Lecture: 3 Industry & Competitive Analysis

IntroductionCrafting strategy needs solid analysis of a company’s’ external & internal situation. Two most important situational considerations are :

Industry and competitive conditions Company’s own competitive capabilities, resources, strengths, weaknesses, and market

position.

Industry & competitive analysis refers to assessing the most strategically relevant aspects of a single business company’s macro environment. Accurate diagnosis of the company’s situation is a necessary managerial preparation for deciding on a sound long term direction, setting appropriate objectives and crafting a winning strategy.

Strategic thinking & analysis to lead good strategic thinking

Ist step: Method of Industry and Competitive analysis: 2nd step: Companys’ own situation: 3rd step : What strategic options does the company realistically have? 4th step: What is the best strategy?

Ist step: Method of Industry and Competitive analysis:1. Overview of industry’s dominating economic feature.2. Discovering the main sources of competitive pressure & strengths of the competitive forces.3. Identifying the driving forces (causes of changes in the industry’s competitive structure and

business environment).4. Studying the market position of the rival companies (strongest or weakest position)5. Monitoring competitor’s strategic moves.6. Identifying the industry’s key success factors.7. Assessing the industry’s overall attractiveness and profitability prospects.

The collective answers to these questions build understanding of a firm’s surrounding environment and form the basis for matching strategy to changing industry conditions and competitive forces.

2 nd Step: Companys’ own situation:

1. How well is the company’s present strategy working?2. What are the company’s resource strengths and weakness and its opportunities and threats?3. Is the company’s cost competitive with rivals?4. How strong is the company’s competitive position?5. What strategic issues need to be addressed?

3rd step: 1. What strategic options does the company realistically have?2. Is it locked into improving the present strategy or is there any room to make major strategy

changes?

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4th Step: What is the best strategy?1. Does it have good fit with the company’s situation?2. Will it help build a competitive advantage?3. Will it help improve company performance?

Details of the Steps for Industry & Competitive Analysis.

► Dominant Economic Characteristics of Industry: 1. Market size2. Competitive rivalry (local, national, international, global)3. Market growth & position in the business4. Number of rivals & relative size and strength5. Number of buyers and size6. Backward & forward integration of the rivals.7. Distribution channels.8. Pace of technological change9. Highly differentiated or weakly differentiated products.10. Economies of scales in purchasing, manufacturing, transportation, marketing etc.11. Placement of industries in a particular situation.12. Capacity utilization rate.13. Capital requirement and entry / exit barriers14. Industry profitability

► How strong are each of the competitive forces:Five forces model of competition by Michael E Porter1. The rivalry among competiting sellers in the industry2. The potential entry of new competitors3. Attempts to win customers for substituted products by companies4. Competitive pressure generated from supplier-seller collaboration & bargaining.5. Competitive pressure generated from seller-buyer collaboration & bargaining.

(See Text book page: 81)

Five Forces Model of Competition (In details)1. Rivalry among competing seller

Rivalry increases: As the number of competitors increase & becomes more equal in size. When demand of the product is growing slowly When there is price cut or other weapons to boost sales volume When customers cost to switch brand is low. When payoff is positive from a successful strategy When cost is more to get out of business than to stay in business. When unrealted diversification move by a company appears to be very strong to takeover

lead in that particular industry.

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2. Potential entry of new competitors:A barrier to entry prevails whenever it is hard for a newcomer to break into the market. There are several types of entry barrier as follows:

Economics of scale Cost and resource disadvantages independent of size Learning and experience curve effects Inability to match the technology & specialized know-how of existing firms Brand preference & customer loyalty Capital requirement Access to distribution channels Regulatory policies Tariffs and international trade restrictions 3. Competitive pressure from the substituted products(Ex: The sugar industry competes with companies producing artificial sweeteners.)

Depend on three factors: Whether attractively priced substitutes are available. When substitutes are viewed as having satisfactory performance. Whether buyers can switch to substitutes easily.

4. Competitive pressure generated from supplier-seller collaboration & bargaining.Depends on:

How supplier bargaining power can create competitive forces How collaborative partnerships between sellers and suppliers can create competitive forces.

5. Competitive pressure generated from seller-buyer collaboration & bargaining.Depends on :

How buyers’ bargaining power can create competitive pressures. How collaborative partnerships between sellers and buyers can create competitive pressure.

Strategic Implications of the Five Competitive Force Model:

The model is a powerful tool for competitive insight of the strategy makers. The stronger the collective impact of competitive forces, the lower the combined profitability

of participant firms. When forces are not collectively strong, the industry is “favourable” or “attractive” for

earning superior profit. Startegies should be crafted that shield the firm as much as possible from competitive forces.

► Identifying the driving Forces: Other than life-cycle stage of an industry, the following are the “driving forces” to bring changes in the industry:

The internet & e-commerce opportunities Increasing the globalization of the industry Changes in the long-term industry growth rate Changes in who buys the product & how they use it Product innovation

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Technological change Marketing innovation Entry & exit of major firms Diffusion of technical know how across more companies Changes in cost & efficiency Growing buyer preference for differentiated product Regulatory influences & govt. policy Changing societal concerns, attitude & lifestyle Reduction in uncertainty & business risk.

► Competitive Analysis: The strength of competitive forces need to be analyzed. Such analysis is important to discover the main sources of competitive pressures and how strong they are. Attempt is made to study the market position of rival companies by “Strategic Group Mapping”.

Strategic group mapping (SGP)A strategic group consists of those rival firms with similar competitive approaches and positions in the market. Companies in the same strategic group can resemble one another in any of several ways:

Comparable product line breadth Using same kind of distribution channels Offering buyers similar services and technical assistance Using essentially the same product attributes Depending on identical technological approaches or Selling in the same price / quality range.

Procedure for constructing a SGP

a. Identify the competitive characteristics firms in the industry (variables: price, quality range, geographical coverage, degree of vertical integration, product line breadth, use of distribution channels, degree of service offered)

b. Plot the firms on a two-variable map using pairs of these differentiating characteristics.c. Assign firms in that fall in about the same strategy space to the same strategic group.d. Draw circles around each strategic group, making the circles, proportional to the size of the

group’s respective share of total industry sales revenues.

Implications of SGP The closer strategic groups are to each other on the map, the stronger competitive rivalry among member firms tends to be. The next closest rivals are in the immediately adjacent groups.

► Key Success Factors (KSF) for Competitive Success

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A sound strategy incorporates industry key success factors. However, KSFs vary from industry to industry and even from time to time as driving forces and competitive conditions change.

a. Technology b. Manufacturing c. Distributiond. Marketinge. Skill f. Organizational capabilityg. Overall low costh. Convenient locationsi. Skilled & sincere employeej. Patent protection etc.

►Industry attractivenessThe strategists review the overall industry situation and develop logical conclusions about the relative attractiveness or unattractiveness of the industry, both short-term and long-term. The factors to analyze include:

a. Industry’s growth potentialb. Industry’s profitablity affected by the prevailing driving forcesc. Potential entry exit of major firmsd. Companys competitive position in the industry.e. Stability and or dependability of demandf. Possibility of competitive forces becoming stronger or weakerg. Severity of problems/issues confronting the industry as a wholeh. Degree of risk and uncertainty in the industry’s futurei. Companys’potential to capitalize on the vulnerability of weaker rivals.

A company’s macro environment: Economy Legislation & regulation Population demography Societal values & life styles

Immediate industry & competitive environment Suppliers Substitutes Rival firms New entrants Buyers

Questions: Sketch the five forces model of competition (by Porter). What are the implications of Porters’model. What are the key success factors for competitive success? What is strategic group mapping? What factors are considered to formulate such mapping? What are the factors considered to perform industry & competitive analysis. What are the dominant economic features of a country.

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