Competitive and Performance Implications of Business Definitions‪.‬

The advantages of knowing exactly what business you're in would seem obvious. Nevertheless, too many businesses do not define these boundaries, define them incorrectly, or conflate the industry with the domain. This penalizes a businesses' ability to identify and study competitors as well as take advantage of opportunities. It can hurt profitability. In addition to providing guidelines for defining a domain, this article shows the impact of domain choice and definition on the bottom line through a study of 25 Belgian electrical wholesalers. Introduction