Competitive Advantage

1. Competitive Advantage Chapter : 18 Lec: 10 a

2. Competitor Analysis • Competitive Advantage An advantage over competitors gained by offering consumers greater value than competitors do e.g. Monal • Competitor Analysis The process of identifying key competitors; assessing their objectives, strategies, strengths, and weaknesses, and reaction patterns: and selecting which competitors to attack or avoid

3. Monal

4. Competitor Analysis • Competitive marketing strategies Strategies that strongly position the company against competitors and that give the company the strongest possible strategic advantage

5. Steps ins Analyzing Competitors Assessing competitors’ objectives, strategies, strengths and weaknesses, and reaction patterns Identifying the company’s competitors Selecting which competitor to attack or avoid

6. Competitor Analysis • Identifying Competitors - similar products and services - Same customers - Similar prices e.g. Coke vs. Pepsi • Competitors Myopia - latent competitors can also be a threat along with the current competitors e.g. Kodak – Fujifilm – Digital Cameras Telegraph department- cell phone/ Internet Encyclopaedia Britannica – Wikipedia etc.

7. Coke vs. Pepsi

8. Identifying Competitors • Industry point of view e.g. Oil Industry, Automobile industry, Telecom industry etc. • Market Point of view e.g. Satisfying the same customer need and build relationship with the same customer

9. Telecom Industry

10. Assessing Competitors • Determining Competitors’ Objectives - Importance on profitability, market share, service, technology and other goals e.g. Objective low cost, it will reduce cost Zong - New segments e.g. Pizza Hut diverse menu Dominos – Only Pizza

11. Assessing Competitors • Identifying Competitors’ Strategies - Strategic Group: A group of firms in an industry following the same or a similar strategy e.g. Surf Excel ---Ariel Lado Soap--- Gayee soap - A company can jump from one group to another e.g. Life Bouy to premium sector

12. Competitors

13. Assessing Competitors • Estimating Competitors’ Reactions - What will our competitors’ do? - price cuts, promotion, new product e.g. Telecom wars e.g. Lawn collections (Gul- Ahmed, Sana Safinaz, Al-Karam)

14. Assessing Competitors • Assessing Competitors’ Strengths and Weaknesses - What can our competitors’ do? - gather information about them - Secondary sources are good for information - Companies can benchmark themselves Benchmarking Comparing company’s products and processes to those of competitors or leading firms in other industries to identify “best practices” and find ways to improve quality and performance

17. Selecting Competitors to Attack and Avoid • Strong or weak competitors Customer value analysis Analysis conducted to determine what benefits target customers value and how they rate the relative value of various competitors’ offers e.g. Mac makeup– good quality Charles & Keith– comfortable and trendy

18. Charles & Keith

19. Strategic Sweet Spot versus Competitors • u Competitors’ offerings Customers’ needs Competitive environment Company’s capabilities

20. Selecting Competitors to Attack and Avoid • Close or Distant Competitors e.g. Nike with Adidas and Reebok instead of Bata - Banks taking over other banks

21. Selecting Competitors to Attack and Avoid • Good or Bad Competitors Good: go by the rules of the industry Bad: Break the rules or make their own rules • Finding Uncontested Market Spaces - Blue ocean strategy

22. Designing a Competitive Intelligence System • Collecting • Analyzing • Action

23. Competitive Strategies • Approaches to Marketing Strategy - No one strategy is best for every company - (Volunteer to Volunteer) V2 V marketing taking a hype • Three stages of marketing strategy - Entrepreneurial Marketing---your own rules - Formulated Marketing---established companies follow - Intrepreneurial Marketing---to get out of formulated marketing and be close to customers

24. Basic Competitive Strategies • 3 winning strategies • Overall cost leadership (production & Distribution cost) e.g. Wal-Mart, Savor - Differentiation (something different) e.g. Samsung 3D Television - Focus (be specific about who you are targeting)