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