Competitive Analysis instruction
In this assignment you will need to compare a business to 3 of its nearest competitors. You'll shop the competition and rank all 4 businesses (your business + 3 rivals) on the "Competitive Analysis" Sheet.
Step 1: List the business you will represent, and its 3 nearest competitors on the Competitive Analysis sheet.
Step 2: Know your business ... get a strong sense of how business can deliver on the competitive factors listed on the competitive analysis sheet.
Step 3: Shop the other 3 competitors. See how these businesses can deliver on the competitive factors listed on the competitive position sheet. Shopping the competition can take some time, thus extra time is allocated for this assignment.
Step 4: Rank your business against its competitors. 4 points is the best, 1 point is the worst. Some companies will be slightly better / slightly worse than others on these factors. Dig for minor differences, and do not rank the competitors equally. Make the decision on who is slightly better and slightly worse. If there is no competitive activity for that industry, put N/A in the row.
Those with the next highest points get the next highest ranking. The only exception is price. Those with the lowest price get the most points.
Step 5: For your business, fill out the Competitive Position sheet that lists company image, areas of advantage over competition, areas of weaknesses as compared to your competition and areas of no competitive advantage.
Step 6: Fill out the Market Positioning graph. Show where your business and the competitors compete based on quality and price. Be sure to match your quality / price rankings to your Competitive Analysis rankings. For example, if your company has the highest quality ... it should be graphed as having the highest quality.
Note: This assignment is the basis for most advertising. Its intent is to show you what your business does well in relation to its competitors. Once that uniqueness is determined, we will create a marketing brochure and a website based upon this competitive analysis. Do a good job with this assignment, and the rest of the course will be much easier.