PORTER’S GENERIC
COMPETITIVE STRATEGIES

Introduction: The rationale behind
studying competition
 Today, companies face their toughest competition
ever.
 Companies use their understanding to design
market offers to deliver more value than the
offers of competitors seeking to win the same
customers.
 Companies must also understand their
competitors, identify and analyze their strategies
to position themselves in such a way as to gain
the greatest possible competitive advantage
against competitors in the marketplace.

Porter’s Generic Strategy Framework
 Michael Porter has suggested three general types
of positioning strategies to achieve competitive
advantage.
 These three generic strategies are defined along two
dimensions: strategic scope and strategic strength.
 Strategic scope looks at the size and composition of the
market you intend to target.
 Strategic strength is a supply-side dimension and looks
at the strength or core competency of the firm.

Porter’s Generic Strategy Framework
 The three strategies
are: 1.Cost
leadership,
2.Differentiation, and
3.Market
Segmentation (or
focus)
 Market segmentation
is narrow in scope
while both cost
leadership and
differentiation are
relatively broad in

Examples of Companies That Use Cost
Leadership Strategies
 Wal-Mart is famous for EDLP, achieved by
developing close relationships with its suppliers and
vendors to achieve cost savings through large volume
purchases and pass these savings to the consumers.
 Dell Computers :achieved market share by keeping
low inventories and only building computers to
order, procurement advantages from preferential
access to raw materials, or backward integration.
 Low-cost budget Irish based airlines Ryanair who
despite having fewer planes than the major
airlines, were able to achieve market share growth by
offering cheap, no-frills services at prices much
cheaper than those of the larger competitors.

Cost Leadership
 A firm tries to reduce its overall production and
distribution costs.
 It wins market share by appealing to cost-
conscious customers.
 It sets the lowest prices in the target market
segment, or at least the lowest price to value
ratio.
 3 ways to achieve this:
 Economies of scale
 low direct and indirect operating costs
 control over the supply chain

Examples of Companies That Use Cost
Leadership Strategies
 India’s largest steel company Tata Steel, the cost
leader in the steel manufacturing sector owns raw
material assets such as coaland limestone mines
through joint ventures or completely, with the assets
spread across countries such as Australia, Oman and
Mozambique. Tata Steel has largely been able to
withstand raw material price fluctuations due to
captive iron ore mines.
 Reliance Industries has become a global leader in
various business activities based on innovation and
cost by achieving more effecient production arising
from experience and economies of scale, innovation
in production methods, and differential Low-Cost
Access to Productive Inputs.

Differentiation
 A company concentrates on differentiating the
products in some way in order to compete
successfully.
 appropriate where the target customer segment is not
price-sensitive, the market is competitive , customers
have very specific under-served needs and the firm
has unique resources to satisfy these needs in ways
that are difficult to copy.
 Includes patents or other Intellectual Property
(IP), unique technical expertise, talented personnel or
innovative processes. Successful brand management
also results in perceived uniqueness even when the
physical product is the same as competitors. Fashion
brands rely heavily on this form of image

Examples of differentiation
 Differentiation through Multiple sources:
L&T, the engineering firm , recruits engineers
with excellent qualification and claims
superiority in executing projects.
 Coke and Pepsi differentiated through brand
power.
 Reva through an electric car
 Product Differentiation based on
ingredients: HUL Close Up used glycerin
instead of calcium carbonate and secured
differentiation and Colgate compelled to copy
the same

Examples of differentiation
 Product Differentiation through Additional
features: Aristocrat suitcases with wheels , a
unique convenience to user
 Product Differentiation by Packaging
 Harpic Toilet cleaner with an application
friendly nozzle
 Hit for cockroach with sleek nozzle for hidden
areas
 Product Differentiation by Design:Kinetic
Honda with electronic ignition and do away
with kick start routine , automatic gear shifting
especially for women.

Market Segmentation / Focus
 The firm focuses its marketing effort on serving a
defined, focused market segments with a narrow
scope by tailoring its marketing mix to these
specialized markets, it can better meet the needs of
that target market.
 The firm typically looks to gain a competitive
advantage through product innovation and/or brand
marketing rather than efficiency.
 It is most suitable for relatively small firms but can be
used by any company.
 A focused strategy should target market segments
that are less vulnerable to substitutes or where a
competition is weakest to earn above-average return
on investment.

Market Segmentation / Focus
 The focus strategy has two variants:
(a) In cost focus, a firm seeks a cost advantage in its
target segment, It exploits differences in cost behavior
in some segments . For instance, Southwest
Airlines, famous for its low cost focus follows
basically a linear route structure. It only flies one type
of airplane and it wants to stay in high-density
markets and has been highly efficient.
(b) Differentiation focus a firm seeks differentiation in
its target segment. It exploits the special needs of
buyers in certain segments. Ferrari , targets high
performance sports car segment and due to
differentiation based on design, high performance and
grand prix records which allows it to charge a
premium price.

Stuck in the middle
 A company’s failure to make a choice between
cost leadership and differentiation essentially
implies that the company is stuck in the middle.
 There is no competitive advantage for a company
that is stuck in the middle and the result is often
poor financial performance .
 However, companies like Toyota and Benetton
have adopted more than one generic strategy.
Both these companies used the generic
strategies of differentiation and low cost
simultaneously, which led to the success of the
companies.

Criticisms of Porter’s Generic Strategy
Framework
 A business can employ a hybrid strategy without
being struck in the middle. Nissan, for instance.
 Cost leadership does not sell products itself.
 Differentiation can be used to increase sales
volume rather than charging a premium price.
 Price can sometimes be used to differentiate.

Criticisms of Porter’s Generic Strategy
Framework
 The competence based strategy framework
supersede the generic strategy framework.
Despite these criticisms, porter’s model can
constitute the basis of a useful framework for
categorizing and understanding sources of
competitive advantage.

Looking forward: The road ahead
 The popular post-Porter model was presented by
W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne in their
1999 Harvard Business Review article "Creating
New Market Space“, described a "value
innovation" model in which companies must look
outside their present paradigms to find new value
propositions.
 Their approach fundamentally goes against
Porter's concept that a firm must focus either on
cost leadership or on differentiation. The concept
is popularly known as Blue Ocean Strategy.

Thank You.