Its attempt to manage high costs through short-term price increases backfired as the competitors did not follow suit, leading to a loss of market share.

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But revving up growth in the long term will require new products that differentiate the company from competitors.

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When you outsource, how often are competitors able to equally outsource and match your short-term cost reductions?

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Best Buy is trying to improve its website by enhancing its online product descriptions and selection, but it faces higher operating costs than its online-only competitors due to the high labor costs and long-term leases of its more than 1, 400 stores.

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This approach is based on an industrial-age understanding of oligopoly, where over time a pool of competitors shrinks to just the most efficient handful that can all be profitable in the long term.

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Takefuji and competitors like Aiful and Acom charged them interest rates as high as 29.2% on short-term loans until the maximum rate was lowered to 20% earlier this year, among other limits imposed over the past four years.

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Even when he was telling me about his struggles to get the music industry to let him sell digital songs, or griping about competitors, at least in my presence, his tone was always marked by patience and a long-term view.

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