Why Competitive Advantage is so much important?

Business world has seen the rise and fall of many businesses; however, only a small number of businesses survive and grow in the face of cruel market forces operating around them. Even many large organizations struggle in difficult time, laying off workers and closing plants.

What is the lesson to be learned from the failures?

The answer is that a business must have and must sustain competitive advantage. It is all about a business in a competitive war to survive and win. Of course  a business without a competitive advantage over its competitors cannot make money for a long time. It needs to be better than its competitors. A business has four dimensions to focus for gaining and sustaining competitive advantage: innovation, quality, service, speed, and cost competitiveness.

To gain and sustain competitive advantage a business may use one or more of the following tools:

1-       It may acquire people and resources to deliver high quality;

2-       It may innovate to deliver more value to its customers;

3-       It may render high quality services to its customers;

4-       It may deliver product or service with speed;

5-      It may prove itself cost competitive for its customers.

How can a business use innovation, quality, service, speed, and cost competitiveness for competitive advantage?