"Think about this in the context of software. If you're a startup, you can compete against the BigCos by doing what they do better (and lose most of the time, because it's just too much of a pain to buy from a new vendor), or you can compete by doing what the BigCos do differently. Or, rather, selling/distributing/developing in some fundamentally different way.
"Applebees could go out and fight head-to-head with Chilis, etc., and it does. Applebees competes in the metropolitan markets with all of the big chains. Even here, however, the company does it differently, Fast Company reports: they concentrate restaurants in these areas, rather than spreading them out, not fretting about cutting into each other's territory..."
