A vantagem competitiva decorre de decisões

"Many of the most successful companies focus on their competitive position inside an industry, as opposed to the average performance of their segment of the economy. Joly explains, "If you remember, [in the past] the message from this company was all about the headwinds in our industry. [Today,] we never talk about the headwinds. ... What we do has more impact, we think, than the overall environment." There are three reasons why this type of thinking is prevalent in companies that create exceptional value. A first is that in most industries, variation in profitability inside the industry exceeds the profitability differences across industries. In other words, your best opportunities are almost always in your current industry, even if it is considered a difficult place for business. A second reason to focus on competitive positions inside an industry (versus industry attractiveness) is that positive industry fundamentals will simply be reflected in the multiples that companies need to pay to enter an attractive industry. Finally, for companies that happen to be in struggling industries, a focus on headwinds is demoralizing, and it likely contributes to decreases in productivity. "It's a virtuous cycle," says Joly. "Once you start winning, people get more excited, more confident." Best Buy's internal data show that by 2013, staff engagement was higher than at any point since 2006."

Recordar de 2013 - São as decisões dos humanos que ajudam a fazer a diferença 

Recordar de 2022 um resumo que recua a 2011 - "Thus, the concept of "industry profitability" may have no meaning"

Estudos atrás de estudos têm mostrado que a variabilidade da rentabilidade entre empresas dentro do mesmo sector é muito superior à variabilidade entre sectores. Isto significa que estar num sector “difícil” não é uma condenação. E, inversamente, estar num sector “atractivo” não garante sucesso. Em vez de olhar para o vento de frente (os headwinds), as empresas que criam valor excecional concentram-se na forma como navegam — com as velas que têm.

A implicação é profunda: a vantagem competitiva não vem do sector onde se está, mas das decisões estratégicas, operacionais e humanas que se tomam dentro dele.

Trecho retirado de "Better, simpler strategy : a value-based guide to exceptional performance" de Felix Oberholzer-Gee.