What is meant by "competitive positioning"?  Why do some firms fail to
properly position themselves in their competitive market place?

Hi! Thanks for another question.

A marketing definition of competitive positioning can be found in our
first link.

Competitive positioning – "Developing and communicating powerful and
meaningful differences between your offerings and those of your
competition"

"Web Glossary for Higher Education"
http://www.stamats.com/glossary/default.asp

Firms fail to properly position themselves in their respective markets
whenever they make these four positioning mistakes.

1. Underpositioning - "Some companies discover that buyers have only a
vague idea of the brand.  The brand is seen as just another entry in
crowded marketplace."

2. Overpositioning - "Buyers may have too narrow an image of the
brand"

3. Confused positioning - "Buyers might have a confused image of the
brand resulting from the company’s making too many claims of charging
the brand’s positioning too frequently."

4. Doubtful positioning - "Buyers may find it hard to believe the
brand claims in view of the product’s features, price, or
manufacturer."

"Marketing Strategy"
http://teknikindustri.com/marketing/main.htm

In order for a firm to properly position themselves in the market, the
following tasks should be done.

1. Research The Competition  

a. Strengths and Weaknessess
b. Competitor Strategy
c. Future plans

2. Research Your Customers by categorizing them into different market
segments.

3. Research Your Company

"Company research is best done after the competitive and customer
research. What you need to find is the truth about your company and
how it really works. In objective terms, who is directing the future?
Are there unrecognized strengths? What accounts for the good and bad
points brought up by the competitors and customers? And a really
important question: What product lines account for most of the
revenue?"

4. Decision to Focus - "The decision to focus involves the decision to
take resources away from unimportant or weak product lines and place
it in strong, core areas. This can be difficult because the most
distracting products are often the most novel and interesting."

5. Involve your people in the decision process.

"5 Steps to Improving Your Company’s Market Positioning"
http://www.compstrategy.com/fivesteps.htm

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