I just finished watching a one-hour special on CNBC on Warren Buffett. In a nutshell, it was a one-hour lesson on the importance of a durable competitive advantage.
I’ve heard Buffet speak in person on previous occassions, but to hear him mention the importance of the durability of a competitive advantage was eye-opening, to say the least.
A competitive advantage is the reason why a customer prefers to buy from you vs. a competitor (or any other option available to the customer).
A durable one is one that does not diminish over time.
This is one of the major topics in my book Extreme Revenue Growth where I site Amazon.com as a company that REALLY pays attention to this concept. You can’t just be operating your business, you must constantly be thinking about the magnitude of your competitive advantage and work on ways to extend it’s durability.