| what kind of strategy is "We want to be #3"? It is not a strategy. It is a futile attempt to make it sound like they have a strategy. In most businesses, there is a natural market for #2. Somebody, somewhere, wants to be different. Somebody, somewhere, is offended by #1's size. Somebody, somewhere, finds #1's product too bland and watered-down for the masses. There will always be a Pepsi for every Coke. The trouble with trying to be #3 is that even in saying it, you're talking about going after #1's market. And you will lose to #1 and #2 so huge that you'll be bankrupt. The right way to be #3 in smartphones is to be #1 in education, or #1 in the 10-12 adolescent market, or #1 in the handheld gaming market, or #1 in the dweebs-who-use-Linux-on-their-phones market, or what-have-you. This was detailed decades ago in Reis & Trout's "Marketing Warfare" book. There are four strategies: - Defence (#1 in the market) - Offence (#2 in the market) - Flanking (Disrupt the market through an indirect approach) - Guerilla (Dominate a niche market) Nowhere in this list do you find "Lose the major market to the Offence and Defensive players." |