Most businesses are still looking for competitive advantage in the places it used to be rather than where it is to be found today - "downstream" in interactions with customers. Marketing professor Niraj Dawar explains this big shift, and how to leverage it. The big shift underway - You run your own business, or maybe you work in a large firm. You keep an eye on your competitors. You think you know what your customers want. So would it come as a surprise to know that you're actually losing ground when it comes to holding on to your competitive advantage? The truth, says Marketing professor Niraj Dawar, is that most companies are still looking for competitive advantage where it used to be - in activities related to creating new products. Today, it's all about interacting with the customer. It's a big shift - and the companies that leverage this change will win out in the end. Two major trends have caused this change: globalization, which allows competitors worldwide produce and market similar and competitive products; and the rapid dissemination of information, which offers those competitors a constant stream of data and feedback on YOUR products - that they can then turn around and use against you. So the power today has shifted "downstream" - to where your company interacts with your customers. Dawar explains why you need to understand this new dynamic, and then helps you think about reorienting your strategy and company so that you're living into this shift. Get ready to race to the top. Finding competitive value in a new place, before others do, is what will get you there.