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 Help-Wanted Ads Trade Shows Plant Tours Reverse Engineering Monitoring Test Markets Hiring Key Employees 4-6 Ethically Questionable Sources 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 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