Competitor analysis

Competitor array

One common and useful technique is constructing a competitor array. The steps include:

* define your industry - scope and nature of the industry

* determine who your competitors are

* determine who your customers are and what benefits they expect

* determine what the key success factors are in your industry

* rank the key success factors by giving each one a weighting - The sum of all the weightings must add up to one.

* rate each competitor on each of the key success factors - this can best be displayed on a two dimensional matrix - competitors along the top and key success factors down the side.

* multiply each cell in the matrix by the factor weighting.

* sum columns for a weighted assessment of the overall strength of each competitor relative to each other.

An example of a competitor array follows ...

Key Industry             | Weighting |   C1 rating  |    C1 weighted   |   C2 rating    |   C2 weighted

Success Factors

1 - Extensive distribution      .4              6                      2.4                3                  1.2

2 - Customer focus              .3              4                      1.2                5                  1.5

3 - Economies of scale        .2              3                      .6                  3                    .6

4 - Product innovation          .1              7                      .7                  4                    .4

Totals                                1.0            20                    4.9                   18                    3.7