Competitive advantages

The three main sources of competitive advantage in the manufacture of high value protein products are first to market, high product quaUty, and low cost (3). The first company to market a new protein biopharmaceutical, and the first to gain patent protection, enjoys a substantial advantage. The second company to enter the market may find itself enjoying only one-tenth of the sales. In the absence of patent protection, product differentiation becomes very important. Differentiation reflects a product that is purer, more active, or has a greater lot-to-lot consistency. 

To summarize, in order to be considered a trade secret, the information (/) must not be generaHy known or readily ascertainable (2) must provide a competitive advantage (J) must have been developed, maintained, or acquired at the trade secret owner s expense and (4) must be the subject of the trade secret owner s intent and efforts to keep it confidential. 

Technology leaders must pioneer discontinuous/radical changes along with continuous/incremental innovations. Radical innovation estabUshes and periodically renews the competitive advantage incremental innovations sustain it. Pressures on the leaders are to focus on only the near-term incremental efforts. Technology leaders must, however, build the will within the business leadership to recognize that both are necessary (35). 

Do we understand the "technologies of the market-place" How can we use this knowledge for obtaining a competitive advantage ... 

There are five North American manufacturers of EPDM Unhoyal Chemical, Exxon, DuPont, DSM, and Bayer. In addition. Union Carbide and Dow are manufacturing the new gas-phase polymers. A new joint agreement between Dow and DuPont will offer these two companies some competitive advantages in this market. Trade names of commercial ethylene—propylene polymers include Bayer s Epsyn, Exxon s Vistalon, DuPont s Nordel, and Unhoyal s Royalene. 

As discussed previously, inherent disorder possessed by i -SiH alloy limits the mobiUty of the free carriers (electrons and holes) to about 10 cm /( V) this is compared with crystalline Si, in which the electron mobiUty is 1500 cm /( V). However, crystalline Si is expensive to manufacture and its size is limited to about 20 cm in diameter. Many appHcations discussed have either emerged or been identified which preclude the use of crystalline Si because of cost, size, or both. The basic commonality in these appHcations is the abiHty to fabricate devices on areas much larger than can be addressed by crystalline Si Furthermore, these appHcations are not demanding in terms of speed, which then provides i -SiH alloy with a distinct competitive advantage. 

Competitive advantages. By taking advantage of the many benefits associated with pollution prevention, businesses can gain a competitive edge. 

Cullen J. M. 1994 Managing the New Product Introduction Process for Quality, Reliability, Cost and Speed. In Proceedings IMechE International Conference on Design Competitive Advantage - Making the Most of Design, Coventry, 23-24 March, Paper C482. 

The ultimate goal of PSM is improved safety performance. In addition, over and above the mandatory compliance with OSHA standards, there are potentially significant business benefits to implementing PSM, including improved efficiency, cost savings, and competitive advantages. 

PSM Benefits improved efficiency —Cost savings —Competitive advantages... 

Identify areas where we can gain a competitive advantage. 

We could gain a competitive advantage by reducing downtime. 

Traditionally, companies have sought to acquire competitive advantage over their rivals through their choice of location. In a historical context, firms tended to establish their factories for reasons of economic geography, e.g. ... 

Porter, M. E., Competitive Advantage Creating Sustaining Superior Performance, Free Press/Macmillan, 1980. 

In these cases we must look for a method of curing the effluent problems and once again H2O2 offers a competitive advantage. 

Many companies treat environmentai issues as a threat, not an opportunity. A cost to be minimised, not a chance to create competitive advantage. When an externai pressure is appiied, the tendency is to circie the wagons and attempt to fight off the perceived threat. The company becomes stuck in a defensive posture where they cannot consider aiternatives. Smart companies see environmentai issues as an opportunity. If the existing product/solution is under pressure, there is a business opportunity in solving the problem. 

M. Soedario, and D. Borthakur, Mimosine, a toxin produced by tree-legume Leit-caena provides a nodulation competition advantage to mimose-degrading Rluzohium strains. Soil Biol. Biochem. 30 1695 (1998). 

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