APPENDIX H: 10 Component Competitive
Analysis Model
This is a 30 page paper based on a major study done for an international
Internet telecom company in the fall of 2000. The paper is entitled:
Positioning for Top and Bottom Line Success:
A Model for Corporate Competitive Analysis
(Marketing, Sales, Profits, Capital Valuation)
Subhead: 10 Ideal Type Analysis Components For
Use as a Standard for Comparison
The key two mantras are
1. Evaluate in light of the 10 competitive
analysis components
2. All evaluations are of course
until further notice.
The ten components of analysis are:
1.. Have a competitive standard for comparison
2.. Have all be Internet proficient from CEO to shop floor
3.. Beat price point and avoid the Internet Black Hole
4.. Stay ahead of the event horizons
5.. Be a navigator for customers
6.. Navigate as a web Portal/Gateway
7.. Differentiate of die
8.. Serve the customer
9.. Achieve power through communications
10.. Execute lessons of both the old and the new economies
Regardless of industry, companies seek to create, develop, produce and
distribute goods and services in such a manner that market share will
be kept and increased, and profits and valuation will be added and increased.
In todays so-called new economy (in which the laws of
the old economy still hold), this must also include the utilization
of the Internet both in-house and with customers, clients, vendors, and
suppliers, using a combination of Internet, Intranet, and Extranet protocols
on the World Wide Web.
Needed is both steak (service, product) and sizzle (differentiates the
steak favorably against the competition in the eyes of potential clients
and customers).
Key for any company is to free its customers/clients from distractions
in order to enable them to achieve faster turnaround and killer content,
and thus creating a value chain across all media of the client/customer,
doing all of this at an affordable price below that of the competition.
Key is the definition of the situation. Who will be
the WINNER? The one which wins the definition of the situation
with actual and potential clients, customers and prospects through better
positioning in the marketplace and differentiation from the competition
in the marketplace.
The key in terms of competitive analysis components is to recognize that
the concept is universal, not the content, which can vary from analysis
topic to topic. Needed is having a beginning Competitive Analysis
Component (CAC) list which can be revised, added to, and deleted from,
which is then used to make the competitive analysis. Also key is
to understand that the analysis is both in terms of the competition and
in terms of ones own efficiency, productivity, and profitability.
A competitive analysis framework can thus be used to achieve seven goals
of defining the situation:
1. To have a standard
for all company employees, top to bottom, to use to analyze any competitor
and to analyze any internal shop within the company, as well as each person
themselves, personally (TQM is both an organizational and individual measurement).
2.
To analyze the truth about (1) the competitors qualities
and effectiveness, and (2) the truth about ones own
companys qualities and effectiveness, and (3) the truth
about oneself, individually, in terms of ones own personal qualities
and effectiveness.
3.
To use the information from #s 1 and 2 to develop a strategic plan
to win the competitive battle for position in the market place, a plan
which will minimally include marketing and sales, delivery and service,
and, if need be, corrective in-house measures needed in the management
and administration of the various entities of the company.
4. To use the information
from #s 1 and 2 and 3 to develop a first rate company web portal.
5. To facilitate
a strategy to deliver NOTICE to the marketplace in behalf
of the company. In the famous phrase of Peter Berger: Reality
is of course
. Until further notice.
6. To further positive
cash flow, profitability, growth, and openness to restructuring, working
toward bottom line positives and off the life support of investment
capital and debt.
7. To adapt the
Competitive Analysis Components quickly (add, delete, revise), as changes
in the market place, the organization, and the definitions of the situation
dictate.
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