In business, especially in the world of the Internet, the phenomenon of “winner takes all” is evident. If you don’t understand the meaning of this word and analyze the market situation in your industry, you could quickly lose out to your competitors and lose your sales and market position.
winner takes all
“Winner takes all” means “one person wins” or “winner takes all.” The one who wins the battle gets everything, and the one who loses gets nothing. refers to such a situation.
One of the election methods is the “winner-takes-all” method. A typical example is the US presidential election. After delegates run in each state and hold a primary election, the delegates vote at a party convention to determine the presidential candidate, and in the general election the electors assigned to each state are selected and voted for.
In the Republican Party’s primary elections, the candidate who receives at least one vote in a given state (the winner) monopolizes that state’s delegate slots. This is winner-takes-all in elections.
Winner Takes All in the Internet World
Next, let’s take a look at the current state of the business world, especially the Internet industry where winner-takes-all is becoming more prominent.
The easiest to understand is “GAFA”. This is a collective term for the four companies that have dominant and monopolistic influence in the IT industry: Google, Apple, Facebook, and Amazon, and is taken from the initials of their respective company names. It is no exaggeration to say that there is currently no company that can rival them in their respective markets.
Taking search engines as an example, in Japan, Yahoo!, Bing, Excite, etc. are doing well, but Google still has the top market share with over 70%. When it comes to smartphones, Apple’s iPhone is at the top, far ahead of Sony and Sharp, with a market share of nearly 50%.
“GAFA” gains high market share, sales, and big data. Then, by making full use of these, we will provide users with even newer solutions and further increase our market share and establish an unshakable position. The phrase “winner takes all” is apt.
In the online world, there is a large winner-takes-all situation not only between the platforms provided by GAFA, but also among the users who use them.
For example, many people called “YouTubers” post videos on YouTube, provided by Google, and conduct businesses such as earning advertising revenue and promoting their companies’ and clients’ products and services. They are competing for the number of viewers and subscribers.
Top YouTubers with millions of subscribers also have annual incomes in the billions. He has gained great wealth and fame. On the other hand, there are many YouTubers who can’t earn any income even if they continue to post videos.
The same goes for the search engine Google. If your site appears at the top of the search results screen, your number of customers will increase significantly. If this becomes the second or third page, the chances that your site will be seen will decrease dramatically. For this reason, many companies are competing with each other to improve their site’s ranking by using SEO (Search Engine Optimization).
The winners monopolize people, goods, and money, and the losers get nothing. At first glance, it may seem cruel. But this is the reality of the world. Consumers have a desire to “use the best products,” “use products that are more convenient,” and “want to have a more interesting experience.” It is inevitable that winners such as “GAFA”, popular YouTubers, and famous internet media who have continued to respond to this demand have been able to acquire wealth and status.
There is no doubt that the Internet will become more popular in the future. Along with this, Winner Takes All will also become more prominent.
In order to succeed in business, there is no other option than winning.
Companies that attract customers by offering a good product make big profits, while many others get little or no return. Of course, this is not limited to the Internet industry; the Winner-Takes-All principle applies to any business. If you want to survive in a capitalist society, you have no choice but to be a winner.
In order to win in the market, analyze “Who is winning?” and “Why are they winning?” Then, once the situation of the battle becomes clear, you need to devise a strategy for how to win.
If there is no hope of winning in a head-on battle, you may need to develop strategies such as moving to a winning battleground (market, region, etc.) or creating new weapons (products, services, etc.).
By all means, keep in mind the idea of winner-takes-all, analyze your competitors, and consider other articles on this site to come up with a winning strategy.
summary
◆Winner takes all means “one person wins” or “winner takes all”
◆GAFA is a typical winner-takes-all model with dominant and monopolistic influence in the IT industry.
◆As long as it is a capitalist society, it is inevitable that it will be winner-takes-all, and there is no other option but to win.
◆In order to become a winner, it is important to analyze your rivals and formulate a strategy.