Who This Article Is For
- Owners exhausted by price competition
- People struggling to see competitors as potential collaborators
- Businesses creating opportunities through alliances
Move Beyond Zero-Sum Competition and Create Value Together
Find shared market problems, begin with small collaborations, and define contributions and boundaries that make cooperation useful to customers.
Published
Solve Shared Market Problems Together to Create New Value
The belief that another company's gain must be your loss can drain a business. It encourages discounts, concessions, and short-term struggles that reduce profit and customer value.
See competitors as market participants and consider where cooperation creates new value.
Zero-Sum Thinking Can Exhaust a Company
It assumes a fixed total of benefits, so one participant's gain requires another's loss.
It encourages:
- Price wars
- Excessive advertising battles
- Concessions
- Overreaction to other companies
- Competitor-focused rather than customer-focused initiatives
Attention shifts from customer problems to rival actions.
Positive-Sum Thinking Can Increase Total Value
Cooperation can expand benefits. Local events reach people beyond individual businesses; industry education improves understanding; complementary partners create offers neither could provide alone.
Potential benefits include:
- Greater market awareness
- New customer groups
- Combined product value
- Accumulated trust
- Better margins
The basis is a rational strategic advantage.
Design a Positive-Sum Strategy
Make the idea concrete.
Look for Unresolved Market Problems
Examples:
- Customers do not understand service differences.
- The industry faces distrust.
- Usage is poorly explained.
- Adoption barriers are high.
These can merit collective work.
Define a Shared Problem to Address
Potential shared targets include:
- Unresolved customer problems
- Low market awareness
- Outdated practices
- Industry-wide inconvenience
- User misunderstandings
A clear target gives cooperation purpose.
Begin with Small Collaboration
| Activity | Benefit |
|---|---|
| Joint seminar | Contact with new customers |
| Mutual referrals | Improved customer satisfaction |
| Shared communication | Broader awareness |
| Study sessions | Better industry understanding |
Small successes can build trust before large partnerships.
Conditions for a Useful Alliance
Cooperation needs clear terms.
State Your Contribution
Clarify:
- Your strengths
- Customers you can help
- Differences from partners
- Non-negotiable principles
A distinct contribution prevents dependence.
Define the Shared Scope
Separate cooperation and competition. You might share acquisition but handle proposals individually, or hold an event without sharing customer data.
Alliance Strategy with Competitors discusses roles, contributions, and benefits.
Prioritize Customer Value
Useful collaboration can make the offer:
- More convenient
- Easier to compare
- Easier to adopt
- More valuable
- Less worrying
Without these benefits, the project may serve only the participants.
Communication That Supports Market Growth
Move beyond criticism of rivals.
Explain Value
Useful topics include:
- Your approach to customer problems
- Product-development background
- Changes after delivery
- Suggestions for the industry
- Business principles
These supply reasons beyond price comparisons.
Educate the Market
Explain unfamiliar concepts, correct misunderstandings, and reduce adoption barriers. A better-understood market can benefit your business too.
Accumulate Value on Your Website
A site retains principles, results, ideas, and collaboration approaches beyond passing social posts. It provides a basis for trust, especially for smaller companies.
SpreadSite is a no-code website builder that lets you create, publish, and update a website from Google Sheets using ready-made templates.
To present your contribution and partnership approach clearly on your website, give SpreadSite a try!
Build a website with SpreadSite →
About the Author
Thank you for reading!
I develop and operate SpreadSite, a service for creating websites from spreadsheets.
It helps people with limited time and money communicate what makes their work appealing. Consider it if you need a website! SpreadSite
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Could a collaborator take our customers?
A: That is possible. Define shared and private areas before beginning.
Q: What if the other company thinks in zero-sum terms?
A: Clearly demonstrated shared benefits can still make cooperation rational.
Q: Can small companies apply this?
A: Yes. Local partnerships and complementary capabilities suit small, manageable beginnings.
Q: Is positive-sum thinking naïve?
A: It is a strategy for creating value and protecting profit when cooperation has a rational basis.
