Competitive Advantages

Competitive advantage and strategies are important for companies to understand and utilize. Competitive advantage allows a company to stay ahead of its competition. Strategy on the other hand allows a company to have a plan for success. According to the article “Winning strategy for business, Response books”, “Strategy comes to be defined in every company with two independent and simultaneous processes” (Gorapaj, 2010, p.334). In order for Napster to see success and longevity in the online music distribution arena, an S.W.O.T analysis must be formed to analyze the company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Napster’s strengths are its wide selection of music, its brand name, and its convenience. Napster’s weaknesses are its pricing and its inability to differentiate. Napster’s opportunities are the decline of illegal peer to peer file sharing and the market growth. Napster’s threats are its competition with ITunes and its inability to offer a faster download bandwidth. An S.W.O.T analysis will help Napster figure out how to first overcome its competition, guarantee its longevity and acquire and retain its customers. In order for Napster to develop a competitive advantage, it must increase its music library and create a companion device such as IPod. Napster must also seek out partnerships with major companies. Napster will need to attract new customers by providing a 30 day free trial for its service and the monthly subscription will need to be lowered in order to gain a competitive advantage.
Goparaj, H. (2010). Winning strategy for business, Response books. Business Resource Premier. P.334. Retrieved from EBSCOHost