Slepenkova Elena Vasilyevna

The article is devoted to the interpretation of conceptual approaches (market and resource) to the formation of competitive advantages of companies. The key features of the classic business environment and the prerequisites on which the market and resource approaches are based are formulated. The differences were revealed between two opposite approaches to competition (according to Porter) — “to be the best” or “to be unique”. The limitedness of the “being the best” approach is shown, and it is proved that strategy is responsible for the uniqueness (of a product or method), and uniqueness is achieved through innovation. Attention is drawn to the fact that companies make strategic choices simultaneously in the space of results and in the space of risks, so this can lead to both success and failure (this is the essence of the strategic paradox). And the conclusion was made that the more extreme (extreme) strategies the company adheres to, the greater the strategic risk it takes upon itself, and this can lead to both obtaining large profits and ending in bankruptcy. Michael Raynor’s rationale is given that companies seeking to avoid risk (implementing hybrid strategies) make a choice in favor of lower profits (in favor of mediocrity), but this statement in some cases does not find confirmation in reality. It has been proven in practice that if a company manages to quickly move from one wave of competitive advantage to another, then it can maintain a sustainable competitive advantage for a long time; an algorithm for such a transition is presented.