Your business decisions must support your competitive advantage. When faced with a formidable competitor, many firms will unwittingly undermine their competitive advantage by either mimicking the competition or making decisions that don’t support their advantage. A recent example from the political arena is John McCain’s choice of running mate in Sarah Palin. McCain seemingly abandoned his advantage over Obama in experience with his choice of Palin. Mirroring Obama’s strengths with Palin’s vitality and public speaking abilities eroded his own competitive advantage of experience.

As you define your strategies for addressing the current economic situation, evaluate the impact they will have on your competitive advantages both now and in the future.

Here are some words of wisdom from the author of one of my favorite books:

“As a business manager or owner, the biggest threat you face is losing sight of your most important target - your customer. You can lose him to a competitor if you lose sight of your competitve advantage.”
Jaynie L. Smith, author of Creating Competitve Advantage