Exam 18: Creating Competitive Advantage

Cozy Country Market entered the candle business with a unique product: a line of candles made from soy that produce less smoke and lasts up to twice as long as other candles. The firm sold this unique product exclusively to a few niches. The candles were priced twice the cost charged for normal candles. The product was also sold online and in unconventional outlets not dominated by the market leaders. In this case, Cozy Country Market was using a(n) ________ against the market leaders.

Market leaders can expand the market by ________ and more usage of the product.

Most companies tend to compete with distant competitors that are typically unlike them, rather than with close competitors.

What is the primary focus of a competitor-centered company?

Almost every industry includes firms that specialize in serving target subsegments called market ________.

Michael Porter suggested four basic competitive positioning strategies that companies can follow, three winning strategies and one losing one. Name and describe these four different strategies.

Refer to the scenario below to answer the following questions. Essential-Beauty is a rapidly growing firm that manufactures women's makeup, perfumes, and nail-care products. The company has established itself as a high-end cosmetic product brand available at most national drug stores. In the past, almost all of the advertising for Essential-Beauty has been in women's fashion magazines. The firm is now launching a new line of skin care products, ranging from facial cleansers to body lotion. These products are designed to be marketed to a broader audience, so the marketing team is exploring the effectiveness of different promotional mixes. -Essential-Beauty e-mailed a survey to a group of its most frequent, loyal customers. The survey asked what makeup and skin care characteristics were most important to them. The company's marketing staff than ranked the performance of Essential-Beauty products in each of these categories. Essentials was conducting a(n) ________.

If a company's aim is to make its own and competing products obsolete and serve customers who want state-of-the-art products and services, it is using a value discipline called ________.

Which of the following statements is most likely true of market follower strategies?