Federica Belfanti

Many other "guiding lights" have inspired a generation of business leaders on how to compete and grow throughout decades, ever since Barney (1991) hypothesized that value, rareness, irritability and substitutability are the four factors of sustained competitive advantage; Eisenhardt and Martin (2000) extended the concept to dynamic capabilities or the late Prahalad and Hamel (2003) taught us about strategic intent and core competence. In the past, competitive advantage used to go to those that had the control of distribution channels, hard assets, large scale established brands or patents, whereas in a digital age, winning “consumer preference” is the driving and winning factor as outlined by the author. With his experience of being on the board of seven companies over two decades, he outlines that none of the traditional organizations focus on the life span of their so-called core competence, which has a shelf life and are late to respond in the digital era; the mass (manufacturer) approach of the past needs to move to a "personalized consumer experience" using algorithms to achieve exponential growth. [...]Ram Charan brings our attention to one of the greatest and least recognized competitive advantages that the digital giants have over traditional companies, which is a powerful "social engine" driving their innovation and exponential growth.