Competitor Analysis

The entrepreneur must pay attention to competitors, both competitors who offer similar products and competitors who make things that meet the same customer needs but which aren't similar. Wikipedia says:

Competitor analysis in marketing and strategic management is an assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of current and potential competitors. This analysis provides both an offensive and defensive strategic context through which to identify opportunities and threats. Competitor profiling coalesces all of the relevant sources of competitor analysis into one framework in the support of efficient and effective strategy formulation, implementation, monitoring and adjustment.

If your interested, read the entire Wikipedia article. But, it's hard to do these days. Society has disintermediated. Competitors come in and out of the market fast, and they are so disparate, it's hard to get information on them. We also find now that the major competitors of many enterprises are their own customers, i.e. the accounting customers doing his own taxes; the air traveler booking her own flights; businesses conducting their own market research rather than hiring a firm. It always been a fact of life. I don't have numbers, but it feels to me as though it's more prevalent than previously because of the advantages of current technology. To steal from William Safire, product development is like taking an elephant for a walk, you have to go where your customer wants you to go. I'd advise entrepreneurs to keep a close eye on how their products are being used. Communicate with their customers regularly and find out what they think you should be doing. Reinvent your own products to make them relevant and maybe spawn new, more profitable applications.

If you find this grabs you, post a comment.

All my professional activities are entrepreneurial. For my real estate 2.0 site, go to www.yourstopforrealestate.com/blog; and for my writing 2.0 blog, go to www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com