Hypercompetition
The type of strategic actions recommended
### The type of strategic actions recommended

Sequences of temporary competitive advantages are a means of gaining momentum and destroying, mooting, or otherwise neutralizing the core competencies of oligopolists. For example, Hypercompetition includes undermining the core competence of industry leaders, building off of one’s weaknesses to create surprise, and to circumvent entry barriers, making them moot.

Traditional strategy often uses SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis as a tool to identify, measure and leverage core competencies. This analysis typically suggests firms leverage, strengthen, and exploit their strengths, i.e their core competencies. And, to use these strengths against the opportunities, which derive from the weaknesses of competitors. No decisive victory can be achieved by using strengths to attack weaknesses. The traditional approach leaves a rival intact and manages competition to keep its level down to a slower speed and reduce the aggressiveness of rivals, behaviors which support existing oligopolies.

In contrast, hypercompetition encourages using strengths against the strengths of rivals. To be successful at attacking the strengths of a rival, a firm must build its weaknesses so that the attack will be a surprise. In hypercompetition, only temporary advantages are possible. This suggests the surprising implication that leveraging core competencies is a mistake in hypercompetition because those strengths will often turn into disadvantages weighing down the firm with assets that create inflexibilities.

Truly decisive victories only come from strengths overwhelming strengths.von Clauswitz In most cases, before attacking the strength of a rival, firms prepare for counterattacks and build their weaknesses. Destroying or eroding the strengths of rivals enables firms to undermine, neutralize or eventually moot their advantages. Faced with relentless withering attacks, rivals can also become exhausted and demoralized when they are constantly playing catch\-up to a hypercompetitor on the loose.


How do firms typically manage competition using traditional strategy?