Learning and Development:  Competitor analysis

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Overview:  Competitor analysis

Competitor analysis - the process of really understanding your key competitors’ capabilities, future strategic moves and thought patterns – is a frequently omitted part of business planning.

The result is typically products and services that are poorly positioned against those of competitors. Without key differentiators, many organisations are forced to resort to price as the only way of differentiating their products – and profit margins, new client conversion and client retention rates suffer.

This course aims to quickly overcome these pitfalls by showing how competitors can be effectively and efficiently analysed by using information in the public domain.

Course Content Summary

The focal point of this one-day course is the provision of the tools that will help delegates to analyse the strengths, weaknesses and future direction of key competitors. The course is designed to meet the needs of organisations whose competitors are publicly listed organisations.

The course will encompass:

• Why competitor analysis is an essential part of the strategy process.

• The importance of competitor analysis in the sales process and how the analysis can be used to shape an organisation’s value proposition.

• Where to look for information.

• How to carry out an organisational audit.

• Producing a weighted strengths and weaknesses analysis.

• Mapping a competitor’s capabilities against those of the delegates’ organisation.

• Mapping a competitor’s strategy.

• Looking at the ‘personality’ of the competitor.

• Predicting strategic moves.

Usually the course will include specially constructed case studies so that delegates can work on real life competitor examples and apply the course findings directly to their work.

Outcomes

After the module delegates will have a practical appreciation of:

• The importance of competitor analysis.

• How to gather information, analyse it and present the results.

• How to use the findings in the construction of their organisation’s value propositions and business plans.