Business Sustainability in Hypercompetitive Contexts

Abstract

Markets are evolving from high competition to hypercompetitive formats, which means that competitive advantages are quickly engulfed by competitors and disseminated worldwide. Nonetheless, there is a source strong enough to create added value with a sustainable degree of lasting customer acceptance. However, to be able to exploit that source of competitiveness, it is necessary to change the current economic paradigm; it is indispensable to overcome the rational phase and work within the affective phenomena sphere. That is because both the goal businesses need to reach (becoming consumer's preference) and the elements to achieve it can only be found in what we know as the emotional dimension of life. Once that first premise has been accepted, it is necessary to establish the methodology to convert something not measurable by nature into something else manageable and able to be quantified objectively. After more than 20 years of research and empirical testing, the proposed model (Expansive Emotional Influence) has been able to help grow several businesses from different countries without the need for e-commerce, even in contexts such as the World Financial (2008) and the COVID-19 crisis.