Description
A good competitive analysis is a scouting report of the actual market terrain the industry itself must navigate in order to be successful. Competitive analysis is a tool utilized in the strategic planning process to:
• Help management understand their competitive advantages/disadvantages relative to competitors
• Generate understanding of competitors’ past, present (and most importantly) future strategies
• Provide an informed basis to develop strategies to achieve competitive advantage in the future
• Forecast the returns that may be made from future investments
You may want to select your MAP industry or area of interest for this assignment but it is not required if you are still developing the focus of your MAP. Then prepare a competitive analysis of three of the largest competitors in the industry you are analyzing (or those that are of interest to you).Thoroughly research these competitors within the industry representing the following topics:
- Executive summary – High-level overview of the paper; this would be read by a busy executive to determine interest in the report and its findings. (One-page).
- Industry overview and description – Financial data, revenue size, number of competitors, industry leaders, etc. (Provide key industry stats based on IBIS or Hoover’s information (other sources are available as well). This can be a chart.
- Factors which drive this industry in regards to growth and innovation –Environmental Scan, social, legal, regulatory, demographic, etc. Also provide a SWOT of the three competitors in grid format. Consider how you would relate Blue Ocean Strategy to the three competitors and include an analysis utilizing Porter’s Five Forces.
- Analysis of top three competitors – Company financial data, major lines of business and potential divisions of interest, positioning, market share, branding, target market, company overview, products, revenue, HQ, employees, positioning, financial overview, points of differentiation, critical success factors, etc. This can be done as a grid if appropriate in total or in sections. Summarize section by answering the following questions:
- How do the companies stand up to the competition?
- What are the competitive edges of each?
- What does each do better than its competition?
- Where might each competitor be vulnerable?
- What is the major watch out for each competitor?
- How so, if not – what are the vulnerabilities?
- What are the market strategies utilized by each to achieve their objectives?
- Industry Future (this is your higher level analysis of the ‘industry facts’). What factors will impact the success or decline of this industry over the next three years? Where do you see the competitors in three years and how will the industry itself change? What recommendations would you have for each competitor based on what you have researched? This section should demonstrate how well you have synthesized the information and your analysis. This section should be two pages in length and supported by your research.
- Conclusion – your final thoughts on this industry. Would you recommend it as an industry to invest over the next three years? (Section 5 & 6 needs to be at least two pages – three pages with support).
This paper requires solid research using credible secondary sources citing 5 – 8 credible references sources including IBIS. The annual reports and web pages of the specific competitors should be used for foundational information but present a potential biased perspective of the company. Therefore, they should not be used for support throughout the paper itself. The final paper should be approximately eight to ten pages plus references and exhibits. Paper MUST be in APA format with a Cover page, Table of Contents, Reference page and any applicable appendices. NOTE: Section 5 and Section 6 should represent a robust analysis from your background related to the stats in Sections 1-2-3-4. This is where you really drill into the analysis!
(Note: Wikipedia is not considered an academic resource – applies to all papers).
Students demonstrate Critical Thinking when they:
SLOs | Exemplary | Accomplished | Developing | Beginning |
Identify the Issue and/or Problem | Student identifies not only the basics of the problem/issue, but recognizes the nuances of the issue. Student can analyze connections between related problems/issues. | Student identifies not only the basics of the problem/issue, but recognizes the nuances of the issue. | Student is able to articulate the basics of the problem/issue. | Student does not identify and summarize the problem/issue, is confused or identifies a different and/or inappropriate problem/issue. |
Articulate Multiple Perspectives and/or Solutions | Student clearly articulates and evaluates personal and alternative points of view; student develops additional and/or more nuanced alternative points of view. | Student clearly articulates and evaluates personal and common alternative points of view. | Student clearly articulates personal perspective and superficially describes common alternative points of view. | Student is able to articulate a single/personal perspective on the problem/issue. |
Identify and Assess Key Assumptions | Student identifies and assesses validity of key assumptions and addresses the dimensions (such as, ethical, political, social, psychological, or legal) that underlie the key assumptions. | Student identifies and assesses validity of key assumptions. | Student identifies key assumptions but does not assess their validity. | Student has difficulty recognizing key assumptions. |
Identify and Assess Data and Evidence | Student conducts a thorough examination the evidence and source of evidence; evaluating its accuracy, precision, relevance and completeness. Student is able to deduce cause and effect appropriately from data/evidence and to address existing or potential consequences. | Student conducts a basic examination the evidence and source of evidence; evaluating its accuracy, precision, relevance and completeness. Student is able to deduce cause and effect appropriately from data/evidence and to address existing or potential consequences. | Student recognizes the need to examine the data/evidence, but incompletely examines its accuracy, precision, relevance and completeness. | Student takes information provided as truth or denies data/evidence without adequate justification. Student confuses data correlations with cause and effect. Student does not distinguish between fact, opinion, and value judgments. |
Synthesize Conclusions, Implications, and Consequences | Clearly identifies conclusions, implication and consequences considering context assumptions, data and evidence. Also includes reflections upon own assertions. | Clearly identifies conclusions, implication and consequences considering context assumptions, data and evidence. | Incompletely or incorrectly identifies conclusions, implications and consequences of the problem/issue or the key relationships between other elements. | Fails to identify conclusions, implications and consequences of the problem/issue or the key relationships between other elements. |
Class discussion topics: This week will focus on competitive strategies. Examine different businesses’ strategies. How do these affect the competitive positioning? Emphasize the use of marketing to execute business strategies. As we continue to look for relevancy consider one thing you learned this week that you can apply at work
Some thoughts to consider from Porter’s Five Forces include:
- Discuss the importance of non-customers. What are the implications?
- First tier – on the edge and waiting to jump ship
- Second tier – refuse to buy
- Third tier – in distant markets
- Ponder yourself as a customer. Discuss Porter’s implications in marketing strategy.
- Discuss the importance of non-customers. What are the implications?
Explanation & Answer
Attached.
Running head: COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS
1
Competitive Analysis
Institution Affiliation
Date
COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS
2
Introduction
Competitor analysis is explained as the evaluation of the abilities and the shortcomings of
the current and possible competitors (Fleisher & Bensoussan, 2015). This evaluation is also
beneficial since it facilitates the creation of a protective and offensive tactic to pinpoint the
threats and opportunities in the industry. The competitive analysis makes a company have the
ability to recognize the elements that make it unique in the industry. This is beneficial as a
company could utilize this uniqueness to deal with the issues in the market and gain a
competitive advantage. Therefore, a competitive analysis should always be done by companies to
increase their knowledge about their competition which would facilitate the development of
effective strategies that would make them retain or advance their market positions.
Executive Summary
This competitive analysis would be focusing on the fast foods and restaurant industry.
This is because it is an industry that is popular among the business community. We shall,
therefore, focus on significant competitors in the industry. They comprise of Wendy’s, Burger
King, and McDonald's. In order to ensure that our competitive analysis is reliable, we considered
the general synopsis of the industry, the elements that influence the industry, the evaluation of
these established competitors, as well as the future of the industry. In order to identify the issues
that affect the industry, we were required to consider carrying out a SWOT Analysis of the
companies, Porter's Five Forces, the demographic analysis, and the regulation of the entire
industry.
The restaurant industry is a beneficial one since it has easy to enter due to the reasonable
capital involved. The threat of substitutes is also high in the industry since the grocery stores
COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS
3
tend to offer food products at a lower price (Cui, 2017). On the bargaining power, this industry
has a low bargaining power for the customers as there is usually no room for the customers to
bargain the prices of the foods offered at the different restaurants. The bargaining power if the
suppliers are also low since these restaurants tend to buy in bulk for commodities they would use
over a long period of time.
All the companies discussed tend to utilize the cost leadership and the differentiation
techniques in an effort of increasing their individual competitive edge. However, McDonald's
uses the vertical integration which involves the incorporation of the differentiation and cost
leadership methods making it more advantageous. The restaurant industry continues to grow due
to the increasing number of people without the capacity to prepare their own food. Most of these
people are usually busy or lack the knowledge. Therefore, in the next three years, I expect the
industry to have numerous restaurants with unique products to that would make them a
preference over each other.
Industry Overview and Description
The restaurant industry entails the businesses that tend to prepare food and drinks and
serve to their customers for a fee. The food is usually eaten in the buildings of these businesses
since they are supposed to offer the customers the convenience of consuming ready food.
However, there are those restaurants that have additional services to increase their efficiencies.
These services comprise of offering packed foods as well as delivery services. This industry also
has significant distinctions among the restaurants which are based on their offerings, size, and
service methods. This hence creates a situation of having fast foods with cheap offerings, family
restaurants with moderately priced offerings, and the lavish restaurants with expensive offerings.
COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS
4
In the year 2006, there existed about 215000 complete-service restaurants in America
which were responsible for sales worth 298 billion dollars. The fast-food restaurants were about
250000 and had sales of 260 billion dollars. By the year 2016, the citizens of the United States
began increasing their expenditures on restaurants compared to the groceries. This industry is
said to have created employment opportunities to more than 912100 individuals to serve as cooks
and have a remuneration of about 9.83 dollars per hour in the year 2013. The waiting staff is said
to have been approximate of 4438100 in the year 2012 and had remunerations of 8.84 dollars per
h...
Review
Review
