I like!! Very good examples of Killer strategies however, #4 on Zain and Safcom is vise versa don't you think? Kindly add EABL and Castle to #2or #5. EABL went to unprecedented heights to confirm themselves as a "market leader"de-facto monopoly. EABL made sure castle did not acess malt in kenya, a product EABL controls not to mention crude tiring down of Castle billboard adverts.

Hmmm.. excellent topic away from the political shenanigans that rarely add value to our lives! Corporate Strategy interests me to no end, a kinda battle of wits/guerilla warfare in the trenches of the corporate world.

I would gladly like to hear each and every morsel of the full story on the Castle Brewing/EABL,and why some think its foray into Kenya (shs 2.5b then)was actually a decoy and its real interest lay in Tz...either upping its market share or keeping EABL out (am not sure which). But it carries a whiff of #3 above

#4. Interestingly, it is said the idea of sending cash by phone was first reportedly mooted by then Celtel (or is it Kencell), but the proposal got lost in the cracks of their corporate bureaucracy between kenya and their HQ abroad and this time lag made Safcon be aware and latch onto the idea, exploiting it ruthlessly as their own and the MPESA kid, now an adult with his own kid MKESHO, was born. You might have a brilliant idea, but your larger stronger competitor will take it and roll it out as their own and much later you will be hard pressed to explain the idea was your brainchild! Ouch, such pain...execution does matter.

@muganda, for #2 above the global stage is replete with examples where plagiarization (industrial espionnage really) is the buzz word:

1)Tu-144 supersonic jet: This was a Soviet equivalent to the British- French Concorde, whose blueprints were reportedly stolen from the West, who derisivley labelled the Tu-144, the Concordski. It was similar to the original Concorde in almost all aspects! Unfortunately the Tu-144 failed commercially,while its Western cousin was de-commissioned after the Paris aircrash. Wa, yaani even at internl. level simple copy paste can work...

2) Save on R&D costs! Let the competition, esp. those with overflowing R&D kitties, do all the donkey work then take the final product, break it down and find its make-up, then voila! copy paste and sell at cheaper cost. The Indians are good in that, esp. in the pharmaceutical arena and that is why we have so many generics - well, their cost of production was way cheaper than the West's. Ditto their auto industry.

#1. Take on East Africa Industries (later Unilever kenya)?
The idea was suicidal in the 80s/part of 90s. Yet Bidco was small at the time and it's products gradually nibbled at the corporate fat of EAI's cooking fat market, packaging their products in smaller and smaller bags for the urban poor masses esp. in slums.
So they are amonth the first pioneers of the 'kadogo' economy and humbled a corporate Goliath...

@Intelligentsia hot examples. The article says Hardballs isn't just about the moves you make, it's about the attitude you bring to them - you can't feel squeamish about the hard stuff.

Some other good international examples cited include:
- Toyota steady attack of the big 3 moving from compact cars, to mid- and full-size vehicles, and on to Detroit's last remaining profit centres, light trucks and SUVs

- The day after HP announced weak results in 2004 because of price competition in PCs, Dell announced further across-the-board-cut delivering swift kick to a tough rival when it was down

- In 1996, Rubermaind $2b business, a few years earlier ranked as a Fortune most admired company, ventured to contest Wal-Mart's pressure on supplier to lower their prices. Walmart simply cut Rubbermain off. The company was sold off as a struggling enterprise in 1999.

- Ray Kroc who didn't invest McDonald's but simply took ideas from brother Dick and Maurice McDonald when he bought their small chain of bugger joints.



NEXT ON TO CURVEBALLS...

@muganda et al! Wonderful topic again!

Killer strategies are normally more effective where the main competitor has a soft underbelly or jugular! This is the best place to attack so fiercely that they have no doubt about winning. Airtel/Zain thought they had discovered Safcom's underbelly (they may have!!) but the response from Safcom has been emphatic! That is the same thing that happened with Castle. They thought they had introduced higher quality products at cheaper prices. But EABL increased (quantitatively) the barriers to entry i.e. they made it very difficult for Castle to distribute their products forcing Castle to spend huge amounts of money to avail them. In the end, the heat was too much.

Where a competitor adopts a strategy to attack a bigger rival, the strategy has got to be on point! They need to actively adopt a different strategy or business model and aim to compete by changing the rules of the game. GTV thought that by simply offering the same service at a cheaper rate they would push DSTV aside. DSTV responded by offering higher fees for the channels which GTV were forced to match to maintain their market. This ultimately destroyed their cost/revenue structure.

Other Kenyan examples where attack strategies have worked:

- Nakumatt's attack on Uchumi's hypermart. Simple copy and paste and make it better.
- UoN vs KEMU: KEMU has totally changed the rules of PG studies. All other schools are simply trying to catch up with what KEMU has done.
- Dyer & Blair offering to do IPOs for free against other IB's quotes of millions!

Thanks @Muganda, I'm undertaking a course that has a unit on strategic management and you've actually highlighted an area that I'll look into for my coursework. Cheers

let not this thread die, its very enlightening,again thanks muganda!
tony, its the first time am hearing of the microfinance thingy and safcon and somehow i doubt it, let me talk to some guys who know more that I do and revert.
But I agree on your sentiments on the eabl vs castle battle.

A flipshot of this is, can the trounced corporate not only make a comeback but also make its own killer strategy and also rise to the top?! I mean, just coz someone trounced you once doesn't mean you stay down for g.

@Intelligentsia: It is the mark of how strong a business' leaders are if a company can recover from a trouncing by its competitors. I'm trying to think off the top of my head of a local company that has done this and only CIC comes to mind, though its problems were not due to competitor pressure!

@Muganda Good stuff!!

In the never ending Cola Wars between Coke and Pepsi, has over time made a brilliant case study.
Well during the beginning of last decade, there were a lot of contamination scares in central Europe, esp belgium and France it was all over the media as a result Coke were loosing $3.4m per day.
Well your guess is as good as mine where this all begun, however in legal jargon by it's dominance in europe it was vulnerable to antitrust scrutiny.

@all
Which is the more effective strategy?
* Geography focused structure.
* Product focused structure.

Anyone who can get his/her hands on a movie called exams will see how different business minds think under intense competition to beat the other.

Is the idea to kill the competition or to win market share?

Indeed, is it to win market share or to make more profits?

Can one make more profits without winning market share or killing the competitors?