Focused strategies keyed either to low-cost or differentiation are especially appropriate for situations where the target market niche is big enough to be profitable and offers good growth potential and few (if any) other rivals are attempting to specialize in the same target segment. most other rival firms are using a best-cost provider strategy, so that a company employing a focused strategy stands apart from the crowd and is readily visible to buyers of all types. o most other rival firms are using low-cost provider or broad differentiation strategies. there are only a few cost drivers and value drivers that rival firms can utilize, buyers are relatively small and have little bargaining power, and new product innovation occurs at a rapid-fire pace. o most industry rivals have weakly differentiated products, buyers purchase the product infrequently, and the total market is comprised of only a few different types of buyers.