Don't Make Your Competitive Advantage More Ephemeral Than It Already Is

Competitive advantage is notoriously fragile, as reflected in the widely held notion that it lasts, at best, only about five years in most industries. Advantage in the private schools space is perhaps even more fleeting, as good ideas become ever easier (and cheaper) to copy in the digital age.Even fortress positions of market dominance can quickly wither when organizations shoot themselves in the feet. As an example, Boeing, the American airplane manufacturer, is having a very bad run of very bad press due to quality issues on two of its newest and glitziest planes and is paying for it at the order desk. Self-inflicted wounds hurt the most.The lesson is that the work of keeping an advantage may be even harder that finding one in the first place.