Choosing a unique position, however, is not
enough to guarantee a sustainable advantage. A
valuable position will attract imitation by incum-
bents, who are likely to copy it in one of two ways.
First, a competitor can reposition itself to match
the superior performer. J.C. Penney, for instance,
has been repositioning itself from a Sears clone to a
more upscale, fashion-oriented, soft-goods retailer.
A second and far more common type of imitation is
straddling. The straddler seeks to match the bene-
fits of a successful position while maintaining its
existing position. It grafts new features, services, or
technologies onto the activities it already performs.
For those who argue that competitors can copy
any market position, the airline industry is a per-
fect test case. It would seem that nearly any com-
petitor could imitate any other airline’s activities.
Any airline can buy the same planes, lease the
gates, and match the menus and ticketing and bag-
gage handling services offered by other airlines.
Continental Airlines saw how well Southwest
was doing and decided to straddle. While main-
taining its position as a full-service airline, Conti-
nental also set out to match Southwest on a num-
ber of point-to-point routes. The airline dubbed
the new service Continental Lite. It eliminated
meals and first-class service, increased departure
frequency, lowered fares, and shortened turnaround
time at the gate. Because Continental remained
a full-service airline on other routes, it continued to
use travel agents and its mixed fleet of planes and
to provide baggage checking and seat assignments.
But a strategic position is not sustainable unless
there are trade-offs with other positions. Trade-offs