The net effect of this was that, although customers benefited, the banks lost out as their costs increased but the total number of customers stayed the same.
In mature markets, breakthroughs that lead to a major change in competitive positions and to the growth of the market are rare. ( ① )
Because of this, competition becomes a zero sum game in which one organization can only win at the expense of others. ( ② )
However, where the degree of competition is particularly intense a zero sum game can quickly become a negative sum game, in that everyone in the market is faced with additional costs. ( ③ )
As an example of this, when one of the major high street banks in Britain tried to gain a competitive advantage by opening on Saturday mornings, it attracted a number of new customers who found the traditional Monday-Friday
bank opening hours to be a constraint. ( ④ )
However, faced with a loss of customers, the competition responded by opening on Saturdays as well. ( ⑤ )
In essence, this proved to be a negative sum game.