Chapter 9
Strategy and the art of unfair competition
The problem with a fair fight is that you might lose it. Business leaders may talk about the importance of competition, but in practice they do not like competition – unless they win. The best way to win is to have a secure source of healthy and reliable profits. This is what economists call ‘rent seeking’. The classic rent seeker is a monopolist or firm that has some special privilege from government such as subsidies, licences or permissions of various sorts. These privileges tend to guarantee profits without the burden of having to compete much.
An unfair advantage
If you have to compete, make sure you have a thoroughly unfair source of competitive advantage. An unfair advantage is ...
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