In Two Words, [competitive advantage] carries a lot of meaning. But then, what does it actually mean?

Season 1, Episode 3

Competitive advantage is one of those terms that I have puzzled over. It is used so often that I know people believe it means something, but it is rarely defined in practice. Scholars have attempted to derive formulas for it, but do those formulas mean anything or do they just tell us in scientific language what we already knew? In other words, is it just a MacGuffin–a prize or goal that drives a narrative forward but isn’t actually anything at all?

On the other hand, if the term is meaningful, then how can one use ‘competitive advantage’ as a construct to make convincing arguments about the need for change? Several have tried, but those efforts have not always borne fruit.

Works Referenced:

Brookhouse, C. (2002). Framing Hitchcock: Selected essays from the Hitchcock annual. Wayne State University Press, pp. 47-48.

Cline, R. S. (1980). World power trends and US foreign policy for the 1980’s. Westview Press.

German, F. C. (1960). A tentative evaluation of world power. Journal of Conflict Resolution, 4(1), 138-144.

Neary, J. P. (2003). Competitive Versus Comparative Advantage. The World Economy, 26, 457-470.

Porter, M. E. (2011). Competitive advantage of nations: creating and sustaining superior performance. New York: Simon and Schuster.