Most companies try to win the game as it exists. Better product. Better marketing. Better execution. They accept the rules and try to outplay everyone else.
The best companies change the rules.
Three ways I've seen it done
1. Redefine the category. Don't compete within "sportswear." Create "Italian Sport Couture." The old competitors are suddenly playing a different game than you.
2. Change the basis of competition. Everyone competes on taste and nutrition? Compete on identity and occasion. The dimension you choose determines who wins.
3. Create a new intersection. Combine two things nobody combined before. Sony's entertainment DNA + Honda's mobility expertise = a space that didn't exist yesterday.
The pattern
In every case, the company didn't beat the competition. They bent the structure so that the old competition became irrelevant.
That's not winning the game. That's owning the board.