Competition is a great thing.
Competition is a big part of the American marketplace. It can be healthy and promote growth of individual companies and the economy as a whole. Competition can also breed some negative things.
Sometimes there are companies or individuals who are threatened by competition. In these instances, things can take an ugly turn. I have become witness to people, not just specific to my field but across many others who turn to negativity instead of innovation to compete. I have seen people attack other businesses in order to try and protect what they feel entitled to. I believe that there is room for any quality business or product.
In a free market place we rely on the customers to make the choice on whether a product or service is any good. They vote with their wallet and that should be it. If your product or service is better than others people will buy yours based on quality and value. If your product is losing market share because of another product you simply need to improve your product. That seems simple right?
Then why do companies that loose market share resort to things that harm the competition instead? I have seen legislation passed to affect the competition. I have seen people get involved in local politics to create zoning issues that affect their competition. I have heard of all kinds of corporate espionage designed to take out and hurt the competition all for the sake of someone trying to hold onto market share with a product that just may not be popular anymore. In the end it is the consumer that loses.
Take the Tucker Car Company for instance. Preston Tucker sought to build the car of the future with innovative safety designs such as a padded dashboard, a pop out windshield, disc brakes, and a third headlight that swiveled while making turns. He was head to head with big car companies that simply did not want the car to exist and wouldn’t let Mr Tucker acquire the steel or supplies he needed. Today Tucker’s 475 acre Chicago production plant houses a tootsie roll factory and a shopping center. Many of his ideas were later instituted and we enjoy them as standards in today’s vehicles.
Competition is a good thing for the consumer and for business. A great new product or service in any category brings more consumers to that category as a whole. It forces us as business owners to constantly be improving and proving a better product. If someone makes a better widget than you or has improved on your service than you have to work to improve your product. Anything else is just wrong and eventually even if you succeed in removing your better competition you will still lose customers because there will always be someone else coming along with something better.
365 Days To My First Million. 