Marketing Management, 16th Edition

Creating a Sustainable Competitive Advantage

An offering’s competitive advantage reflects its ability to satisfy a customer need to a greater degree than alternative means of satisfying the same need. Thus, creating a competitive advantage gives customers a reason to choose a given offering rather than an available alternative.

Sustainable Competitive Advantage as a Marketing Concept

To build a strong brand and avoid the commodity trap, marketers must start with the belief that it is possible to differentiate an offering by creating a sustainable competitive advantage.24 Competitive advantage is a company’s ability to perform in one or more ways that competitors cannot or will not match.

Some companies are finding success. Pharmaceutical companies ...