Complements and competitive strategy of the firm

Complements are pervasive in industries. A firm must know what complementary products it depends on, and how they affect its com­ petitive advantage  and  the structure  of the industry  as a whole. A firm must  decide which complements  it should  produce  itself, and how to package and price them.  Bundling  and unbundling of comple­ ments is one of the ways in which fundamental industry restructuring takes place.   The challenge is to   make  strategy  towards  complements an opportunity rather than a source of competitive advantage for com­ petitors.

Source: Porter Michael E. (1998), Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance, Free Press; Illustrated edition.

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