Maintaining market leadership: Part 2

Pele was asked why he was such a successful footballer.
His response was that while others strived to be where the ball was, he positioned himself where the ball would be.
This implies that for you to maintain market share you must have a vision.
This appears to be my vision when catching bass where my streak lasts up to mid-day only. Most companies’ vision likewise is only limited to the life of the founder.
However, very successful companies generate visions which are used well after the founders have gone. There is simply no substitute for good vision.
Senge P. M. (1990), says that an organisation that is successful over the long term must address all aspects of the brand promise.
It must ensure that it is making the right value promise to influence its customer base, it must deliver on the promise and image to retain customers.
These include the promise of value we make to our stakeholders and the image or perception of the organisation that we want to “live in the minds” of our stakeholder and the general public
The perception our customers have of us, as a result of experiencing our product or service.
A surprising number of companies do a pretty good job with two items above, yet fail miserably on the third.
It is often the case with service organisations, when the brand or image becomes a mere slogan or hype rather than reality.
This tends to happen when an organisation puts strong emphasis on sales to the detriment of customer retention.
The first two elements – getting the right promise, and conveying the right promise and the right image – have their primary impact on sales.
The last element – delivering on the promise – has its primary impact on customer retention.
Customer retention is a key determinant of the long-term health of the organisation.
Proctor and Gamble (P&G) has managed to live for more than 173 years due to its ability to manage the right expansions and well executed succession plans.
For each major responsibility there are always two multiple succession partners.
Only those candidates who share the same vision or the organisation’s original cause, upon which the company was built, will be selected.
Proctor and Gamble is good at reinventing themselves in the “afternoon”.
Not many founders of big companies have found people who could succeed them and vigorously pursue the original cause of the organisation.
No wonder history is littered with comebacks for instance Michael Dell (Dell Computers) retired in 2004 and came out of retirement in 2007, Steve Jobs (Apple) retired in 1985 and come out of retirement in 1996, Harward Shultz (Starbucks) retired in 2000 and returned in 2008
It is not deliberate that I fail to reinvent myself in the afternoon during my fishing competitions.
There are some other exogenous factors, which also contribute to my demise. These could be changes in weather patterns that might warrant me to change my bait.
As it gets towards dusk at times you also need to change rubbers so that you can catch bass.
Adapting to the changes in day conditions require dynamism as well as high energy levels which, in my view, sadly lack in most people’s genetic make-up especially as the day progress.
Adapting is only possible if the fisherman is a “learning fisherman”.
Organisations like Fisherman have a mandatory requirement to learn new ways of adapting to the environment as well as the cultural settings where they are operating.
They have to behave like fishermen who understand the implications of time zones on their ability to catch.
In the long run, the only sustainable source of competitive advantage is your organisation’s ability to learn faster than its competition.
Changing culture then, seems to have the potential for greater long-term, sustained benefits than changing products, services, or delivery methods.
Kotter and Heskett (1992) (Corporate, Culture and Performance), suggest that this potential is very real.
In a study of over 200 firms in 22 US states, they found strong evidence that culture is an important factor in an organisational ability to sustain success in a changing environment.
To stay ahead of competitors, organisations need to come up with strategies, which enable them to defend their turf.
Microsoft uses acquisitions as one of the strategies to counter any competitors.
Microsoft acquired some of the companies that came up with nascient technologies, which threatened its product lines.
Coca-cola International acquires small companies whose products threaten their product line.
Coca-cola assimilates them into their own product lines. They then ground them out and kill the product line.
They hunt for new nascient technology all the time. They herd hunt for people who have skills in innovation, processes and product mix.
IBM has been in the top quadrant of IT hardware manufacturers for many years.
Through being a learning organisation IBM is good at predicting trends.
They are trendsetters themselves rather than followers.
Most companies that have maintained their market leadership continuously excel in their value propositions, service delivery and in adapting to the environmental conditions.
They learn faster than their competitor. A fisherman has to learn and adapt throughout the whole day to maintain leadership.
Individuals and companies are supposed to learn and reinvent themselves.
The truth about most market leaders is that they do not react appropriately to new competitor offerings until the new competitor takes over the market.
By the time the market leaders react, the market will be in the hands of the competitor.
Paul in his letter to the Philippians acknowledge importance of excellency in our daily lives.
He says: “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable . . . if anything is excellent or praiseworthy think about such things,” – Philippians 4v8.
Therefore I command you my fellow brethrens to go out and carry out excellent exploits in all your fields of endeavours so that Zimbabwe will be a breadbasket of Africa again.
l The writer is a managing consultant at CLC Training International. [email protected]