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 today’s 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 one’s 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 competitor’s qualities and effectiveness, and (2) the “truth” about one’s own company’s qualities and effectiveness, and (3) the “truth” about oneself, individually, in terms of one’s 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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