"A natural companion to the competitive advantage is the synergy component of strategy. This requires that opportunities within the scope possess characteristics which will enhance synergy." (Igor Ansoff, "Corporate Strategy", 1965)
"The triplet of specifications - the product-market scope, the growth vector and the competitive advantage - describes the firm's product-market path in the external environment." (Igor Ansoff, "Corporate Strategy", 1965)
"Try as far as possible to pass on information rather than your conclusions. Your conclusions, if they are right, are part of your competitive advantage. If they are wrong and you pass them on they may come back to haunt you." (Mary A Allison & Eric Allison, "Managing Up, Managing Down", 1984)
"If our people develop faster than a competitor's people, then they're worth more." (James M Biggar, USA Today, 1988)
"In a world where routine production is footloose [...] competitive advantage lies not in one-time breakthroughs but in continual improvements. Stable technologies get away." (Robert Reich, "Tales of a New America: The Anxious Liberal's Guide to the Future", 1988)
"The ability to learn faster than your competitors may be the only sustainable competitive advantage." (Arie P de Geus, Harvard Business Review, 1988)
"In an economy where the only certainty is uncertainty, the one sure source of lasting competitive advantage is knowledge." (Ikujiro Nonaka "The Knowledge-Creating Company", Harvard Business Review 69, 1991)
"Not finance. Not strategy. Not technology. It is teamwork that remains the ultimate competitive advantage, both because it is so powerful and so rare." (Patrick Lencioni, "The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable", 2002)
"Simplicity: The New Competitive Advantage in a World of More, Better, Faster." (Bill Jensen, "The Simplicity Survival Handbook: 32 Ways to Do Less and Accomplish More", 2007)
"The most meaningful way to differentiate your company from your competitors, the best way to put distance between you and the crowd is to do an outstanding job with information. How you gather, manage and use information will determine whether you win or lose." (Bill Gates, "Business @ the Speed of Thought: Succeeding in the Digital Economy", 2009)
"Emotional labor is available to all of us, but it is rarely exploited as a competitive advantage." (Seth Godin, "Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?", 2010)
"For the most part, the best opportunities now lie where your competitors have yet to establish themselves, not where they're already entrenched." (Paul Allen, "Idea Man: A Memoir by the Cofounder of Microsoft", 2011)
"An enterprise that is constantly exploring new horizons is likely to have a competitive advantage in attracting and retaining talent." (Gary Hamel, "What Matters Now" 2012)
"The company that consistently makes and implements decisions rapidly gains a tremendous, often decisive, competitive advantage." (Steve Blank, "The Startup Owner's Manual: The Step-by-Step Guide for Building a Great Company", 2012)
"User habits are a competitive advantage. Products that change customer routines are less susceptible to attacks from other companies." (Nir Eyal, "Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products", 2014)
