4-1
Competitor Analysis
Chapter 04
McGraw-Hill/Irwin
Copyright © 2008 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Competitor Analysis System
4-3
Secondary Sources of Competitor
Information
4-4
Primary Sources of Competitor
Information
4-5
Other Sources
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Help-Wanted Ads
Trade Shows
Plant Tours
Reverse Engineering
Monitoring Test Markets
Hiring Key Employees
4-6
Ethically Questionable Sources
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Aerial Reconnaissance
Buying/Stealing Trash
Bribing Printers
Running Phony Want Ads
Snooping on Airplanes
4-7
Product Features Matrix
4-8
Assessing Competitors‘ Objectives
 Growth objective
 Hold (Consolidation) objective
 Harvest (Milking) objective
4-9
Assessing Competitors’ Strategies
 Marketing Strategy
 Comparing Value Chains
 Marketing Mix
 Pricing
 Promotion
 Distribution
 Product/Service Capabilities
4-10
Value Chain
4-11
Criteria to Assess Technological
Strategy
 Technology selection or
specialization.
 Level of competence.
 Sources of capability: internal
versus external.
 R&D investment level.
 Competitive timing: initiate versus
respond.
 R&D organization and policies.
4-12
Typical Functional Requirements of
Alternative Technological Strategies
4-13
Format for Competitive Product
Analysis
4-14
Differential Advantage Analysis
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Ability to Conceive and Design
Ability to Produce
Ability to Market
Ability to Finance
Ability to Manage
4-15
Examples of Competitor Information
to Collect
4-16
Competitor Capabilities Matrix
4-17
Differential Competitor Advantage
Analysis
4-18
Assessing a Competitor's Will
 How crucial is this product to the
firm?
 How visible is the commitment to
the market?
 How aggressive are the managers?
4-19
A Competitive Conjecture Process
4-20