What is the framework for “Competitor Analysis”?
- Identification and choice of competitors
- Determining objectives of each competitor
- Determining current strategy of each competitor
- Key (critical) success factors
- Predicting future behaviour of each competitor
- Identification & Choice of Competitors:
Bases of Competition
Customer Oriented
- “Levels” business definition & scope
Resource Oriented
- Raw materials
- Employees
- Financial resources
Marketing Activity Oriented
- These & Copy
- Media (billboards) (what colours are we using, music rights etc)
- Distribution (supermarket shop space)
Geographic
- Compete with people in eg. a local area and doesn’t extend outside
- Identification & Choice of Competitors:
Determining the Competitive Set
Managerial judgment
- Products & Markets
- Strategic groups
Customer based
- Behavioural
- Perceptual
- Identification & Choice of Competitors:
Levels of Competition
- Product form
- Product category
- Generic needs
- Budget $$
eg. cereal
Product form
- Other brands selling to segment
- A different cereal eg an alternative to corn flakes
Product category
- Choosing between corn flakes & weetbix
Generic needs
- How can i satisfy my needs (hunger) without eating cereal?
Budget
- Where else can i spend my money?
- Eating out for breakfast instead?
- Not eating breakfast and saving the money for something else?
- Identification & Choice of Competitors:
Strategic Groups
Strategic groups consist of companies employing similar strategies
- Identification & Choice of Competitors:
Planning & Competition
CORPORATE
- long term
- broad market definition
- generic and budget competition
SBU
- long & short term
- narrow market definition
- product category competition
PRODUCT
- short term
- narrow market definition
- product category and product form competition
- Identification & Choice of Competitors:
Product Strategy Implications
Competitive level: basis of strategy
Product form: convince customers that brand is superior
Product category: convince customers that product form is best in category
Generic: convince customers that category is best way to satisfy needs
Budget: convince customer that generic benefits are best way to spend discretionary income
- Assessing Current Objectives
Growth
- share over profit
Hold/Consolidate
- maintain, holt, reverse
Harvest/Milk
- profit over share
What do they want and how badly do they want it?
- Assessing Current Strategies
Target Segments
Positioning
- value proposition (price, quality, etc)
Value Chain
Marketing Mis
- what are their current marketing activities
- are they better/worse than us?
- what are they doing that we should be doing?
ANALYSE
- Assessing Current Strategies
Competitive Approach
Prospector
- a “first mover” in launching new product and in entering new markets (larger players more likely)
Analyser
- an intermediate type who makes fewer and slower product
- market changes than prospectors (larger players more likely)
Reactor
- a competitor who lacks any well defined competitive strategy
- their responses are dictated by environmental pressures (what other people are doing)
Defender
- a competitor who attempts to locate and maintain a secure position in a stable product market
- Critical Success Factors
Those skills & resources that exert the most leverage on positional advantage and future performance
- usually lower cost or increase value
Industry Specific
All firms need them
- all firms have them to differing levels
- Predicting Future Strategies
s
What are some Sources of Competitor Information?
What other market parties say about them
- customers
- suppliers
- sales reps
What competitors say about themselves
- annual reports
- websites
- advertising
What third parties say about them
- newspapers
- consumer associations
- research reports
Ethics & Competitor Info
Not endorsed
- stealing (buying) rubbish
- bribing printers
- fake employment ads (to interview competitor employees)
- eavesdropping in the airline lounge
Competitor analysis at the different levels of planning?
CORPORATE:
- Who and how are they better/worse at resources and capabilities
SBU:
- Who and how are they better/worse at portfolio capabilities
FUNCTIONAL:
- Who and how are they worse at project/brand level (marketing mix)
