Chapter 1
First, You Must Attack Market Share
Are You Merely Striving for Average?
Do you want to settle for 1 to 2 percent growth in the recovery?
Even the best-informed economists believe the current market may grow at a rate of between 1 and 2 percent. That's hardly a snapback recovery, is it? But will your stakeholders and board members settle for 1 percent? Of course they won't.
What if your particular segment happens to be in a declining market? That is to say, demand for what you sell is declining. Should you give up; simply roll over and blame the economy or the competition? No, you shouldn't; that would be ridiculous. If you want to grow in a slowly recovering economy, a stagnant economy, or even a declining market, your best—and truly, only—plan is to “steal” market share from your competitors.
Maybe you don't like the word steal and prefer to use win. Whatever term you use, know that your survival depends on wrestling business away from other companies that do what you do and provide what you provide.
This is a lesson we learned from none other than fast-food linchpin McDonald's. The company noticed there was probably a wild growth opportunity in the specialty coffee and smoothie business and that people were increasingly enamored of places like Starbucks and Juice It Up, which were growing at impressive rates. Though McDonald's had actually tested its McCafé concept many years earlier, the company didn't officially launch the initiative until early 2009. By doing so, ...
