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Podcast: HBR On Strategy
Episode: How to Compete with “Free” Products and Services
Description: Free products and services are everywhere – from buy-one-get-one-free offers to free office software like Canva and Google docs, and, yes, this very podcast. If your revenue strategy does not include give aways, these free goods and services can put extra pressure on your business. How can you compete?
Brigham Young University professor of strategy David Bryce studied give-away strategies across 26 different product markets. He says that companies make two key mistakes when they try to compete with a free entrant: responding too quicky with their own free offering or not responding at all.
“Really, the chal...