COMPETITOR ANALYSIS

…what will they do next?

Who really are your competitors? This question may seem obvious but did the construction industry expect one of the largest consulting engineers to become a 'de-facto' contractor?

As markets develop, clients' needs change and ways of satisfying them become more sophisticated. Other firms may offer different products or services, which solve the same problem. Since no one operates in a vacuum, how do you differentiate yours from similar ones offered by competitors? You need to know a bit more about what they are doing.

Knowing how to beat your competitors is one of the outputs of the ACE package. All customers' service perceptions are measured for competitors as well, to provide benchmarks and targets for future development. Each package is company specific and can be carried out again at a later date to see what progress has been made.

Competitors must be watched. If you take your eye off the market place and focus too much on what you are doing, you too could end up with a 'Direct Line' to compete against - someone serving the same need but in a different way.

Case Study – Competitor Analysis

A leading UK manufacturer of lamps was concerned that the world's number 1 (a US company) was building a large new plant in Europe. This world leader had a very low market share in Europe and its European strategy had not been identified. Leading Edge was invited to undertake background research to identify what the US company's moves would be. We were also asked to identify its present organisation structure, staffing levels and premises in the UK.

A search of the major databases in the US was undertaken to find press releases, articles and literature. These described the company's philosophy in some detail and particularly how it had broken into the Pacific market. Using this information, a hypothesis was constructed that it would repeat its pattern of successful overseas market penetration, again in Europe.

This put the building of the new plant into context and indicated the likely next moves that the world number one would make. Subsequent events, including its first move in Eastern Europe, were in line with the hypothesis, which we had prepared. This provided our client with a scenario against which they could take strategic decisions.

What our clients have said when using us for Competitor Analysis consultancy

"Understands our market, quick to grasp problems"

"Good industry sector knowledge"