【正文】 chnology 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 the needs of the customer base and the relationship between these needs and the value that can be offered by the organization39。s car, yet most of the fuels available at the pump are virtually the same. Each of these businesses has its own market position and strives to keep its market share through marketing efforts. Part of the strategic marketing effort is to decide how best to differentiate oneself from the petition.Another external factor that impacts how one can best position oneself in the market is the stage of the market or the industry life cycle. Some organizations excel, for example, at being the first on the market with an innovation or new product. Others excel at taking the innovation and adapting it to the needs of the marketplace