identical
services are offered
through


identical channels.
However, few
studies


have
addressed the
development and
use of

distinctive
competence
by small firms.

The purpose
of this article
is twofold:
to

present
the results of a study
that assessed

the
extent to which
distinctive competence

was used by
a specific category
of small ser­

vice businesses,
and the discuss
the concept

of
distinctive competence
and the ways
in

which
small firms can benefit
from applying

it.

A service
industry experiencing
a significant

rise in
competitiveness is
real estate. The

development of
franchising and
national

brokerage firms
is placing the
small real

estate
firm in a precarious
position.

4

The

advantage
in economy
of scale enjoyed
by

the
national firms and
the image of profes­

sionalism and
consistency generated
by fran­

chises tend to
put many small firms
at a

disadvantage.

5

Neil, Thomas.
Disinctive Competence:
A Maiketing
Strategy for
Survival. "Journal
of Small

Business
Management",
vol. 24, no.
1 January 1986, pp.
16-21. Reprinted
with permission
of

Journal
of Small Business
Management.

274
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