【正文】 focus on the market niche.Low Cost Strategy The goal of the low cost strategy is to gain a larger market share. This is done by offering acceptable quality products or services at prices lower than those of the petition. The expectation in this strategy is that the organization will earn an acceptable return on investment by increasing volume of sales. The basic methods used in lowcost leadership strategies include reduction of overhead, buying or production costs and focused marketing strategies. For example, a restaurant may reduce the price of wine with the intention of making up the shortfall in profits by selling more than they did at the higher price. Similarly, a big box store may use a bination of effective management and information technology practices to reduce operation costs in order to deliver the lowest possible prices on its merchandise.Product Differentiation A second generic approach to petitive strategy is product differentiation. In this approach, the business attempts to differentiate itself from its petitors by producing a product or offering a service whose quality is perceived by customers to have unique features or characteristics that set it apart from similar offerings. This strategy attempts to build customer loyalty by offering something of value that is offered by no one else in the marketplace. In this strategy, the necessity of keeping the price of the product or service down bees less important because customers are frequently willing to pay more to get their favorite brand. However, value can be a subjective quality and brand loyalty is not necessarily sufficient to make this strategy successful. There is a point beyond which most customers are no longer willing to pay a premium price. However, if carefully managed, a differentiation strategy can be highly successful. For example, Merrill Lynch was able to differentiate itself from its petitors by offering integrated financial services to attract the most desirable investors. This strategy yielded not only a well recognized and highly valued brand that differentiated Merrill Lynch from its petitors, but also resulted in substantial customer loyalty and a petitive advantage in the marketplace.Niche Marketing Another generic approach to petitive strategy is niche marketing. In this approach, the organization seeks to gain a proportion of the total sales of a given type of product or service within the marketplace. This strategy requires a concentration on one or more specific market segments based on characteristics such as buyer group, portion of a product line or market, or geographical area. For example, rather than marketing itself as a generalist, a management consulting firm might specialize in working with the telemunications industry or only with businesses on the west side of metropolitan Chicago. A niche market strategy is indicated in situations where the business believes that it can better serve a segment of the market rather than the entire market. For example, in the illustration of the management consulting firm, the founding partners may have e out of the telemunications industry and, therefore are more familiar with the nuances of the industry than they are with other industries. This approach puts the organization in a unique position (through a type of differentiation) to be better able to market to that focused segment than to the market as a whole.Consideration of Competitors in the Marketplace To be successful, analysis of the marketplace needs to consider not only