It is also interesting that 28% of private companies rated maintaining a
competitive advantage either one or two in their rankings, whereas only 18%
of public firms rated this objective (ranked lowest overall) that high in their
rankings. While not a huge difference, the data suggests that private firms are
more sensitive to competitive issues in their markets. It is worth noting here
that among our respondents, 69% of public companies had revenues of greater
than $500 million, while only 25% of private companies exceeded that level
of revenue. This fact further strengthens the inference that private companies
may need to be more nimble to maintain a competitive advantage if they lack a
critical mass of market penetration in their particular industry or service.