Why Do Competitors Fighting Each Other Both End Up Losing?
Competitors fighting for the same customers create a zero sum game where both sides lose. Working together to grow the total market almost always works better.
3 min read
Paul Veth owned a bar in Breda, positioned on what he calls a C location: the third stop in the street after the A and B spots filled up first. With several other bars competing for the same crowd, he started a competitive drive in himself. He wanted more customers, so he decided he was in competition with the rest of the street and set out to win from them.
The other bar owners felt it. They started treating him as competition too. For several months it was game on. Some days Paul Veth won, the next day another bar won. But at the end of it, as he puts it, they both didn't win. They were losing because we were fighting. The focus point had quietly shifted from the real goal, more guests in the bar, to a fight that consumed all the energy without producing the result.