One sure fire way to kill your business is to try and avoid competition. Sounds ironic? You probably have heard of business experts and many a consultants telling you to avoid competition whenever possible. And a lot of people tend to believe that the secret to a successful business or making a lot of profit is to find a market almost virgin from competition. But do take note that if there is any known buyer demand and a good niche, it is most likely that someone would already have spotted these entrepreneur opportunities and marked that space.
How Sure Are You Of The Demand?
And indeed untapped entrepreneur opportunities are always out there, but finding one without competition could literally backfire on you. It probably has not dawn upon some of us who, while enthusiastically burrowing our heads into finding the perfect niche out there, have omitted the fact that the eventually chosen niche could be one without sufficient buyer demand because of the lack of competition. Rhetorical it may be, but there is great true in the fact that it could be a niche that no one wishes to enter as most realize that there is literally no demand. And even if you manage to find or create a niche and market with little or no competition there will soon be swarms of competition jumping onto the bandwagon. So the strategy should be that if there is literally no way to avoid competition, excel above them.
How Does The First Mover Advantage Concept Measure Up?
Many businesses are still hung on the concept of first mover advantage which suggests that the first to enter into a particular market niche will be able to generate massive profit, competitive advantage as well as extensive market share. They will also be the ones who will be able to maintain their leadership position for good.
Despite the fact that there are numerous first mover advantage situations which holds true, we need to understand their characteristics from the perspective of The Porters’ Five Forces. Those who could hold on to their leadership positions are probably in the businesses which require extremely high capital outlay in areas like oil rigs and pipeline development or industries with highly professional and exclusive expertise like fund management and precision technologies. These capabilities serve as high business entry barriers to new aspiring entrants. Alternatively, businesses with low business entry barriers like the internet will continue to see new blood and new ideas swarming an already busy marketplace.
Entrepreneur opportunities will always exist. But you need to ensure that there are adequate market size, buyer demand, long term potential, good amount of target audience and the right amount of barrier to entry to help you maintain your leadership within the industry.
