MBA FP 6012: Competitive Analysis

Context

Competition drives the energy in an open marketplace, preventing any company from resting on its laurels. While competition should not dictate marketing strategy, awareness and understanding of competitive offerings must inform it.Gaining an understanding of competition begins with the process of continuously gathering information about competitors and their products. Making use of that information requires careful analysis and evaluation of its implications for opportunities and threats in the marketplace. Setting up and maintaining an ongoing process of competitive analysis ensures that a company does this kind of thinking continuously, and decreases the likelihood of being surprised or blindsided in the marketplace.

Questions to Consider

As you prepare to complete this assessment, you may want to think about other related issues to deepen your understanding or broaden your viewpoint. You are encouraged to consider the questions below and discuss them with a fellow learner, a work associate, an interested friend, or a member of your professional community. Note that these questions are for your own development and exploration and do not need to be completed or submitted as part of your assessment.

• Given that almost any aspect of a product could potentially become a competitive issue, how can you determine which factors are most critical for a particular product in a particular market?
• Consider that most companies think certain aspects of their products to be proprietary and, as a result, keep information about these aspects confidential. At the same time, it is often these proprietary aspects that companies view as providing a competitive advantage. What are some ways that marketing can leverage the value of these advantages without revealing, or jeopardizing, the company’s confidential information?
• What kinds of considerations should determine the direction that a company takes as a result of completing a competitive analysis?

Resources

SUGGESTED RESOURCES

The resources provided here are optional and support the assessment. You may use other resources of your choice to prepare for this assessment; However, you will need to ensure that they are appropriate, credible, and valid. They provide helpful information about the topics in this unit. The MBA-FP6012 – Integrated Global Marketing Library Guide can help direct your research. The Supplemental Resources and Research Resources, both linked from the left navigation menu in your courseroom, provide additional resources to help support you.

Competitive Analysis

The following resources provide information about competitive analysis.

• Balachander, S., Gal-Or, E., Geylani, T., & Kim, A. J. (2017). Provision of Optional Versus Standard Product Features in Competition. Journal Of Marketing, 81(3), 80-95. doi:10.1509/jm.15.0208
• Ruzo, E., Barreiro, J. M., & Losada, F. (2006). Competitive market analysis from a demand approach. International Journal of Market Research, 48(2), 193–236.
  • Although this article is more than 10 years old, the information on competitive market analysis is still relevant.
• Edward Lowe Foundation. (2016). How to conduct and prepare a competitive analysis. Retrieved from http://edwardlowe.org/how-to-conduct-and-prepare-a…
• Valeriu, I. (2014). Competitive intelligence analysis: Scenarios method. Annals of the University of Oradea, Economic Science Series, 23(1), 331–340.

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Assessment Instructions

In the first assessment, you selected a company and product to study and then analyzed aspects of the product and company’s marketing strategy. In this assessment, you will analyze the competition for the product using a variety of information sources.Suppose that you have now been hired by the company you selected, and have been asked to conduct a competitive analysis of the product you chose. Format this assessment as an executive report, and include a title page and reference page. Follow APA guidelines for citations and references.

PREPARATION

Think about the information that you will need to have in order to do a thorough competitive analysis:

• Which companies are considered competitors? Are they direct or indirect competitors?
• What types of information will you need to collect?
• What sources can you turn to that will have the types of information you are looking for?
  • Companies that provide market information, such as the Nielsen Corporation.
  • Trade publications.
  • Surveys.
• How will you organize the information you collect to make it useful to the company?

ASSESSMENT REQUIREMENTS

In your Competitive Analysis, include the following:

• Identify the company’s top competitor and describe its product.
• Analyze the competition’s product.
  • Compare the two products (your company’s and the competitor’s) in terms of:
    • Market share.
    • Product appeal.
    • Quality.
    • Growth potential.
    • Unique selling proposition.
  • Compare the two products in terms of features, benefits, and cost.
    • How do consumers rate each product in these terms?
• Evaluate the marketing strategy of the competitor. What can the strategies used by a competitor tell you about organizational direction?
• Explain how this analysis will guide the marketing decisions of the company.

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS

• Include a title page and reference page.
• Length: 3–5 double-spaced pages, not including title page and reference page.
• Number of resources: At least 4. Resources must be formatted according to current APA guidelines.
• Font: Times New Roman, 12-point.

Competitive Analysis Scoring Guide

VIEW SCORING GUIDEUse the scoring guide to enhance your learning.How to use the scoring guide