Brand Relevance: Making Competitors Irrelevant - always yours

Barriers to Entry
EVALUATION 223
A key element of analyzing competitor response is determining
whether the new offering can come with barriers to competition
suffi cient to make the new business area worthwhile for some
length of time. Barriers can involve a host of assets and competencies.
They can be based on technology, distribution, product
design, marketing insight and programs, brand, and more. The
brand is often the key because although the product or service
can be copied, the brand cannot. Potential barriers are the topic
of the Chapter Nine .
Beyond Go or No - Go — A Portfolio of Concepts
An evaluation should not be restricted to a go or no - go
decision whereby the fi rm commits to either bringing the concept
to market or killing it for all time. A go decision should
rather mean that the concept advances to the next phase along
a path that is perhaps defi ned by development, laboratory
testing, fi eld testing, and market introduction. The idea is to
reduce the risk. Too many resources made available at the outset
can lead to waste, perhaps in the form of ill - advised expenditures
on a defective design. Venture capital fi rms have learned that
keeping the entrepreneurial group lean with interim funding
is prudent.
A no - go decision, conversely, can result in the premature
killing of a good concept. The issue is timing. It may be that
the market or the technology is simply not there yet but may
become ready as the market evolves or the technology improves.
That was the case for MP3 players before the iPod and for
hybrid cars before the Prius. The organization should have an
evaluation process that allows a promising idea to be monitored
and to receive some ongoing investment around understanding
or resolving troublesome issues rather than being unfunded and
forgotten. The goal is not to provide a reason to avoid tough
decisions but a way to handle the dynamics that underlie concepts
with real potential.