China Business Workshop, Week 7

China Business Workshop, Week 7

For the third CBW paper, please submit a single document with two sections. Two-to-three pages should suffice. Note the new submission deadline of Thursday, Feb. 19 at 11:50pm.

The third paper should be titled "Competitor Analysis"

Success for your firm requires that you simultaneously anticipate and respond to changes in both your targeted consumers and your competitors. While many teams do an excellent job of tracking changes in consumer preferences in considering their product decisions, they often fail to anticipate the likely moves and reactions of their competitors. This could prove disastrous for your firm's profitability in the simulation.

Some examples:
a) Firms with the "best" product for a particular market segment rarely win vs. competitors with "pretty good" products for that segment that are supported by superior distribution coverage and advertising spending.
b) Firms rarely win who failed to anticipate how to win in "head-to-head" competition when a competitor enters their market segment and/or region.
The purpose of this section is to help your team determine the probable moves of one of your key competitors, and then factor this information into your future firm decisions in future rounds of the simulation.
Choose who you believe is your most important competitor and answer the following questions.

Firm you have chosen for your in-depth analysis: ______
1) Business Definition
(a)What business does this competitor appear to be in?
(b)What markets or segments do they serve, and what consumer needs are they satisfying?
2) Source of Competitive Advantage
What do you believe this competitor views as their source of competitive advantage?
3) Strengths and Weaknesses
(a)How would you characterize the primary strengths and weaknesses of this competitor?
(b)How can you exploit these weaknesses while defending against their strengths?
4) Self Analysis
(a)How does this competitor view your firm? Do they consider you to be a threat to them? Why or why not?
(b) What weaknesses does your firm have that might be viewed as an opportunity for this competitor?
5) Positioning
Create a competitive map on two key consumer dimensions for this competitors' products. What new insights, if any, do you gain from analyzing this map?
6) Strategic Assumptions
What moves do you anticipate this competitor will make in the next three years, and how will you respond to them?