Breaking Compromises, Breakaway Growth

This article starts by defining the difference between a tradeoff and a compromise. A trade off is a hard obvious choice, like a cheap or expensive piece of clothing, the material dictates the cost. A compromise is man made e.g. not being able to order certain items to your area. There is nothing stopping a business letting you order, but it is difficult so businesses don’t want you to do it - the very essence of a compromise.

Compromises occur when an industry imposes its own operating practises or constraints on customers … it’s the industries way or no way

Removing compromises can lead to growth, and can do so by changing the competitive set - i.e. the alternatives customers could use instead. An example in the article is about a company that removed the tradeoffs between buying a car and a 2nd hand car.

Compromise becomes visible when a customer has to modify their behaviour to use a company’s product or service

The techniques discussed here are very similar to the Jobs To Be Done framework.