A good example of the “no sustainable advantage” problem is that encountered by American micro brewers in the late 1990s. In the early 1990s, craft brewing was all the rage in the United States, and beer-loving entrepreneurs everywhere opened craft breweries and brew-pubs where they brewed hoppy ales and porters that consumer loved. Alas, recipes great-tasting beers may be proprietary, but they are easily imitated, and plethora of followers entered the fast-growing craft beer industry in pursuit of their share of the fast-growing micro-brew market. When growth in this segment came to a screeching halt in 1997, a shakeout ensued, and many craft brewers when out of business. Their customer benefits-great tasting beer-had been imitated and did not deliver sustainable advantage.