Melvin J. Gravely, Ph.D.

I’ve been thinking.  Is being just as good as your competitor good enough to succeed in business? The world of minority business has evolved over the years. It used to be that “just as good” was more than enough. The dynamics of our world economy, the increased pressure on supply chain performance and even the growing number of significant/sizable diverse suppliers has changed the definition of what works today.

Over the years since supplier diversity started the market expectation for minority businesses has evolved.
Figure 1.0. depicts this evolution by placing businesses into four competitiveness categories.

1. Me Too, Someday – Not as good as the competition but hoping to have an opportunity to do business as their way to improve over time. Me-too, Someday used to be good enough but it rarely is anymore.

2. Me Too – Just as good as the competition (although typically smaller and often less experienced as a business) and hope to get the opportunity to replace or at least augment the existing suppliers. This has been the stated expectation for the last decade or more. Me Too still works sometimes but this competitive positions becoming more and more difficult as a strategy for new businesses tousle to get started and to grow on.

3. Me Special – Better than competitors in some way meaningful and valuable to the customer. These firms have found ways to mitigate (not remove) other limitations (most often size, resources and experience).They have likely segmented the market and clearly understand how they are positioned in it. They leverage what they do and most of all how they do it into sustainable competitive advantage. These companies simply look different. Their focus on improving competitiveness and looking for ways to make their customers better changes their business posture. This is the next evolution of expectation for suppliers.

4. Me Only – These businesses do something no one else can do. It is aware competitive position for any business to gain and even more difficult to sustain. Me Only is more of an aspiration than it is an obtainable goal. It is something firms pursue because the pursuit makes them better and ties them closer to their customer’s needs. Almost no one obtains Me Only and no one keeps it long. The marketplace is competitive and competitors are always trying to get better.

So is Me Too good enough to win business? Yes, it is but only under certain circumstances. 1) When Me Too truly is Me Too in the customer’s eyes. 2) When there is no risk or cost to changing suppliers (is this ever true?). 3) When the incumbent makes a mistake. 4) When there is not a strong existing supplier/customer relationship. 5) When the customer is, four some reason, desperate.  6) When you have considerable scale and financial resources and significant industry relationships.

So yes, Me Too can work. The question is how many of these six items are consistently working for you? Even if you can make Me Too work, Me Too is a tough competitive position. Me Too means more expenses in marketing and sales, and increased pressure on price. Maybe worst of all, trying to maintain Me Too is often a slippery slope back to Me Too, Someday. Businesses are like living beings. They think, they have posture and even a market presence. Those businesses working toward Me Special (and maybe even Me Only) will be thinking, preparing and behaving like a competitive firm. Businesses thinking about Me Too will simply betraying to be given a contract. Where are you and your business on the continuum of competitiveness? I don’t know. I’m just thinking.

• Dr. Mel Gravely is the author of the new book Getting to the Next Level: Business, Race and Our Common Goal to Be Competitive (www.GetTheNextLevel.com). He is also the developer of COMSDA.com, an on-line benchmarking tool for supplier diversity programs and the Managing Director of the Institute for Entrepreneurial Thinking.  E-mail Dr. Gravely at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..