Business Growth - Examining Five Killer Strategies For Trouncing the Competition

Winners in business play rough and don't apologizeToyota?" "Is Wal-Mart Too Powerful?" and "What
for it.You Don't Know About Dell" - suggest there's
Toyota has steadily attacked the Big Threesomething not quite kosher about the way they
where their will to defend was weakest, movingachieve that success.
up the line from compact cars to mid- and full-sizeThat's because Toyota, Dell, and Wal-Mart play
vehicles and on to Detroit's last remaining profithardball. What do we mean by this? Hardball
centers, light trucks and SUVs. All the while,players pursue with a single-minded focus
Toyota has dared its rivals to duplicate acompetitive advantage and the benefits it offers -
production system that gives the companyleading market share, great margins, rapid growth,
unmatchable productivity and quality.and all the intangibles of being in command. They
Dell is similarly relentless, and ruthless, in dealingpick their shots, seek out competitive encounters,
with competitors. Last summer, the day afterset the pace of innovation, test the edges of the
Hewlett-Packard announced weak results becausepossible. They play to win. And they do.
of price competition in PCs, Dell announced aSoftball players, by contrast, may look good -
further across-the-board cut - delivering a swiftthey may report decent earnings and even get
kick to a tough rival when it was down.favorable ink in the business press - but they
Wal-Mart is well known for its uncompromisingaren't intensely serious about winning. They don't
stance toward suppliers. In 1996, Rubbermaid, aaccept that you sometimes must hurt your rivals,
$2 billion business that a few years earlier hadand risk being hurt yourself, to get what you
been Fortune's most admired company, venturedwant. Instead of running smart and hard, they
to contest Wal-Mart's pressure on suppliers toseem almost to be standing around and watching.
lower their prices - and Wal-Mart simply cutThey play to play. And though they may not end
Rubbermaid off. (Newell acquired a strugglingup out-and-out losers, they certainly don't win.
Rubbermaid in 1999.) Wal-Mart doesn't pull punchesThis may reflect the recent emphasis of
with competitors, either. In recent years, asmanagement science, which itself has gone soft.
Kmart floundered in bankruptcy proceedings,Indeed, the discourse around a constellation of
Wal-Mart rolled out a knockoff of Kmart's Marthasquishy issues - leadership, corporate culture,
Stewart product line, putting pressure on one ofcustomer care, knowledge management, talent
the tottering retailer's few areas of success.management, employee empowerment, and the
Hardly anyone would dispute that Toyota, Dell,like - has encouraged the making of softball
and Wal-Mart have epitomized corporate successplayers.
over the past decade. But the raised eyebrows"Hardball", George Stalk, Jr. and Rob Lachenauer,
they provoke - recent BusinessWeek coverHarvard Business Review, April 2004.
articles have included "Can Anything Stop