S.K. GuptaLast updated: Feb 22, 2020
Model Name : Hardball Strategy
Creator : George Stalk, Jr. and Rob Lachenauer, Harvard Business Review Press
Year : 2004
Purpose : Competitive Strategy | Competitive advantage | Play to win strategies | Better performance
Competition, competition, competition!
How often do you hear this word? How many times do you worry about it and want to deal with it once and for all? And how many times do you wish to knock out your competitors entirely so they would never come in your way?
Probably, every second of the day!
Competitors are the biggest threat to any organization in the world. Every so often, we try to devise such strategies that will help us surpass our competitors. But this endless process wears us down to a frazzle.
One day, we are happy and content with our company’s progress. The next day, a new competitor gets into the field and hauls a new innovative strategy in the market, leaving us with the turmoil of handling the heat.
It is the thirsting desire of every company to beat the competition however possible and always stay ahead of the game. This demand urges business leaders and strategy managers to develop a long-lasting competitive advantage that will never be emulated by anyone and never reached by any competitor.
Continually repeating old strategies and methods could bring your business down to the ground in no time
This is precisely why need to come out of your comfort zone, and instead of just playing to play, you have to play to win!
That’s the motto of ‘Hardball strategy.’
What is Hardball Strategy?
Hardball strategy focuses on gaining an intense competitive advantage over your competitors. It enables you to go beyond the bounds of their possibility to reach your level.
For example, if they start earning more than you, hardball strategy commands the players to destroy their profits to every inch.
Hardcore! Right?
Let’s explore this strategy further and discuss how you can blow away your competitors with the help of this fascinating approach.
Throw your competitors out of the game with Hardball Strategy
Hardball strategy is the game changer. There are many companies who enjoyed a robust competitive advantage in the past, but with the passage of time, it was wiped out.
On the contrary, hardball players are bent on increasing the performance gap between themselves and their rivals. They don’t cool down with their current competitive advantage but keep striving to create tomorrow’s advantage to sustain their position in the market.
Now, with the following throw-out techniques you can hard-hit your competitors in the business game:
Throw Your Competitive Edge
You need to always focus on innovating your competitive edge.
For example, Wal-Mart developed its advantage in discount retailing with ‘cross-docking’ warehouses concept in the 1970s. But it didn’t stop there. The company brought a new advantage as “everybody low prices” by reducing further costs.
Throw Extremely
Don’t just compete, competing to the extreme is the key.
For example, Toyota challenges all the automobile companies to outperform it in producing high-quality vehicles at a low cost. No one has gone so far to accept its bet.
Throw Your Competitor Off Indirectly
You don’t need to attack directly. Hardball players are smart and cunning. They attack indirectly and avoid confrontation.
Like Southwest Airlines, which started its operations in small areas and out of the way airports, where no other airline operated.
Throw the Limit Out of the Zone
Hardball players recognize and evade their own caution zone. They know there is no limit to success. And that’s why only ‘they’ dare to reach the edge of the caution zone where nobody even thinks to play Like Tesla.
Throw Your Actions on Your Employees
Exploit your employees’ will to win. Propel them to make robust actions. Hardball players are extremely action-oriented and don’t relax with their current status.
Like Apple keeps innovating and creating new advantages to outdo its competitors.
Hardball Players Do Five Things
So, you have decided to be a hardball player! In order to win all the battles of competition and let your rivals fizzle out, you should do these five things with confidence:
1. Copy the idea but enhance it
Hardball players believe that ideas can be copied. What makes them different is that they just don’t copy a concept but strengthen it.
Take an example of McDonald’s. You may think that Ray Kroc actually invented this food chain. However, Ray stole the idea from Richard and Maurice McDonald’s small chain of burger joints and transformed that idea into a unique business.
Pro Tip: Don’t worry about taking someone’s idea but make sure you improve it!
2. Ruin your competitors’ rested haven
Every competitor has some safe haven in which his profits are lodged, which sometimes called as profit sanctuary or Cash Cow. These are areas in which an organization makes the maximum earnings.
If you double-cross your competitor by destroying its Cash Cow, you surely can win.
Let’s look at Cashcow for some companies :
- Its coke classic for Coca-Cola & Company
- Its advertising revenue for Google
- Windows software for Microsoft
- iPhone for Apple etc.
With various techniques, you can outdo them such as :
- cutting down your prices
- pouring the market with your brand’s advertisements
- creating a whole new market which is unthinkable for your rival
Pro Tip: Remember ‘knowledge’ about your competitors’ actions is pivotal to your victory. Know them!
3. Thrash with heavy power
Indirect attack is another thing. But when it comes to thrash the competitors to the core, hardball players blow a massive and overwhelming force over their rivals.
They beat the competition directly, swiftly and being completely focused. But, before employing this strategy, you should be sure that it will work.
Like, you know that you have invested in more divisions than your competitors have, show him its fruits with full force when he is not ready!
4. Put your rival on the wrong track
Another distinct trait of hardball players is that they mislead their competitors by showing them a different advantage. When you conceive a new idea, you also fear that it might be taken by someone.
So, hardball players like to ‘fake’ the basic and hit the rivals at the right time with its solid brand new strategy.
Rivals won’t even track your path. Let alone responding it!
5. Lift your ‘profits’ but his ‘costs’
A hardball player masters this flair. He gets to know his rivals’ costs and then maneuver the pricing by lowering his costs.
As a result, the competitor keeps thinking that he is making high profits but doesn’t know that his costs are actually rising.
But, remember this is a risky trade!
Ready to Play Ball?
Before making your hardball moves, you should determine whether you have enough stamina, strength, and fortitude to pay back when you get the hardball or whether it’s out of your potential to manage.
It’s not just the smart moves and crafty strategies that you bring into business, it’s your attitude towards success that matters!
References & more information
Brianna Parker
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