A Competitive Approach

As I am introducing myself to the basic ideas that will be covered in this, one idea seems to jump out at me as an underlying theme for this course: competition. When I say competition, I mean a certain gamesmanship that exist among different competing companies in any given industry. The opening example in Chapter One uses blackjack as an illustration of how we use certain strategic principles to optimize our results. The idea of business as a "game" is a very valid way of presenting the reality of the marketplace. In today's global economy, it is paramount that each player in the marketplace, if they wish to sustain a competitive advantage, develop a successful strategy to survive and prosper in the industry. Like any game of cards, it is impossible to have complete information about the present and it is impossible to predict the future. It is the companies who do the best job of utilizing all available resources to the best of their ability who are prime to find the highest level of success in business.