Unit 1: Marketing
Competitor analysis
13/07/2017
1
Objective’s
Recap PESTLE analysis
Introduction to competitor analysis
Competitive benchmarking
Dimensions of competitor analysis
Sources and dissemination of competitor
information
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2
Recap
PESTLE analysis
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Fda Business
3
How important is competitor
analysis?
“if you know your enemy as you know
yourself, you need not fear the result of a
hundred battles. If you know yourself but
not the enemy, for every victory you gain
you will suffer a defeat. If you know
neither the enemy nor yourself, you will
succumb in every battle” (Sun Tzu, 1981, pp115, Marketing
Strategy and Competitive positioning, Graham Hooley et al 2008)
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Benchmarking
A process of measuring your companies strategies and
operations against ‘best in class’ companies, both inside
and outside your own industry
Who to benchmark against
What aspects of business to benchmark
Relevant data collection
Comparison of own processes
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Fda Business
5
Benchmarking
Who to benchmark against?
Market/industry leaders
Why are they a success?
Non-profit organisations'
i.e. universities
New entrants strengths
from which an
organisation can learn
Can also benchmark
against a process of an
organisation in a different
industry i.e. finance within
supermarkets
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So, which aspects of
business do we need
to benchmark?
All aspects of
business across the
complete value chain
however will focus on
certain processes
including; costs,
impact on customer
satisfaction
Fda Business
6
Benchmarking
Collecting relevant data
Swain, 1993 suggests 3
main sources of
competitor information;
Published sources
Data sharing
Direct interviews
How important is data
from competitors?
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Comparison with own
processes
Stick with your own
and continuous
improvement
Overhaul operations
due to being
inadequate
Adopt best practice
from other industries
Fda Business
7
Exercise 1
In pairs think of examples within a chosen
organisation where the practices of
benchmarking we have discussed can be
applied
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8
Dimensions of competitor analysis
Whole industry must be scanned even
indirect competitors i.e. the UK financial
services sector and supermarkets
Substitutes tend to be the major threat
i.e. downloads vs the music industry (prerecorded CD’s vs Apple)
Lehmann and Winer (1991) suggest four
main stages in competitor analysis
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The components of competitor
analysis
Research and discuss the four stages
outlined by Lehmann and Winer (1991)
Assess
competitors
current and
future strategies
Assess
competitors
current
strategy
Assess
competitors
resource
profile
Predict competitors future strategies
Assessing competitors current and
future strategies
Identification of the market/markets they
have chosen to compete in
The way in which they have chosen to
operate/compete – strategic focus
Supporting marketing mix adopted
Sources of competitor information
What they say about
themselves
Advertisements
(media and message
Recruitment ads
Promotional material
Technical reports
Press releases
Company reports
What others say about
them
Newspapers and
magazines
Trade sources
Customers
Market reports (i.e.
keynote)
Smashhits case study
Complete question to attached case study
and discuss findings with rest of group
next week
Further research
• Principles of Marketing: Brassington and Pettitt (2003);
pp 865-884
• Marketing concepts and strategies: Dibb et al (2006); pp
50-59
• http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?issn=02634503&volume=21&issue=6&articleid=854643&show=html
• http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?issn=10878572&volume=30&issue=6&articleid=872852&show=html
Recap on activities to be completed
1. Exercise 1 – application of the practices
of benchmarking
2. Lehmann and Winer (1991) –
components of competitor analysis –
research and discuss
3. Smashhits case study