CREATING NEW MARKET SPACE IN SOUTH AFRICA

Date
2011-06-09
Authors
Rubinstein, Hylton
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Abstract
Organisations across the globe face increasingly intense competition, making it difficult to achieve profitable growth. Traditionally, companies try to outperform their rivals in order to secure a larger share of the existing market. Yet as the existing market space becomes more crowded, the prospects for profits and growth are reduced. Businesses that wish to succeed in the future need to venture beyond existing market boundaries and to explore untapped market space, creating new demand which results in the opportunity for highly profitable growth. By doing so, such companies are able to make the competition irrelevant. The purpose of this research was to investigate how companies create new market space in South Africa. In-depth interviews were conducted at two case sites – Discovery Health and The Pre-Paid Company. Company documentation was also analysed by the researcher. The researcher found that there is no simple answer to the question of how to create new market space. Rather, the answer lies in an integrated approach in terms of which a company should focus on the development of core competencies, adopt a market orientation perspective, occupy a distinctive place in the mind of the customer, identify unmet and unknown customer and non-customer needs, challenge an industry’s strategic logic, reconstruct market boundaries, implement strategic moves, simultaneously pursue differentiation and low cost strategies, and demonstrate focus and divergence on an industry strategy canvas. The research should be of value to entrepreneurs, business owners, business consultants and academics seeking to understand the way in which companies can create new market space
Description
MBA - WBS
Keywords
Market space, Competition, Strategic planning
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