Competitive Analysis

Competitive Analysis
Who are my competitors? How do I analyze them?

SWOT

Porter’s Five Forces

Strategic Group Maps

PEST analysis

Strategic group map of the video game industry
High Game publishers

Complexity of game
Arcade owners Low Arcades

Sony, Sega, Nintendo

Consoles

PCs

There are many ways to analyze your competitors; we’ve selected the strategic group map technique. After answering a few questions, you’ll be ready to draw a strategic map for your industry. This map will illustrate the competitive forces within your industry, your competitive position, and your competitors’ positions.

Distribution channels

Creating a strategic group map
1.___________________(Direct)

1. List your five nearest competitors.
These can be indirect or direct competitors but should be companies that compete closely with your product or service. These are the strategic groups that you’ll plot on your map.

2.___________________(Direct) 3.___________________(Direct) 4.___________________(Indirect) 5.___________________(Indirect)

2. Identify the two top competitive factors in your market.
One competitive factor should be expressed in a high to low range. The other variable is more flexible, but should still reflect the most important competitive factor in your market. These two factors will be the X and Y map variables.
High High

High

Possible axes for your strategic map

Product price
Low

Broad

Narrow

Strategic focus differentiation

Brand image
Low

Market penetration
Low

Direct mail

Retail stores

Online

Specialty focus

Broad range

Low cost focus

Distribution channels

Product line mix

Creating a strategic group map
3. Create groups of competitors that fall into the same strategic space.
Looking at the list from Step 1 and the criteria from Step 2, assess