Insight certainty 4/5 debate potential 2/5

Helmer: Power Requires Both a Benefit and a Barrier to Create Value

Hamilton Helmer · Business strategy with Hamilton Helmer (author of 7 Powers) · May 5, 2024 · at 12:55

Hamilton Helmer, author of '7 Powers', explains the fundamental mechanics of strategic power and how it provides sustainable refuge against competitive arbitrage.

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“And what it is, is there's something in what you do That gives you either a cost or price advantage over others. So let's say you're lower cost and that's the benefit. And the barrier side is that there's something that is durable about that, that makes it over time that you can't that competitors can't take away from you. So benefit and the barrier, we call it the to be or not to be test, right? And if you have that, you can think of that immediately translating into a value, because that will give you good margins out into the foreseeable future”

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