Baby U

Thinking about competitive advantage may come as a foreign concept to those in the non-profit field.  They feel that their objective is to help and serve those in their communities.  However, having an ill-defined goal will leave organizations at a disadvantage.   An organization will achieve greater success if it identifies and Leverages a specific advantage over the competition.  Molly West & Andy Posner wrote an article outlining the different ways that an organization can stand out from their competition, including developing advantages in cost, leadership, differentiation, innovation, operational effectiveness, or customer-orientation.

The article then goes on to describe Baby U, an organization that helps parents develop the skills necessary to raise and bond with their children, which was modeled after another successful program.  At face value, Baby would not appear to have much in the way of competition.  There are few established non-profit or structured programs that offer the same services.  However, there are a multitude of alternatives that are in de facto competition with Baby U.  Probably their largest competition is the status quo, and overcoming the inertia of centuries of parental tactics.  There are few actual competitors in the field because the status quo is forbidding.  Baby U must cultivate a distinctive advantage to make headway against the competition.  Baby U forged success based on their advantage of providing a proven model for good parenting, but they also cultivated a sense of sustained community.  These two advantages were lacking for their competitors, churches and other social organizations, even though they provided them for free. 

Baby U demonstrates that providing an excellent product or service can beat the competition, even if the costs are not competitive.  It is unlikely that a new organization would find their competitive advantage in costs, unless a breakthrough technology is developed.  Social ventures must be aware of their competition, among established competitors, but also the status quo or the negation of action.  They must identify their advantage, what makes them unique, and press hard to leverage it.  Merely having the goal to help or address a particular problem is insufficient, especially in an environment of limited resources.