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What is Competitive advantage?

Competitive advantage: Something that lets a company outperform rivals.

Where Competitive advantage fits

Competitive advantage is part of Strategy & Decisions in Management. Strategy is choosing where to compete and what to ignore. SWOT, KPIs and stakeholder maps guide decisions; opportunity cost says every yes is a no; sunk costs should not drive choices.

Practical tip

Decide on future value and track it with clear KPIs.

Related terms

SWOT analysis
Reviews strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.
KPI
A key number used to track progress toward goals.
Stakeholder
Anyone affected by a company's decisions.
Opportunity cost
The value of the best alternative you give up.
Sunk cost
Money already spent that can't be recovered; it shouldn't drive future choices.
Vision statement
A picture of what a company wants to become in the future.
Scenario planning
Preparing for several possible futures instead of betting on one.
Balanced scorecard
Tracking performance from several perspectives.

Formulas you will use with it

PERT estimateZ-scoreMean (average)Cost performance index

Test yourself

Which term means: “Something that lets a company outperform rivals.”?

Competitive advantage · KPI · Balanced scorecard

Answer: Competitive advantage

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