 Can
We Do Better?
Learning From the Competition
By
Ashlee Miller
Associate, Community Wealth Ventures
How do you
view your venture’s competition? Many see the competition as a threat.
Others don't think about the competition at all. If either of these
describes your organization’s perspective, it may be time to reconsider
your outlook. The secret to growing your social enterprise may lie in
analyzing the attributes of the competition and then determining how
your organization can provide a different or enhanced product or
service.
The recent launch of Apple’s iPhone is an excellent example: Apple,
known for its innovative products, didn’t simply produce another cell
phone. It considered all of the features that its competitors were
offering –
phone, voicemail, e-mail access, music storage, and
Internet –
combined them into one product, and then enhanced the phone by
making it easier to use through an innovative touch screen. Apple’s
successful strategy resulted in customers camping out all night to buy
the new product and bids as high as $12,500 on eBay.
When launching a venture, many social enterprises conduct a competitive
analysis as a part of the initial business planning process. For a
social enterprise that wishes to grow to reach social or financial
goals, however, an ongoing analysis of competing organizations is
critical. An ongoing look at what competitors are offering, and how
they are communicating to your target market, can:
-
Help you
understand the changing competitive landscape and the competition’s
strengths and weaknesses relative to your venture.
-
Give you
insight into the capacity of your venture to enter a market or offer
a product to the target market.
-
Provide
ideas for new products or services.
Taking
Stock
Every competitive analysis should incorporate the following information,
which you can capture in a chart:
-
Names and
locations of existing competitors as well as potential competitors
that might enter the market during the next year.
-
A summary
of each competitor’s products, quality, advertising, staff,
distribution methods, promotional strategies, customer service, etc.
-
Competitors' strengths and weaknesses and how you plan to meet the
challenges represented by their strengths and capitalize on their
weaknesses.
-
Competitors' strategies and objectives: You might find everything
you need in the annual report or you might have to go to other
sources such as websites or store visits.
-
Strength
of the market: Are there enough customers for your product or
service?
Position
Map: Informing Your Strategy
You can analyze this information using a position map, which can help
you clarify how consumers view attributes important to your product and
how your social enterprise compares with your competition. This linked
position map
depicts the price and features of cell phones. Any cell phone company
can use this map to determine its position and discover opportunities to
enhance its offering to appeal to a segment of customers.
Next, brainstorm new product ideas, keeping in mind how your products
will be different, and more attractive, than what the competition
offers.
After all, while your competition can be viewed as more than just a
threat, you still want your venture to be more successful than your
competitors.
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