The focused strategies of differentiation concentrate on the out-competing rivals and buyer segments. These offers mainly deal with niche members and customized attributes to meet the requirements. The focused differentiation strategies are pursuing in the market. The focused differentiation strategies are most effective for the consumers and have preferences over the requirements and needs of the companies (Kotler, Berger, & Bickhoff, 2016). The rival firms are attempting to specialize in the same target segment. The example is apple iPhone that positioned itself as a status symbol. The target audience is urban youths and office goers in developed countries (Pahwa, 2019).   

Examples of competitive advantages of Understand the basics of the 5 generic competitive strategies

 There are different routes for the competitive advantages and all of them involve the buyers and give advantage to the rival seller relations. The meaning of superior value can be a good product with the low price, best value offers for the services, attractive and combined conditions for price, quality, features, services and appealing attribute (Shepard, 2019). In this process, the companies are supposed to deliver best value chain activities that are different from the rivals and it is important to building the competencies, capabilities, and resource allocation. Business across many industries have quickly realized the importance of technology to develop competitive advantages. In many industries, the idea of leveraging speed is used to satisfy the desire of consumers and it considers instant gratification. The best example of a competitive advantage is Amazon, there is no other company that deliver and fulfil the master orders other than Amazon (Kaplan & Norton, 2008). The company strategies are efficient, accurate, with the major priority of speed. In the Amazon prime, the flagship paid membership services of the company are high and the products are under prime eligible conditions. Amazon offers only two-day service for the delivery of product in the distinct regions (Edwards, 2016).  

The competitive advantages consider the three generic strategies including cost leadership, differentiation, focus, brand, big pocket, network effect, barriers of competition and entry requirement. Besides Amazon, some other companies are having strong competitive strategies and competitive advantage on the rivals, for instance, Facebook, Google, and LinkedIn. Google is the only search engine that works on global levels and the company can reach the heights of market position, innovation, size, and network effects. Facebook is another biggest competitor that enjoys a competitive advantage based on improved services and strategies over the Google plus (Kotler, Berger, & Bickhoff, 2016). The biggest reason that leads to competitive advantage is the constant innovation in services and customer satisfaction. Although LinkedIn is not a conventional social media network, it is highly focused on business professionals and enjoys competitive advantages (Arshed & Pancholi, 2016).

Conclusion of Understand the basics of the 5 generic competitive strategies

The competition in companies is driving economic growth due to advances in technologies. The competitive models consider the power of buyers, availability of substitutes, capacity utilization, cost structure, and barriers of the companies.  The competitive advantage is achieved by a company when it has some kind of edges over the rival, for instance, attracting new customers, dealing with the requirements of customers and coping with major issues.

References of Focused strategies of the company based on the differentiation

Arshed Norin. (2016). Enterprise and Its Business Environment. Goodfellow Publishers Limited.

Arshed, N., & Pancholi, J. (2016). Porter’s Generic Strategies. Goodfellow Publishers Ltd.

Edwards, S. (2016). 3 Companies Using Speed as a Competitive Advantage. Retrieved from https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/253372

Kaplan, R. S., & Norton, D. P. (2008). The Execution Premium: Linking Strategy to Operations for Competitive Advantage. Harvard Business Press.

Kotler, P., Berger, R., & Bickhoff, N. (2016). The Quintessence of Strategic Management: What You Really Need to Know to Survive in Business. Springer.

Pahwa, A. (2019, 09 25). Competitive Advantage – Definition, Types, & Examples. Retrieved from www.feedough.com: https://www.feedough.com/competitive-advantage-definition-types-examples/

Shepard, B. (2019). 10 Companies That Brilliantly Differentiated Themselves From the Competition. Retrieved from blog.hubspot.com: https://blog.hubspot.com/insiders/branding-differentiation