Chapter 4

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Relentless Positioning

Only the paranoid survive.

—Andy Grove, former CEO, Intel

Ben Wignall, former owner of the Tasmanian firm Blue Banner Pickles, used to get a lot of customer complaints. Each time Ben’s response would be the same—he raised his prices.

The complaints were from supermarkets that were not able to get enough stock of the famous (in Tasmania) pickled onion brand. Ben figured that if he raised the price, it would dampen down demand and the complaints would disappear. He was right—and the results were profitable. Blue Banner had 90 percent of the Tasmanian market for pickled onions—a virtual monopoly—and, like other monopolies, ...

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