At this time of the year, many annual meetings are to be found and if you go besides listening to the speakers and depending on the size of the company enjoying their hospitality, there are some strategic thinking you may wish to do. Harvey Schachter recently wrote around business competition and quoted Jeffery Phillips a North Carolina consultant who asks – instead of competing what if you could make your competition irrelevant? Instead of trying to defeat the competition, try to outmanoeuvre them. The example is the hotel industry. You may have thought with the large chains, blocks of brick and motor buildings filled with beds and washrooms there would be a tremendous barrier to entry. Then along comes Airbnb taking advantage of existing homes and facilities.

Mr. Phillips and Alex Verjosky have 3 outmaneuvering strategies to consider:

Pre-emption – moving to a valuable, unoccupied location, channel or market position before your competition exists and seize it limiting the options for others to follow.

Hotels had reservations systems but did not fully utilize it.

Maxwell House never saw Starbucks coming.

ITunes changed the way people listen to music – no more physical just digital.

The change is hard for others to act, because when they do the newcomer is the established brand.

Dislocation – most companies work on a cycle, carefully cultivated over the years and everyone thinks the cycles are the right one.

The fashion industry has 4 seasons, Zara challenged it with more selections during the year.

Disruption – distract competitors from implementation of their plans to force them to spend time and energy on topics that are not strategic.

An example is Southwest Airlines noticed it was first on US Department of Transportation lists- on time performance, best baggage handling and fewest customer complaints gave itself a Triple Crown award and publicized it. Others had to say what they were doing or not doing.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, the outmaneuvering strategies are often aimed at companies which can pay dividends and therefore they need to consider what the competition will be doing or how to handle and react to the them. If your company is not considering, it is time to look for alternatives.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.