Competitive Strategy – An action plan a company develops to produce a unique mix of value and deliver a competitive position in the market.

Competitive Advantage – The attribute that allows an organization to outperform its competitors.

SWOT Analysis – A strategic planning technique used to identify Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats related to business competition.

Porter’s Five Forces – A model that identifies and analyzes five competitive forces that shape every industry and help determine an industry’s weaknesses and strengths.

Market Segmentation – The process of dividing a target market into smaller, more defined categories.

Differentiation Strategy – Offering a unique product or service that is valued by customers.

Cost Leadership – An approach where a company is the lowest-cost producer in its industry.

Focus Strategy – A competitive strategy where a business focuses on serving a particular segment or niche within the market.

Value Chain Analysis – A process where a firm identifies its primary and support activities that add value to its final product and then analyze these activities to reduce costs or increase differentiation.

Blue Ocean Strategy – The simultaneous pursuit of differentiation and low cost to open up a new market space and create new demand.

Benchmarking – Comparing one’s business processes and performance metrics to industry bests or best practices from other companies.

Core Competencies – Unique strengths and abilities of a business, providing the foundation from which it produces value.

Strategic Alliance – An agreement between two or more parties to pursue a set of agreed upon objectives while remaining independent organizations.

Market Penetration – The act of increasing market share within an existing industry.

Product Diversification – A strategy that involves adding product lines or categories to serve different markets.

Global Strategy – A strategy that involves operating in several different countries in order to attract and serve international customers.

First-Mover Advantage – The competitive advantage a business gains by being the first to enter a specific market or industry.

Sustainable Competitive Advantage – A long-term, defendable advantage over competitors.

Growth Strategies – Strategies designed to achieve higher levels of business activity, including market expansion, product expansion, diversification, and acquisition.

Strategic Planning – The process of defining a business strategy, or direction, and making decisions on allocating its resources to pursue this strategy.

Balanced Scorecard – A strategy performance management tool used in strategic planning to align business activities to the vision and strategy of the organization.

Exit Strategy – A planned approach to exiting a business, which is likely to maximize the business’s value.

Business Model Innovation – The process of changing a company’s business model to create competitive advantage.

Game Theory – A theoretical framework for conceiving social situations among competing players and strategizing for optimal outcomes.

Merger and Acquisitions (M&A) – Strategies involving the buying, selling, dividing, and combining of different companies and similar entities to aid, finance, or help a growing company in a given industry grow rapidly.