MOST Analysis

Mission Statement

A system where numerous businesses compete with one another utilizing diverse marketing channels, advertising strategies, pricing approaches, etc. is referred to as a competitive environment. Businesses should abide by the rules contained in this system. Your business and your decisions may be directly impacted by your rivals. Consider two rival online clothes retailers who compete with one another for customers and financial gain. Before Christmas, one of them decides to hold a flash sale where buyers may get 40% off anything on the website. The competing store will also need to develop a compelling offer to draw leads and consumers, boost sales, move off-brand merchandise, and ultimately increase profits. Similar to this, if a coffee firm releases a new product, its rival will need to think about growth hacking. Therefore, competition can be advantageous because it spurs businesses to improve themselves and their goods. Customers benefit from a competitive environment as well. Businesses frequently provide premium products at competitive prices to attract customers. Additionally, corporations must innovate in order to release their products. However, competition can occasionally make it more difficult for a business to survive. Consider two businesses that are housed in the same place. It will be challenging for the second company to compete if one of them sets low prices and discounts. It’s time to move on to the many sorts of competition that define the relationships between and among sellers and customers now that you understand how a competitive environment affects your business and customers.

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Objectives

01. Competitive Environment Analysis: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
02. Identify Potential Competitive Offerings: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
03. Intellectual Property Reviews: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
04. Technology Stack Assessment: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
05. Porters Five Forces Analysis: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
06. Identify Competitor’s Team Members: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
07. Identify Competitor’s Investors: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. 1 Month
08. Identify Competitor’s Customers: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
09. Monopolistic competition: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
10. Monopoly: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
11. Oligopoly: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
12. Pure Competition: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month

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Strategies

01. Competitive Environment Analysis: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
02. Identify Potential Competitive Offerings: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
03. Intellectual Property Reviews: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
04. Technology Stack Assessment: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
05. Porters Five Forces Analysis: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
06. Identify Competitor’s Team Members: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
07. Identify Competitor’s Investors: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
08. Identify Competitor’s Customers: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
09. Monopolistic competition: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
10. Monopoly: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
11. Oligopoly: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
12. Pure Competition: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.

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Tasks

01. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Competitive Environment Analysis.
02. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Identify Potential Competitive Offerings.
03. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Intellectual Property Reviews.
04. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Technology Stack Assessment.
05. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Porters Five Forces Analysis.
06. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Identify Competitor’s Team Members.
07. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Identify Competitor’s Investors.
08. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Identify Competitor’s Customers.
09. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Monopolistic competition.
10. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Monopoly.
11. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Oligopoly.
12. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Pure Competition.

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Introduction

A system where numerous businesses compete with one another utilizing diverse marketing channels, advertising strategies, pricing approaches, etc. is referred to as a competitive environment. Businesses should abide by the rules contained in this system.

How does a competitive environment affect businesses?

Your business and your decisions may be directly impacted by your rivals. Consider two rival online clothes retailers who compete with one another for customers and financial gain. One of them chooses to offer 40% off the entire website during a flash sale right before Christmas. The competing store will also need to develop a compelling offer to draw leads and consumers, boost sales, move off-brand merchandise, and ultimately increase profits.

Similar to this, if a coffee firm releases a new product, its rival will need to think about growth hacking. Therefore, competition can be advantageous because it spurs businesses to improve themselves and their goods.

Customers benefit from a competitive environment as well. Businesses frequently provide premium products at competitive prices to attract customers. Additionally, corporations must innovate in order to release their products. However, competition can occasionally make it more difficult for a business to survive. Consider two businesses that are housed in the same place. It will be challenging for the second company to compete if one of them sets low prices and discounts.

It’s time to move on to the many sorts of competition that define the relationships between and among sellers and customers now that you understand how a competitive environment affects your business and customers.

Types of Competitive Environment

To evaluate the business environment’s economic climate, it is crucial to comprehend the different types of competitive situations. To be able to understand industry and market news, policy shifts, and legislation in the future, you need be familiar with how businesses and markets operate. Let’s identify the primary categories of competitive situations and examine each one in greater detail.

• Pure competition. In an environment where competition is fierce, numerous small businesses manufacture comparable goods that are in high demand. Due to their modest size, these producers have no ability to change the price, which is determined by supply and demand for the product. For instance, when a farmer takes dairy products to the neighborhood market, he or she cannot alter the going price and must accept it.

• Monopolistic competition. In this setting, numerous producers create various goods that may or may not have the same function. Because of the variations in quality, features, and other factors, customers can discern between the products. Businesses actively utilize advertising to market their goods and persuade customers that they are superior to competing goods. Companies engaged in monopolistic competition have the power to set prices for their products because they are price makers. To differentiate themselves from other enterprises, they need offer something unique to support the price increase on their items, such raising the caliber of their goods.

• Oligopoly. There are typically two or more small enterprises in this market model. Companies cooperate rather than compete in order to gain high market returns, hence it is seen as steady. Prices are jointly set and maintained high by businesses or under the direction of a single business. Profit margins are higher in an oligopoly than they are in a more competitive setting. The primary issue with this market structure is that businesses frequently experience the prisoner’s dilemma, which provides an incentive to deceive and behave in their own best interests at the expense of other enterprises.

• Monopoly. One business creates a distinctive product. There is no competition for this company, and there are no alternatives for the product. A monopolist also establishes hurdles for new businesses to enter the market and determines the product’s pricing.

When joining the market, you should be aware of the four primary market structures: monopoly, monopolistic competition, oligopoly, and perfect competition. It’s time to move on to the study of the competitive environment.

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Case Study: Beating the competition – Amazon Web Services

AWS provides a range of goods and services that are primarily classified into two categories: cloud computing and cloud storage. Although other businesses offer a lot of the same services, AWS stands out for its exceptional scalability and versatility.

AWS came to the realization that a business with processing peaks lasting only a few hours per day does not need to invest in pricey infrastructure around-the-clock. Similar to this, if just 5,000 people choose to use a company’s services after renting server space for a forecasted 10,000 consumers, the company stands to lose a lot of money.

Because of this, AWS customers only pay for what they really use. A company’s cost is automatically and proportionally reduced if it doesn’t use the available processing power at specific periods of the day (or week, or year). All AWS services can be quickly and simply terminated or added in accordance with the requirements of the client, according to a similar approach. AWS services are astonishingly affordable and practical for small, medium, and big businesses thanks to a customer-focused approach, which has helped them gain a 32% market share in the global cloud computing market.

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Competitive Environment Analysis

Understanding your rivals’ strategies will help you create a winning marketing plan. To reach your company rivals at this point, you require a competitive analysis framework. Let’s talk about a few of the most common frameworks.

• SWOT Analysis. You can evaluate the internal and external forces affecting your business. With the use of this framework, you may pinpoint competitive advantages, assess your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses across various marketing channels, and determine your next marketing moves.

• Strategic Group Analysis. This framework describes the many strategic characteristics of all effective competitors’ strategies. It enables you to determine the positions of your rivals in the market and the elements that make your company profitable. Additionally, it enables you to measure your position among rivals and pinpoint the essential elements of success.

• Porter’s Five Forces. This framework’s foundation is based on an examination of the industry’s competitive market dynamics and a contribution to the identification of the sector’s advantages and disadvantages. It has five components: substitutes, new competitors, buyers, suppliers, and suppliers. These five factors affect how fierce the rivalry is in your sector.

• Growth-Share Matrix. Using this framework, you may choose whether items are worthwhile investments based on their market attractiveness and competitiveness. Large businesses find it particularly helpful because it enables them to define their product portfolios and determine which goods are still worthwhile to invest in and which are no longer.

• Perceptual Mapping. You can use this framework to compare your product to those offered by your competitors. You can use it to determine whether your positioning strategy is appropriate for your target market and how buyers view your product in comparison to that of your competitors. It can also assist you in identifying the holes you need to fill.

To fully understand different market structures, let’s walk you through some examples.

Examples of Competitive Environment

Even tiny businesses include a component on competitive environment analysis in their business plans. It comprises all the outside circumstances that have an impact on your business and the goods or services you provide, as you are already aware from the information above.

Take electronics as an illustration. The South Korean corporation Samsung, which specializes in electrical and smart appliance technology, was created. Apple, Sony, Huawei, Intel, and many other companies are among their rivals, therefore Samsung’s team works to produce a product that is superior to alternatives employing innovations that might draw customers.

The types of competitive environments might change as a result of advancements in technology or changes in consumer purchasing patterns. As an illustration, Amazon altered product distribution and client expectations. New breakthroughs increased the number of consumer goods businesses and provided new markets for startups that previously had no chance to compete with more established businesses.

Your company could be exposed to several competitive environments. Because of this, it’s essential to recognize how they differ and to be prepared to evaluate news about the market, the business, and government regulations.

Competitive environment in marketing

• Samsung. There are several direct competitors for Samsung in its competitive landscape. Similar products like smartphones, cameras, computers, etc. are offered by several businesses all over the world. These businesses include, among others, Huawei, Apple, and Xiaomi. These businesses are constantly in competition with one another. Samsung must develop fresh, cutting-edge concepts and marketing strategies that will draw people and persuade them to buy its goods if it is to prosper.

• McDonald’s. McDonald’s has a lot of rivals, including Burger King, KFC, Five Guys, and more. Nevertheless, despite the fact that all of these eateries serve quick food, the food they provide is distinct. Each of them has a distinct menu that features dishes with a variety of flavors and recipes. Fans of McDonald’s are therefore unlikely to choose any of the other eateries instead. McDonald’s may also set prices due to all of the aforementioned factors.

• American Airlines. There aren’t many monopolizing businesses in American Airlines’ market. Examples of this are United Airlines, Southwest Airlines, and Delta Air Lines. They make up the top four domestic flight providers in the United States along with American Airlines. As a result, they are able to work together and set rates.

• Railways. Since no other businesses are creating the goods, there is no competitive environment. Government-run railways cannot be operated by new partners or privately held businesses because they are public services.

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Case Study: Beating the competition – Etsy

IOspace, a small software development startup, first introduced Etsy in 2005. Etsy, in contrast to Amazon, which stores and delivers goods, brings together consumers and sellers from all over the world and earns money by keeping 5% of the purchase price.

From the beginning, Etsy attracted notice for its cutting-edge business methods from both consumers and merchants. The business frequently added new features and tools, making considerable use of tags and categories and flash animations.

With up to 30 updates released every day by their technical team, the company’s innovation pace increased in 2010. This was made possible by modifications to the implementation procedure, which eliminated the need for management approval for each modification to the website. Instead, software was utilized to track website modifications while the same engineers who planned the improvements oversaw their execution.

Their R&D expenditure for 2018 was $97.2 million, a 30% increase over 2017. Regular updates add new features, automatic suggestions for landing page optimization, buyer customization tools, and enhancements to Etsy’s mobile app. Additionally, the business has used machine learning to translate transactions into ten different languages and assist users with item browsing.

Despite Amazon’s efforts to surpass them, all of this helped Etsy dominate the market for handmade goods.

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Benefits and Drawbacks of Business Competition

For practically any firm, competition, whether direct or indirect, is a given. Even innovators who are the first in their industry must accept the fact that competitors will eventually emerge, such as start-ups or established businesses expanding their product lines.

Although it can appear that competition in business gives businesses a lesser part of the market and a smaller piece of the metaphorical pie, competition can also be advantageous for both businesses and customers.

Advantages of Competition for Businesses

Although commercial competition reduces your individual market share, it can also push you to improve as a company. When you’re the only choice, it’s simple to take it easy. However, “competition creates excellence,” they claim.

A common example is a restaurant that attracts customers primarily because it is the most practical option. As a result, even if the meal isn’t great, customers will still patronize the establishment. However, if a rival eatery starts up close by, the first one will have to fight for customers and upgrade to survive.

The same idea underpins all businesses and benefits both enterprises and customers. But in the end, businesses benefit the most from this aspect of competition since it spurs them on to innovate and pursue better standards. Clients should never seek you out; you want them to do business with you.

7 Reasons that Competition is Good for Business

Many companies view competition as their enemy. In some circumstances, this might increase workers’ motivation. You must not disregard the numerous ways in which your rivals support the expansion and development of your company.

1. Inspiration

Capitalism is based on competition. You cannot argue against the fact that competition spurs workers to put in more effort, even if you believe there are better ways to organize an economy. It compels companies to innovate their offerings. It fosters a sense of unity among workers at an organization. Many teams become closer when they have a same objective. One of these objectives can include outperforming the competitors in terms of revenue, new clients, or market share. When there is more competition around them, your employees—especially if they are paid on commission—will be more driven to keep clients. The introduction of new products, marketing strategies, or business models by the competitors keeps your organization on its toes and spurs innovation. Growth, innovation, and progress are stimulated by competition. You might take a higher risk when conditions are competitive in the hopes of earning a significant profit. As circumstances change and new players enter your industry, you can’t just stay the same and hope to keep your clients.

2. Partnerships

Many businesses dislike their rivals because they believe they steal their clients. The market for your sector will really grow as more businesses enter it. You should make an effort to maintain cordial relations with your rivals. A positive working relationship with rivals can have many advantages for both parties. Sharing advice, providing relevant content, or attending events together can all result from networking. Not every company in your neighborhood is a rival. That eatery next to your theater is not in direct competition with you. In fact, your traffic is probably rising as a result. Who wouldn’t want to watch a movie after filling their bellies with delectable food? Everywhere, complementary firms are working together to organize events or give their clients promotions for the other company. Through exposure and increased sales, this collaboration tremendously benefits both companies.

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3. Customers

Consumers benefit from competition since it results in lower pricing and more options. Competition benefits your business because it makes customers happier. How would you feel if Snickers and Reese’s peanut butter cups had never been created, and all you could eat for the rest of your life were Almond Joys? People who enjoy peanuts or dislike coconuts would have an unhappy life if they lived it that way. It’s true that this additional competition would cause sales of Almond Joys to decline. Customers would, however, be considerably pleased. Almond Joy currently caters to people who genuinely adore their candy in a world where there are many candy bar options. Brand loyalty is produced by competition when it would not otherwise exist. There are now supporters of Almond Joys and Reese’s peanut butter cups, respectively.

4. SWOT

Companies are prompted by competition to do a SWOT analysis to determine their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Businesses should be aware of and build upon their strengths. It is important to acknowledge and correct weaknesses. Without acknowledging what needs improvement, improvement is impossible. Every business has room for improvement, whether it is in terms of their offerings, offerings, customer service, internet presence, or something else. Research should be done to examine various prospects that your business might exploit. Your threats can also include your rivals or a sluggish economy. Once you have established all of these factors, take them into account while making crucial business decisions.

5. Learning

What better approach to learn how to successfully attract clients than by looking at another prosperous company in your sector? If your company is that successful, then don’t feel frightened when other businesses imitate you. The fact that people are copying your firm should make you feel honored. Even if you’re at the top, there’s always something you can pick up from your rivals. Perhaps you can make one small adjustment to greatly increase your chances of success. Whether or whether your rival is prosperous, you can still learn from their wise choices and failures.

6. Customer service

How can you retain your clients while luring away business from your rivals? Better customer support is a good place to start. Consumer service is more crucial the more expensive the purchase a customer is making. Since there are so many alternatives, your employees will need to work much harder to maintain client interest in your company. Because of this, you must carefully select your customer service personnel and ensure that they are driven to assist clients in any manner possible. Customers should be treated with the same consideration and respect as those who are making purchases, regardless of whether they do so. This can entice them to visit again or recommend your company to others. Your company’s reputation improves as your customer service does.

7. Niche

Your company may stand out from the competition in a crowded market with similar competitors. Pay attention to what makes your business unique. Customers should be able to tell that you have a competitive advantage, offer excellent customer service, or produce high-quality goods. Market segments that are devoted to distinct brands are created by competition. You will get some devoted clients if your business is truly unique and provides value to customers.

Although competition might challenge your company, it also has numerous positive effects. Customers benefit and continue to visit your store when you are compelled to be innovative and provide excellent service. When you serve your consumers well, even in a competitive market, you may build some fairly strong brand loyalty.

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Disadvantages for Businesses

In business, competition reduces a company’s market share and reduces the pool of potential customers, particularly if demand is constrained. Reduced profit margins for each sale or service might result from a competitive market’s need to cut prices in order to remain competitive.

A flooded market is an extreme case. Inventories grow as products are overproduced. When inventory reaches unmanageable levels, too much capital is locked up in goods that are simply sitting in storage, leaving little left over for expenses like rent and wages. Employee layoffs or hours cutbacks become necessary if the inventory continues to be chronically overstocked in order to keep payroll expenditures within the budget’s tightening limits.

Advantages of Competition for Customers

It’s beneficial for customers to have options. There will be more options for potential customers to pick from if there are more businesses in a sector offering comparable goods or services. Market competition forces companies to enhance their offers, which are then passed on to customers as more specialized, effective, and superior possibilities. The most obvious advantages for customers are cheaper costs and more purchasing power.

Disadvantages for Customers

Customers must also contend with the negative effects of competition. Due to how brutally competitive the business world may be, it may hurt brands that customers frequently support. For instance, you won’t be able to eat at your preferred restaurant ever again if it closes down due to excessive competition.

Having too many options can make choosing products more difficult. For instance, toothpaste. Even though toothpaste has an entire store lane dedicated to possibilities, most people do not have a strong preference for features in a bottle of toothpaste.

On the other hand, a market monopoly ultimately results in fewer, worse options.

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Case Study: Beating the competition – Nike

Each advertisement is a painstakingly created composition that only occasionally refers to Nike’s products but is instead intended to arouse emotions and wants. Nike is conveying a story in all of its advertisements that motivates common people to pursue their sporting ambitions.

The demand for running shoes extends beyond simple footwear for the buyer. Instead, they want to improve their health, endurance, sports performance, or some other aspect of their lives. And the motto for Nike speaks directly to this objective. Instead of selling items, it promotes the advantages those products will have.

When a customer expresses hesitation or concern, Nike advises them to “Just do it.”

They consistently develop fresh and creative marketing messages that are consistent with Nike’s culture and brand language because their product emphasis is varied and segmented. For instance, the new slogan “Find Your Fast” is gradually but surely gaining traction among athletes.

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The 9 Rules for Business Competition

Those of us in B2B sales frequently find ourselves vying for a client with a rival. Both winners and losers are present. The game must be played in order to win because this is true. The following nine guidelines will help you compete and outperform your rivals.

• Respect Your Competition: Underestimating your competition when vying for business is one of the biggest blunders you can do. The part of you that wants—and needs—to think you are superior should make some place for the notion that your rival will be difficult to beat. Being disrespectful to your rivals indicates that you are arrogant. History books are replete with tales of people whose arrogance cost them victories they otherwise would have had.

• Know Your Competition: According to businessman Anthony Iannarino, “I never checked in without checking the customer’s guest book to see which of my competitors had visited the client. The lady behind the counter would occasionally stare at me as though I were doing something incorrectly, but in my opinion, it would have been incorrect not to look. Regardless of how you learn this information, understanding who else is vying for the business of your ideal client will help you better understand how to compete, which is the focus of our following rule.

• Remove Threats Proactively: You are aware that your low-cost, bottom-feeding rival will undoubtedly undercut your price by a considerable margin. You are aware that your enormous competition, whose market share encompasses the majority of the known universe, will make their size and scale a problem that they think you are unable to solve. When your price is greater, let your client know right away and utilize that information to explain how it pertains to what they desire. Make sure your client is aware of your boutique, neighborhood location so they won’t have to wait for Lord Vader to weigh in on the services they require from the neighborhood team and that just two of the Death Star’s satellites are in their orbit.

• Your Sales Approach Is Your Advantage: If you compete at Level 1, the lowest level of value, you are nearly certain to lose to a salesperson who adds more value throughout the process. You might think that your solution should be enough to win you a transaction. It’s almost guaranteed that your sales strategy isn’t a contemporary, consultative strategy if you have any doubts. Your most important competitive advantage—or lack thereof—lies in how you sell.

• Spend Time with Your Prospective Client: Due to the rapid advancement of technology, salespeople are increasingly spending less time with their clients. You must enjoy competing against others who wish to fudge the results. Reject that. Make the change to “email it in.” Your competitive edge grows the more time you spend with your ideal client. Who wants to buy from someone who doesn’t want to meet with them in person and goes out of their way to avoid doing so?

• Control the Process: It’s unlikely that anyone has ever been taught, trained, or coached to control the process, which entails assisting your client in having the necessary discussions and making the necessary commitments in order to achieve the better results they require. In order to distinguish yourself from your “also-rans,” you should provide them more suggestions on how to achieve the results they require, including the best way to manage their internal process.

• Make Consensus Job One: In huge, complex sales, you are selling everyone who will have an opinion on your idea, not just the decision-maker. She who creates consensus outperforms her rivals. You become more well-known the more people you know. The better you can personalize your solution to their demands, the more you will grasp what they need. Your competitors won’t put in the same amount of effort as you because most of them won’t bother to spend the time or effort. You advance in a competition by consensus.

• Engage Your Team: Getting your team involved in a contest is one approach to advance your cause. When your operations staff tells the client they are going to offer them exactly what they want and how they want it, you will see the room light up. Operations personnel are excellent salesmen because their daily tasks have taught them what clients want and how to assist them in obtaining it.

• Play to Win: Why settle for less? Why not invite your leadership team to show your dedication? Why not make the most of every instrument in your arsenal to guarantee victory? In the game of selling, only one person can win, and everyone else will inevitably lose. If you don’t compete to win, doing everything in your power to obtain the “W,” there is no reason to think you will succeed. Make sure your rival receives the “L” by assuming they are bringing their best effort.

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Executive Summary

Chapter 1: Competitive Environment Analysis

This course manual will include an analysis of how to approach an assessment of the competitive environment when developing the company’s growth strategy. In the previous workshop, we lightly covered topics such as number and size of market participants, market dominance, market niches not covered by competitors as well as those that are well served. In course manual 1 and 2, we will discuss these points in more depth and how they relate to competititve environment more specifically. We will also take a look at whether competition in the industry is based on price, technology, product differentiation or a combination of all three?

Examples of Competitive Environment

Even tiny businesses include a component on competitive environment analysis in their business plans.

Take electronics as an illustration. The South Korean corporation Samsung, which specializes in electrical and smart appliance technology, was created. Apple, Sony, Huawei, Intel, and many other companies are among their rivals, therefore Samsung’s team works to produce a product that is superior to alternatives employing innovations that might draw customers.

The types of competitive environments might change as a result of advancements in technology or changes in consumer purchasing patterns. As an illustration, Amazon altered product distribution and client expectations. New breakthroughs increased the number of consumer goods businesses and provided new markets for startups that previously had no chance to compete with more established businesses.

Your company could be exposed to several competitive environments. Because of this, it’s essential to recognize how they differ and to be prepared to evaluate news about the market, the business, and government regulations.

Frameworks for competitive analysis

Understanding your rivals’ strategies will help you create a winning marketing plan. To reach your company rivals at this point, you require a competitive analysis framework. Let’s quickly go over a few of the most common frameworks.

• SWOT analysis. You can evaluate the internal and external forces affecting your business. With the use of this framework, you may pinpoint competitive advantages, assess your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses across various marketing channels, and determine your next marketing moves.

• Strategic Group Analysis. This framework describes the many strategic characteristics of all effective competitors’ strategies. It enables you to determine the positions of your rivals in the market and the elements that make your company profitable. Additionally, it enables you to measure your position among rivals and pinpoint the essential elements of success.

• Porter’s Five Forces. This framework’s foundation is based on an examination of the industry’s competitive market dynamics and a contribution to the identification of the sector’s advantages and disadvantages. It has five components: substitutes, new competitors, buyers, suppliers, and suppliers. These five factors affect how fierce the rivalry is in your sector.

• Growth-Share Matrix. Using this framework, you may choose whether items are worthwhile investments based on their market attractiveness and competitiveness. Large businesses find it particularly helpful because it enables them to define their product portfolios and determine which goods are still worthwhile to invest in and which are no longer.

• Perceptual Mapping. You can use this framework to compare your product to those offered by your competitors. You can use it to determine whether your positioning strategy is appropriate for your target market and how buyers view your product in comparison to that of your competitors. It can also assist you in identifying the holes you need to fill.

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Chapter 2: Identify Potential Competitive Offerings

The analysis of market niches will help identify potential product offerings for the company. Depending on the industry, this may refer to offering similar products with a better service or a different distribution or financing strategy, or simply at a lower cost. This course manual will provide tools that help define the best approach for the company.

The portion of the market that a particular product is targeted toward is known as a niche market. The product attributes that are meant to address certain market needs, as well as the price range, production standards, and target demographics, are all defined by the market niche. Additionally, there is a small market area. A product or service may occasionally be created specifically to appeal to a specific niche market.

Not every product’s market niche can be used to define it. The highly specialized niche market competes against multiple super firms and strives to survive. Even established organizations develop products for specific markets. For example, Hewlett-Packard offers all-in-one machines for printing, scanning, and faxing that are aimed at the home office market while also offering separate machines with just one of these features for large corporations. Although you might have explicitly moved certain items to the top of the priority list. Although starting in a niche market will increase your chances of success.

In reality, the terms “mainstream providers” or “narrow demographics niche market providers” are used to describe goods suppliers and trade businesses (colloquially shortened to just niche market providers). Small capital providers typically choose a niche market with a limited population as a way to boost their profit margins.

The specific needs that the product is intended to meet and, in some situations, factors of brand recognition determine the ultimate product quality (low or high), not the price elasticity of demand (e.g. prestige, practicability, money saving, expensiveness, environmental conscience, or social status). The market niche requires expert providers that are able to match such expectations when there are needs or desires with distinct and even complex qualities.

Niche audience

A niche audience is a powerful, smaller audience as opposed to mainstream audiences, which represent a vast number of people. The post-network period in television brought about changes in technology and many business processes, giving specialized audiences far more power over what they watch. Television networks and production companies are looking for new methods to make money through fresh scheduling, new programming, and relying on syndication in this environment of increased viewer control. By “narrowcasting,” advertisers can target a more focused audience with their messages.

It is uncommon for a sizable crowd to watch a program at once, with a few exceptions like American Idol, the Super Bowl, and the Olympics. Networks do, however, focus on specific populations. MTV targets young people, whereas Lifetime targets women. The niche market of sports aficionados is targeted by sports networks including STAR Sports, ESPN, ESPN 2, ESPNU, STAR Cricket, FS1, FS2, and CBS Sports Network.

Product Offerings

Companies can maintain their viability and please clients by producing the greatest goods and services. Increased brand loyalty and recommendations may result from this, which could enhance your revenue. You may put your business in a better position to outperform your rivals by learning how to develop and deliver excellent marketing offerings. We will also go through the definition of a marketing/product offering, the significance of marketing offers, how to make an effective marketing offer, and suggestions for enhancing these offerings in this course manual.

What is a marketing offering?

A company’s marketing offering is a good or service it offers customers in order to fill their demands. A product or service is only one aspect of an offering. It covers the added value that a company provides in the form of convenience, superiority, and support to its products. To appeal to as many customers as possible, it’s critical to have a variety of features and benefits with any offering. Customers may rank these components differently.

Why is a marketing offer important?

An effective marketing offer can raise awareness of your goods and services. You may boost sales and encourage client brand loyalty by creating items that are in line with the needs and desires of your target market. You set your company apart from rivals when you provide goods or services that appeal to customers.

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Chapter 3: Intellectual Property Reviews

Intellectual Property In industries where technology and processes are typically patented, or where intellectual property is an instrument of market dominance, it is necessary to understand the barriers to entry posed by existing intellectual property protection for our competitors. Furthermore, we should look at the opportunities that may exist for the company to protect its processes or technology from possible market predators to ensure access to the market on the basis of a levelled playing field.

What Is Intellectual Property?

The term “intellectual property” refers to the collection of intangible assets that a business or individual owns and is legally entitled to protect against unauthorized use or application by third parties. A firm or individual may own intangible assets, which are non-physical assets.

The idea of intellectual property stems from the idea that some creations of human brain ought to have the same legal protections as tangible goods, or tangible property. Legal protections for both types of property are in place in the majority of developed economies.

Understanding Intellectual Property

Because intellectual property is so highly valued in today’s increasingly knowledge-based economy, businesses take great care to identify it and protect it. Additionally, generating valuable intellectual property involves significant brainpower and labor-intensive time inputs. This translates into significant expenditures made by businesses and people, which should not be used without permission by others.

It is crucial for any business to derive value from intellectual property while prohibiting others from doing the same. There are many different types of intellectual property. Despite being an intangible asset, intellectual property sometimes has a far higher value than a company’s concrete assets. Because it can be a source of competitive advantage, intellectual property is jealously guarded and protected by the businesses that possess it.

Intellectual Property and Competition Policy

Consumers can choose between competing business owners and the products and services they offer because to intellectual property (IP). As a result of ensuring the protection of distinctive intangible corporate assets, IP is fundamentally pro-competitive.

Without IP, less effective producers and service providers would attempt to entice customers by imitating the products and offerings of more effective rivals. The latter would no longer have any motivation to enhance or provide fresh goods and services. The entire society would suffer. But IP only ensures competition in that key way when it safeguards real differences.

What Are Some Examples of Violations of Intellectual Property?

Infringement, counterfeiting, and misappropriation of trade secrets are the main intellectual property crimes. Intellectual property violations include:

• Creating a logo or name meant to confuse buyers into thinking they’re buying the original brand
• Recording video or music without authorization or copying copyrighted materials (yes, even on a photocopier, for private use)
• Copying another person’s patent and marketing it as a new patent
• Manufacturing patented goods without a license to do so

Intellectual property affords numerous protections comparable to real property ownership because it may be purchased, sold, or leased. Likewise, there are similar treatments. The resolution of a disagreement may involve the seizure of property, the assessment of monetary damages, or cease-and-desist orders.

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