4.1.3. Growth

Growth FSCs apply widely available skills, technology and information to create differentiated products, in addition to leveraging economies of scale and scope. Consumers pay a premium for differentiated products, but there is price-based competition in this category. Product differentiation is achieved through following procedures required to establish one or more product/process attributions, such as certified organic, non-GMO, fair trade, etc. Firms that occupy this quadrant exploit existing industrial technologies and skills to produce differentiated products efficiently [56]. In some respects, products in this space may be labeled with attributes that also appear to differentiate the Niche quadrant (e.g., local, pasture-raised). What distinguishes Growth from Niche in this respect is the ability to achieve industrial scale and efficiency. What is striking, in comparing the bundle of quality conventions present in Mainstream with those in Growth, is that each quadrant applies the same set of conventions; the distinguishing feature is the *prioritization* of conventions. As conveyed by its name, the Growth quadrant competes by offering one or more product claims or attributes that are highly desirable by consumers and therefore fulfill the public convention. Such differentiation, however, must occur at industrial scale in order to be competitive. The essential tradeoff associated with the Growth quadrant is between the level of product differentiation and industrial scale in widely available and well-understood processes. In other words, there may be an upper limit to the firm's ability to create differentiated attributes without moving into specialized processes, which require the firm to explore rather than exploit.
