{"id":47179,"date":"2021-08-20T18:25:00","date_gmt":"2021-08-20T22:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=47179"},"modified":"2021-08-30T14:55:08","modified_gmt":"2021-08-30T18:55:08","slug":"where-to-play-how-to-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/where-to-play-how-to-win\/","title":{"rendered":"Where to Play and How to Win in Business"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>How do you figure out where to play and how to win in business? What are the factors that can stop you from choosing the right playing field?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Knowing where to play and how to win in business involves looking at geography, the products you are offering, and the consumers that will be interested in your product. This will help you choose the best playing field for winning. Factors like lack of demographic focus, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/lack-of-innovation\/\">lack of innovation<\/a>, and overreliance on spending can hinder a business from choosing the right playing field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Read on to learn how entrepreneurs can figure out where to play and how to win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>The Nature of Choices<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Every choice to do something is also a choice not to do something else.<\/strong> When the apple seller decides to target grocery stores, she also decides not to target orchard-goers directly. Sometimes, the best decisions can be the ones where you <em>don\u2019t <\/em>pull the trigger on a new location or market. Often, businesses expand too quickly and can\u2019t fulfill needs as well as they used to.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Likewise, it\u2019s also important to remember that choices are not forever, and choices about where to play can change if the status quo is not working. If companies are frustrated with a market they are in, they can sell off\u2014for example, GE sold NBC because they wanted to move away from the entertainment business.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Knowing Where to Play and How to Win<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>There are a variety of playing-field-related choices. Consider how a business owner who wants to sell apples would approach the following questions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Geography: Where are you competing?<ul><li>Should the apple seller buy an orchard locally or in the next town over?<\/li><\/ul><\/li><li>Product: What are you offering your consumer?<ul><li>Should she plant new trees to diversify her selection? Should she make apple pies to sell as well?<\/li><\/ul><\/li><li>Consumers: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/your-genius\/\">Who are you<\/a> targeting?<ul><li>Should she start by selling to just family and friends or try to find a distribution deal?<\/li><\/ul><\/li><li>Distribution: What strategy will you use to deliver to your consumers?<ul><li>Should she open up her orchard for picking or just sell apples wholesale to grocery stores?<\/li><\/ul><\/li><li>Production: How much of the production of your product will you be responsible for?<ul><li>Should she hire workers to help with the picking and packaging? How many?<\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Small businesses, like this apple grower, have fewer questions than larger ones\u2014for example, larger businesses might also have questions about which distribution companies are best in different parts of the country, or about whether to take business international.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some questions about where to play and how to win are more important than others. Their urgency depends on many things\u2014industry, the size of the company, how long a company has been around, and so on. A startup might reasonably be more concerned about their product because they need to develop a good one before they can be successful in <em>any <\/em>market. Meanwhile, a company that has been around for a long time but is struggling might think more about engaging a new target audience because they believe their product is good but is no longer working in their current market.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To figure out where to play and how to win, P&amp;G, which is a large company, considers the consumer first. They invest a lot of money in figuring out what their customers want. In doing so, they can figure out what sort of customers are worth their time and money to pursue. Their secondary concern is distribution\u2014they need to find retail locations and distribution services in which they can capably compete.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Also, to know where to play and how to win, consider who you are competing against. Some competitors have a stranglehold over certain markets and are really good at what they do, so success against them would be much more difficult than in an underdeveloped niche with fewer good competitors. However, if a company can bring <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/unique-value-understanding-michael-porter\/\">unique value<\/a> to a market that\u2019s already crowded, they can rise to the top. Just remember that the goal is not just to compete but to win.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>P&amp;G Case Study: Bounty<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>At P&amp;G in the U.S. in the 70s, 80s, and 90s, \u201cthe quicker picker-upper\u201d was a great tagline for Bounty, which was an extra-absorbent paper towel. It became a leading brand. However, when the company went global, the expansion wasn\u2019t strategic enough\u2014the brand didn\u2019t expand with the express purpose of winning every market they expanded into\u2014and Bounty was struggling by the early 2000s.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In these emerging international markets, consumers weren\u2019t interested in buying paper towels or other home care products because they were so used to using washable towels and thought the paper towels were a waste. P&amp;G couldn\u2019t target niche markets that were interested, like an up-and-coming urban professional class in India, because the manufacturing and distribution costs would be too high. In the process of identifying where to play and how to win, P&amp;G decided to focus solely on the North American market that would help them maintain a strategic advantage.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Then, with <em>where <\/em>they would market and sell settled, P&amp;G moved on to <em>what <\/em>they would market and sell. What you\u2019re selling, even within the category of home care, can put you in vastly different markets.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bounty found that there was a group of customers that cared about the strength and the absorbancy of their paper towels and loved Bounty. However, there was another group that wanted their paper towels to feel and act more like cloth. This group didn\u2019t like Bounty as much as the core group. Finally, there was a group that cared about price more than other factors.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So P&amp;G made a new product, Bounty Extra Soft, for the people who wanted a cloth-type experience. The price point, though, remained a challenge for them. They didn\u2019t want to make their paper towels worse and cheaper, so they created Bounty Basic, which was still better than the value brands, but also 25% cheaper than the original Bounty.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But Bounty Basic is still more expensive than some of the cheapest brands. While they wanted to play on more fields, P&amp;G made the decision not to play on the ultra-value one.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Avoiding Playing Field Temptations&nbsp;<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>There are three big temptations to avoid when considering where to play and how to win:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Temptation #1: Not choosing at all:<\/strong> All companies need to be specific about their demographic choices, because trying to be different things to different people is a recipe for disaster. It\u2019s very difficult to compete for the attention of a young American man and an aging French woman at the same time. So, based on your company\u2019s capabilities, decide what specific age groups, geographies, or channels (for example, mass merchandise vs. luxury) you want to cater to.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You may think that some big, successful companies market to everyone, everywhere, and wonder why you can\u2019t do the same thing. However, even huge companies choose specific playing fields. Consider Apple\u2014even though it\u2019s a giant company with worldwide distribution, it only gets 2 percent of its revenue from China. This is due to Apple choosing not to play in China to the same extent it does in other places. Also consider their product\u2014it is always high quality and relatively expensive, so it doesn\u2019t cater to low-income buyers.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Temptation #2: Spending your way out of a bad situation:<\/strong> You can\u2019t just spend and hope that everything works out. Companies will often acquire other companies that are doing a better job than they are in their industry. This is an issue for several reasons:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>The acquired companies are often expensive.&nbsp;<\/li><li>The acquiring company wants to get its money\u2019s worth and has different priorities than the company it acquires. Consequently, the parent company often has the acquired company compete in new arenas that the acquiring company wants to take over. However, there\u2019s no guarantee of success in this\u2014companies that do well in one arena have no inherent advantage in any other arena.&nbsp;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Instead of buying your way out, fix what\u2019s going on in your own company and refocus your own efforts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Temptation #3: Believing that choices are final or made for you:<\/strong> Some companies think there are certain places where they have to compete. For instance, they believe that they are stuck in whatever business model they have adopted and can\u2019t pivot. Clearly, though, this is not true in practice. Companies can pivot out of old arenas and into new ones if they work hard enough. Take Apple, for example\u2014at first, they marketed themselves as high-end technology for the creative class. However, they realized that they weren\u2019t stuck in this business model or this arena, and started making cheaper products and delivering services like iTunes.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>P&amp;G\u2019s Places to Play<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>You can do much of the best work in this step of the cascade by simply figuring out new arenas of competition. For example, P&amp;G struggled for a long time in the home cleaning sector because its household cleaning brand Comet was old and not that useful for the modern home, and their market share was declining. Rather than trying to make Comet better, P&amp;G researched what people today need in their homes. This led them to launch Swiffer, a different kind of home cleaner that shook the market.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How do you figure out where to play and how to win in business? What are the factors that can stop you from choosing the right playing field? Knowing where to play and how to win in business involves looking at geography, the products you are offering, and the consumers that will be interested in your product. This will help you choose the best playing field for winning. Factors like lack of demographic focus, lack of innovation, and overreliance on spending can hinder a business from choosing the right playing field. Read on to learn how entrepreneurs can figure out<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":12558,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[45,103],"tags":[472],"class_list":["post-47179","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-sales","tag-playing-to-win","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Where to Play and How to Win in Business - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"How do companies know where to play and how to win? Discover how knowledge of your target market and product applications will help you win.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/where-to-play-how-to-win\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Where to Play and How to Win in Business\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"How do companies know where to play and how to win? Discover how knowledge of your target market and product applications will help you win.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/where-to-play-how-to-win\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-08-20T22:25:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-08-30T18:55:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/permanent-record-leak-strategy-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Joseph Adebisi\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Joseph Adebisi\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/where-to-play-how-to-win\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/where-to-play-how-to-win\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Joseph Adebisi\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d8daf45671a09e8745a7a9f50a03b2a0\"},\"headline\":\"Where to Play and How to Win in Business\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-08-20T22:25:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-08-30T18:55:08+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/where-to-play-how-to-win\/\"},\"wordCount\":1609,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/where-to-play-how-to-win\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/permanent-record-leak-strategy-scaled.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Playing to Win\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Business\",\"Sales\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/where-to-play-how-to-win\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/where-to-play-how-to-win\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/where-to-play-how-to-win\/\",\"name\":\"Where to Play and How to Win in Business - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/where-to-play-how-to-win\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/where-to-play-how-to-win\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/permanent-record-leak-strategy-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-08-20T22:25:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-08-30T18:55:08+00:00\",\"description\":\"How do companies know where to play and how to win? 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