PRODUCT DIFFERENTIATION: A TOOL OF COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE AND OPTIMAL ORGANIZATIONAL PERFORMANCE (A STUDY OF UNILEVER NIGERIA PLC)

Abstract

In recent years the concept of competitive advantage has taken centre stage in discussions of business strategy; that is why, one of the major challenges organizations face today is how to have a competitive advantage. In most cases a stand out product will do the job, since products are perceived as both highly relevant and meaningfully, the ability for any one product to standout in a competitive category will guarantee the success of such organization. While there are numerous ways to differentiate brands, identifying meaningful product-driven differentiators can be especially fruitful in gaining and sustaining a competitive advantage. Differentiation is when a firm or brand outperforms rival brands in the provision of a feature(s) such that it faces reduced sensitivity for other features (Sharp & Dawes, 2001). Even in industrial economics, a discipline where there is more of a tradition of providing formal statements of theoretical concepts, two eminent industrial economists felt obligated to write an article for the Journal of Industrial Economics titled "What is Product Differentiation, Really?" (Caves and Williamson, 1985).