© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing Prentice Hall. Note 5 Competitor Analysis— Competitive Intelligence

© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing Prentice Hall. Introduction  A comprehensive competitor analysis includes the following four areas:  Long-term objectives and motivations of the competitor  Strengths and weaknesses  Strategies  Marketing tactics 2

© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing Prentice Hall. Long-Term Objectives and Motivations of the Competitor  The objectives determine the strategy and tactical moves  From the objectives one can derive what the motivations of your competitor are in a specific business or market  To identify the long term objectives and motivations of a competitor examine:  Vision and mission statements  Annual reports  Press releases  Analyst reports  Presentations and speeches of executives 3

© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing Prentice Hall. Strengths and Weaknesses  The assessment of strengths and weaknesses helps you to:  Predict competitor’s actions and initiatives  To identify points of difference to position your products and services 4

© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing Prentice Hall. Steps in the Assessment of Strengths and Weaknesses 5 Success factors in a market have to be determined The success factors are weighted according to their importance The competitor is rated on each success factor Multiply the rating by the importance weight

© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing Prentice Hall. Figure Note Strengths and Weakness Analysis 6

© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing Prentice Hall. Strategies  The strategy profile illustrates the strategic priorities and compares them with your own company  You can identify the areas of strategic overlap and areas of difference  A comprehensive strategy assessment leads to a strategy profile containing:  Portfolio analysis  Customer value analysis  Growth strategy 7

© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing Prentice Hall. Strategies  Marketing approach  Offensive strategy  Defensive strategy 8

© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing Prentice Hall. Figure Note Competitor Strategy Profile 9

© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing Prentice Hall. Marketing Tactics  Consists of the assessment of the individual marketing decisions  They relate to positioning, product and brand decisions, pricing, distribution and sales management, and communication  In this step you assess what the competitors actually do  Sources:  Price lists  Advertising campaigns  Promotions 10

© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing Prentice Hall. Marketing Tactics  Sales force meetings  Trade shows  Fairs  Shared customers  Shared distributors 11

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