The Strategic Window: Identifying and Analyzing the Gap for the New Business

Why existing business leave gaps in the market

1. Established business fail to see new opportunities-opportunities do not present them, they have to be actively sought out. 2. New opportunities are thought to be too small-value of a new opportunity must been seen as relative to size of the business which might pursue it. 3. Technological Inertia-opportunities are pursued by innovation. 4. Cultural Inertia-an established business has its own way of doing things. 5. Internal Politics-managers in established organizations often engage in political infighting. 6. Anti-trust actions by government-government are concerned to ensure that monopolies do not distort the working of an economy. 7. Government intervention to support the new entrant-government are acutely aware of the importance, both economic and political, of small and fast growing new firms in an economy. 8. An economic perspective on entrepreneurial gaps-established businesses leave gaps largely because they lack adeptness in exploiting some opportunities, leaving space into which entrepreneur can move. 9. A word of warning-despite its inherent advantages, leaves gaps into which the ambitious new entrant can move because they often undervalue new opportunities.

The Strategic Window: A visual metaphor

1. Seeing the window: scanning for new opportunities-involves scanning the solid wall presented by existing players to find the windows and spots the gaps in what they offer to the market. 2. Locating the window: positioning the new venture-developing and understanding of where the window is located. It demands an understanding both of the positioning of the new offering in the marketplace relative to existing products and services and of how the venture can position itself in the