Identify your advantage with competitive analysis

Some important steps a new business owner can do to begin to understand the competitive landscape for their business include the following:
1. What are the key attributes of success you see in competitors in your market and industry?
2. Rate the competitors based on the most important elements of your business.
3. Define the industry.
4. Define your market boundaries, local business / national
5. Understand who your competition is - Top 3 - 5
6. Determine who your customers are and what benefits they expect.
7. Determine who your competition's customers are and why they do business with them.
8. Use your competitor's services, own their stock if applicable to monitor activities.
9. Understand your businesses strengths and identify market opportunities.
10. Regularly check back in on competitors to monitor adjustments they make.

See the picture attached for an idea on how to set up a basic competitive analysis review for your business. Each business will have specific characteristics that are most important to it, thus the items along the left hand side may need to be adjusted to most accurately reflect the industry and market your company is in. New business owners should make sure and do as much research about other businesses so that when they make critical decisions such as pricing that they are doing so based on solid market intelligence versus a random / best guess.

A business organization's competitive advantage is a key component in attracting new customers and managing to retain existing ones. This competitive edge may be a secret component, a unique product characteristic or a special value-added service that other companies in the same industry do not have. Business owners will need to have a thorough understanding of the current business environment. They also need to determine how their business can effectively utilize internal resources to create the best product positioning. The Urgent Business Care team can help new business owners conduct a competitive analysis to identify the competitive landscape and the advantages that they posses versus the competition.

A strong competitive advantage can only emerge when there is a favorable combination of efficient control systems, environment, and strategies. Consequently, a well-developed strategy that is able to adapt to the current business environment will not create value if no control systems exist to support it. Once a competitive advantage is established, competitors will try to challenge it. Competitors can undermine a company's competitive advantage through innovation or imitation. Business owners should be aware of this especially if their products can easily be duplicated. Competitors can easily obscure a product's superior performance.

At Urgent Business Care, business owners are provided with solutions to these problems by creating barriers for competitive challenges. Companies can increase profits from competitive advantages that they maintain if they are able to establish themselves earlier than the competition and sustain it over a long period. Opportunities are always available because of the market remains dynamic and competitive. Business owners should learn to identify the special qualities that they have as well as the advantages the competition has to keep their competitive edge. Supporting new business owners with competitive analysis reporting and monitoring is a valuable business support services for those business owners that need access to lots of market data without the time or staff to focus on creating a comprehensive understanding of the competition.