Copying your competition is pointless
I used to sail Laser IIs while at University and one thing the Captain of the squad told me was that if you are being shadowed by someone from the other team, the easiest way to leave them behind was to throw in as many tacks as possible.
Its totally counter-intuitive, tacking slows the boat down and unnecessary tacking is the last thing you'd think you'd want to do to stay in front. But, and this part stuck with me, if you are being followed by a shadow, someone that will mirror your every move, the more moves you throw out the harder you become to replicate, and slowly your opponent will lose ground.
Its the same with chess. You can't win a game by copying your opponent, you are always a move behind.
In business these rules apply even more directly.
If I were to create a site that mirrored Facebook's functionality no one would join (there are switching costs to leaving Facebook, and a mere replica cannot not overcome those). If we copied everything we could see about a competitor, we'd not succeed - there are too many hidden points of differentiation to replicate any company or service accurately. While it may be possible to copy the design ethic, or the start time, or the customer service policy of any specific company, its impossible to replicate the culture, the team, the goodwill or any of the other less tangible attributes.
For better or worse, the CEO of a company needs to carve out their own niche, follow their passion, and trust that their original instincts and business plan made sense. Its why the Blue Ocean Strategy is so popular.
August 14th, 2010 - 02:36
Should my upcoming Club Penguin Cheats blog be self-hosted or not?
August 28th, 2010 - 20:39
I agree Philip.
There is one alternative though, and that is to directly copy an idea but launch it in another country. In the case of Facebook that would be Orkut in Brazil, and the one in China whose name escapes me.
I think the key thing is following your own passion – which is surely much more personally rewarding.
August 29th, 2010 - 03:49
I was just chatting with my coworker about this last week at the resturant. Don’t remember how in the world we got on the topic actually , they brought it up. I do recall having a amazing steak salad with sunflower seeds on it. I digress…
January 21st, 2011 - 14:42
Do the whole lot proper, think about every thing you are working on. All the time have the ability to have a solution as to why you probably did or did not do something. . … Confucius
January 31st, 2011 - 03:12
Comfortabl y, the article is really the most excellent on that deserving topic. I match in with your conclusions and can thirstily look forward to your next updates. Simply saying thanks will certainly not simply just be sufficient, for the huge clarity in your writing. I definitely will at once grab your rss feed to stay abreast of any kind of updates. Fabulous work and also much success in your business enterprize!