On June 21, Lili launched its new model L9. The main core selling point is "the best family SUV under 5 million." The next day, the founder of Xpeng Motors posted an interesting headline. He raised a question: In the fiercely competitive non-FMCG industry, which good product reli

On June 21, Lili released the new model L9. The main core selling point is "the best family SUV under 5 million." The next day, the founder of Xiaopeng Motors posted an interesting headline. He raised a question: In the fiercely competitive non-FMCG industry, which good product relies on precise positioning to gain competitive advantages or barriers in the mid or long term?

Today, I would like to talk about this topic from the perspective of strategic theory. The question raised by He Xiaopeng is essentially asking: "Can market positioning become a competitive advantage?"

Many entrepreneurs, even entrepreneurs, have a somewhat vague understanding of this.

I can say unequivocally that, in theory, the answer to this question is: no.

The competitive advantage of an enterprise must be difficult to imitate.

Li Auto relied on its keen insight into opportunities to discover the blue ocean market of "family SUV". But the success of Ideal will inevitably attract other car companies to also develop "family SUVs". Market discovery cannot be patented. Anyone who knows it can do it. Therefore, "family SUV" is not difficult to copy and is not a barrier to competition.

In fact, in a few days, on July 4th, Huawei Yu Chengdong will release the M7. The promotional pictures released by M7 in advance show scenes of a family trip with two children. There is no doubt that the M7 is also an extended-range "family SUV". With the support of Huawei's technology and channel strength, the M7 is about to compete head-on with the ideal car. The answer to what a truly powerful competitive advantage is will soon come out.

Strategy is the way for a company to survive and develop. I believe that a complete expression of corporate strategy must contain three elements: goals, paths, and fulcrums.

market positioning is the content of the path. The fulcrum is the starting point of the company's competitive actions, and can also be understood as the point of competitive advantage.

's ideal strategy lacks focus on the pivot. On the other hand, the strategy of and Xiaopeng seems to lack the expression of the path. Xpeng Motors' strategy for building smart cars clearly states that they will use the intelligence of cars as a fulcrum. In the past few years, the Xpeng Motors team has also invested heavily in research and development around intelligence. For example, develop your own high-definition map. Judging from various reviews, the intelligence level of their products is also very excellent. However, Xpeng's intelligent capabilities are not yet powerful enough to despise its competitors. In other words, this fulcrum is still in the process of accumulation and is not enough to support them to enter various automobile market segments at will. If, strategically, the company's path cannot be clearly defined, for example, which market to do and which market not to do, it will almost certainly lead to the company's model planning falling into the trap of "layout" thinking during execution. As a result, we unknowingly entered too many market segments and did not have enough focus. (Whether this is already the case, you can judge for yourself)

Huawei has experienced such world-class technological competition, with experience in both 2B and 2C, and has terrifying competitive advantages in system software, chips, and motors. The company's entry into the new energy vehicle industry will bring greater competitive pressure to every car company. It can be expected that the strategic capabilities and strategic execution capabilities of each car company will be greatly tested.

I believe that competition inspires creativity. Competition is taking place now, which is a good thing for China's new energy automobile industry as a whole; it is also a good thing for strategic management analysts.