I think the title is a little misleading. He says: "Cutting costs and only competing on price is a death spiral.". He is talking about competing only on price.

I think the title is a little misleading. He says: "Cutting costs and only competing on price is a death spiral.". He is talking about competing only on price. Ikea is not only competing on price but also on quality. Making your product/service very cheap is a death spiral when it misses quality. Take a look at the very cheap Chinese Android tablets. They are so cheap it's unbelievable. But after half an hour they run out of power. You have to push the screen in half to make it responsive. That is a death spiral and not a threat to other businesses.