There are three primary sources of long-term sustainable competitive advantage: customer captivity, economies of scale, and preferential access to resources. Lock on to one of these early and you can build a barrier to competitive threats. WebMD focused early on one of these three: customer captivity.
Consumers and business buyers alike are jaded, sick and tired of being hoodwinked into buying stuff that doesn't deliver as promised. Here are a few do's and don'ts for cutting through the noise in the digital age.
Activist-turned-entrepreneur Paul Fenn's effort to bring affordable sustainable energy to California could be revolutionary -- and electricity giant PG&E isn't happy about it at all.
The mildly controversial Lily Allen revived a sputtering career as a singer/songwriter by posting demos on MySpace in November 2005, and earning legions of fans, media coverage, and ultimately international stardom. To date, nearly 20 million songs have been downloaded from her MySpace page.
A Kick in the Career: In this week's column, humorist and career expert Tom Stern writes about business competition, teamwork, and the basic human need for acknowledgment.
