The chapter on competitive strategy and sustainability was more focused on how an entity can identify their competitors in a market, understand them, evaluate their approaches for success, overcome the competition barrier, and be able to understand market structure for effective operations. For survival, a firm has to identify main differences in the ways firms in the industry compete, determine the most relevant factors that may lead to failure and success in such markets, core industry players on chosen factors, and set their directions. A strategic group map is key in showing a firm important potential change in an industry which is a foundation to solutions and amendments that would form their continuity amidst stiff competition and other related challenges. The analysis conducted is strategic alongside the steps taken as corrective and coping mechanisms. Thus, the existence of an entity in such a competitive environment is anchored on its ability to navigate across the forces forming the market.
The lesson was significant in differentiating competitors in the market. The market structures discussed in the class monopoly, oligopoly, and perfect competition. Through the markets and the lessons, one would easily identify and classify an entity as either monopolistic or oligopolistic. Moreover, through the analytical techniques that the lecture fronts, it is easier to establish some of the factors that led to the rise of each market and the initiatives the entities had in place to mark their success and continuity in their respective industries. Elsewhere, strategy canvas as discussed in the class is an essential tool in analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of a firm. As a result, it can be used to determine the efforts firms that exist in the different market structures had to stamp their authority as key players in their industries.
