Reflections on the failure of the most popular dif

Some thoughts on the failure of differentiation strategy

"your dress and your hairstyle have made many people regard you as an alternative. You should test yourself and ask yourself what information you will convey to your friends". "I think this is a good performance for me to establish an unconventional position, and others should also think so.". This is a dialogue between father and son. I believe we can learn something from it. In the era of personality publicity, it seems that we can often hear and see this, but what makes us deeply puzzled is that such publicity methods have been used by many enterprises to realize the experimental field of simply supported beam and cantilever beam, and they have also been labeled as differentiation

the differentiation strategy implemented by some enterprises can often play a good role in winning disputes and promoting enterprises to a certain height of popularity. Differentiation strategy is undoubtedly like a shot in the arm in a market with serious homogenization, which can make the originally calm market rise and fall sharply. Of course, what is more important is that those enterprises that implement differentiation strategy also deeply affect their competitors when they obtain short-term, or even long-term, market benefits. However, it cannot be ignored that the differentiation strategy itself is also a double-edged sword, especially in the market with lack of differences in demand and the enterprises with lack of innovation and strategy implementation ability, it is not only difficult to increase revenue, but also may lose the original market share. From the actual situation, it is found that some enterprises have not been able to adapt themselves to the implementation requirements of differentiation strategy, and have introduced it hastily. Instead, they have changed their original well implemented strategic means out of blind obedience or following the trend

when you haven't thoroughly studied the differentiation strategy, implementing the differentiation strategy is just a blind man touching an elephant. Yes, many strategy research experts, including Michael Porter, have emphasized that the difference of differentiation strategy can be reflected in many unspecified links and means, such as the form of competitive strategy, technology, design, process, shape, brand, characteristics, positioning, marketing mode and method, service and price. However, many enterprises only know one thing, not the other; Only know why, do not know why, the specific manifestations are: narrowly believe that differentiation is only to strive for differences at the product level; The way to create differences is very mechanical; Full sense of innovation but lack of integration or overall awareness; The target customers did not show enthusiasm for different products and blindly differed

enterprises that simply believe that just reflecting differences in products is differentiation strategy are obviously misinterpreting the essence of differentiation strategy. It must be admitted that the ultimate goal of differentiation strategy is to have a competitive advantage in the way of meeting customer needs. From this, we can intuitively find that every enterprise has basically the same way of meeting the needs of the common target market, and then the enterprise has the conditions and motivation to implement differentiation strategy. Then, this way of satisfaction will not only be at the product level, but also include all other relevant links or means centered around the product. For example, the differences in service, marketing mode and brand appeal will be very conducive to enterprises to truly establish the competitive advantage of differentiation strategy. It is undeniable that it is still of great guiding significance to treat products as the center of creating differentiation

in terms of trying to make the way to meet customers different from other enterprises, mechanically creating differences is undoubtedly an intellectual blasphemy for customers. The product packaging is too luxurious; The product line is too wide, too deep and too long, and greater efforts should be made to further develop China's high-speed rail industry; The way of promotion is too grandstanding; The way of service is too disturbing to the residents, which is the concrete manifestation of the difference created by machinery. Creating difference is to make the way to meet customer needs different from competitors, and make customers truly perceive and experience the value of the enterprise, rather than creating differences for the purpose of creating differences. Mechanically creating differences will also bury the root cause of failure for enterprises in the future, because the target customers will fundamentally deny the innovation ability of enterprises and make it difficult for enterprises to re-establish their dominant position. Competitors will also think that the differentiation mode of enterprises is simply their own warning sign and reduce the implementation cost of differentiation

at the initial stage of implementing differentiation strategy, some enterprises have unprecedented enthusiasm for innovation, and have a thorough analysis of target customers and competitors, but they don't know how to integrate and make enterprises work together. Strictly speaking, this is also the reason why differentiation strategy is not well understood. When an enterprise decides to implement the differentiation strategy, it should have a comprehensive understanding of the enterprise's resource status, staff quality and awareness, and the current situation of external competition. Otherwise, it is very easy to abort the differentiation strategy and cause jokes, and that kind of frustration is more likely to distract personnel. When an enterprise decides to implement differentiation from the perspective of product technology, it should ask itself: do the existing enterprise technicians understand differentiation, have they been mobilized, do the enterprise have practical support means, are the necessary technical talents in place, have the follow-up talent reserve plans been formulated, are the employees in the production line ready to adjust the production mode, and have the marketing personnel formulated a matching marketing mode, etc. If the differentiation strategy is only a consensus reached by the decision-making level and the management level, but has not been known and supported by the executive level, in fact, this differentiation strategy is just a slogan. The integration of differentiation strategy is related to the market interests of the enterprise and the success or failure of strategy implementation. The so-called integration is to make the enterprise quickly separate from the original strategy and adapt to the existing strategy on the basis of a full understanding of the differentiation strategy. At the same time, the differentiation strategy is decomposed and implemented to every post and employee, and it really plays a role

in many product areas, customers are very careful about differentiated products, such as food and other basic products, out of consumption habits or traditional perceptions. Of course, the marketing or service modes of these products can be different, but for basic products whose core value is far greater than other added value, customers' requirements for differentiation are not so obvious. Even if they have the desire for differentiation, it may not pay off for enterprises. For example, packaging and some raw materials, no matter how the enterprise pursues differences, customers always take price and quality as the selection factors. After all, he should consider the area and self-interest of his customers with the future use of high-performance plastics in the automotive field. Therefore, without analyzing the characteristics of your own products and customer needs, you rashly integrate into the differentiation strategy. Even though you may increase the number of customers in the customer database a lot, your profits have not increased synchronously. It is often foolish for enterprises that produce basic products to make their products have different styles and functions; In the long run, it is often not worth the loss for food manufacturers to pursue luxury in food packaging and expect to cater to customers

from the perspective that differentiation strategy is an attempt to change ways to meet customer needs, enterprises should first carefully analyze the essence of customer needs, secondly understand the satisfaction methods of competitors, and then evaluate the matching degree of the enterprise's own resources to the differentiation strategy. Finally, appropriately change or integrate enterprise resources and choose the right time to accurately integrate into the differentiation strategy. Don't expect differentiation strategy itself to bring sustainable competitive advantage to enterprises. The establishment of competitive advantage stems from the integration of enterprises into such a competitive strategy in the right industry, the right operation and the right market opportunity, and can make the differentiation of enterprises innovative, adaptive and overall. (end)