Strategic Marketing - Essay Example

ters five forces is that it puts pressure on businesses to improve products, services and the organization itself by implementing new “methods, technologies, and techniques” to improve quality and to cut costs (Miller 2000, p. 101). In practice we have seen these five forces in action. For example, Japanese automakers have taken the lead from Toyota and entered the Western markets. Likewise, European suppliers like Bosch and Valeo have entered the market in Asia. In another example, shortages in steel and aluminum together with higher prices have put increasing pressure on suppliers with the result that they have decidedly settled for decreased profits (Simon 2009, p. 195). Founder of Boston Consulting Group, Bruce Henderson theorized that competition is natural and in its natural form, competitors must refrain from competing in exactly the same way and the same place and the same time.

The fact is, it is the differences between competitors that that give one competitor an advantage over the other or others (Stern and Deimler 2006, p. 4). There is a large variety of competitive elements with an equally large number of variables. These variables include, size, conduct and traits that are not coincidental but entirely “inevitable” (Stern and Deimler 2006, p. 4). This is natural competitor which exhibits a number of observable patterns including the fact that some competitors will constrain the natural factors of competition and therefore alter it.

As a result, the “frontiers or boundaries of competition parity” will be in a constant state of change (Stern and Deimler 2006, p. 5). As a result of these changes, there will be persistent tensions when competition is equal and little if any tension where there is superior competition. An uneven military conflict serves as an appropriate example. In the application of Stern’s theory, competition drives firms to watch their respective industries and to make changes necessary for creating