To drive competition crazy, don't focus on them.

(From Philippine Daily Inquirer)

Byline: Frances J. Yu, Contributor

"THE ITALIAN Job" is an engaging film about two professional thieves vying for over $30 million worth of gold bars. The movie features Mark Wahlberg and Edward Norton as two very different individuals who happen to be in the profession of stealing. One has the guns, the goons, and the gold. The other has ingenuity, creativity and heart. At the end, it is the David who prevails over the Goliath in a game where the winner takes all.

In business competition, unlike the movies, the odds are often in favor of the Goliaths. However, there are some exceptional companies who have managed to defy conventional wisdom to give market leaders a run for their money or even pull a surprising upset. These companies share one thing in common: they drive their competition crazy by creating "disruption" in their chosen fields. Creating disruption entails creating your own market space, being comfortable with living in a constant state of "managed flux," and being willing to make sacrifices.

Own market space

Creating your own market space means redefining the rules for competing. It means occupying a space that no one has yet occupied. To illustrate, Starbucks entered a market where industry players sold coffee. Starbucks did not enter the specialty coffee industry to sell a product. Instead, they created a new market space by selling an EXPERIENCE. Similarly, Swatch broke with the Swiss tradition of positioning a watch as a serious, luxury product. Without compromising on the Swiss tradition of technological impeccability, Swatch created its own market space by selling fun, fancy and the joy of life.

While it is so much easier to watch and copy the market leader (after all they must have been doing something right), you will end up in a hostile middle ground, competing according to the standards dictated by the market leader who has so much more resources than you. If you are to see drastic opportunities for growth, create real breakthroughs, and compete effectively against the No. 1, you will need to compete according to your own set of marketing rules.