Competitor Intelligence Based on the Significant Parameters of Comparison

Competitor Intelligence Based on the Significant Parameters of Comparison Competitive benchmarking is the technique of measuring your company against many competitors using a set collection of metrics. It is used to calculate the performance of a company and compare it to others over time.

It will often include looking at the practice behind these metrics as well. It means companies can define 'best practice' for specific metrics and compare this to their approach. It also is a crucial step of competitive analysis.

The benefits are clear.

Not only can you get a sorted summary of your company and how it performs on different levels, but it also encourages you to be competitive. Benchmarking means you can quickly identify when a competitor is doing well or beginning to struggle, which could help you evaluate your strategy.

Competitor benchmarking of companies can be done based on various business factors: 1. Technology/Product Excellence: In this space of analysis, companies are studied based on their technological strength and the product strength and related aspects.

There are various parameters which can we looked at to evaluate the company’s technology strength: • Breadth and depth analysis: Identification of variety or type of products offered by a company, which is indicated as breadth. Then, the variant for each product will be identified, which is indicated as depth. The graphical plotting of all the variants lead to effective understanding of the company’s breadth and depth analysis.

• Features and functionalities: The benchmarking of technologies' critical features from different companies' parameters will be identified, such as operating features, safety features, and additional features.

• Product quality and reliability: this parameter is very critical one to analyse as there are several components to it. In quality mapping we could consider design, specifications efficiency, etc. Also, while mapping reliability we could consider several components like complaint handling, audit compliance, continuous improvement, etc. Since certain components are difficult analysis being their subjective nature, it becomes critical to do this analysis. We usually encourage it to be complemented with social media analytics to understand the customer perception.

• Technology Innovation/trend/strategy: In this section we analyse the company’s innovations in recent past and try to gather the trend and strategic move by the company to lead and disrupt the operations. Mapping the innovations and technology strategies is a key aspect of this analysis. This is followed by analysing the company’s patents and identify the overlapping and distinctive technology focus among different payers.

2. Business Excellence: In this space of analysis, companies are studied based on their business strategy excellence. This will help in understanding the company’s’ viability, scalability, and a dominance over the industry. There are various parameters which can we looked at to evaluate the company’s business excellence:

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Geographic Footprint: This analysis will be carried out based on the reach of products across geographies, which will be identified by analysing the company's sales office distribution, regional brands, and distribution networks in different landscapes. The geographic footprint will be determined for each company's product by indicating local to global.

Distribution Channel: It will be analysed on two parameters, distribution channel level and distribution channel type. Distribution channel levels could be anything ranging from zero level to three level distribution which is identified based on the number of intermediaries involved.On the other hand, the channel type could be exclusive, selective, and intensive based on how the company is engaging with the distribution.

Financial Capability: Based on the benchmarking of financial data of companies, parameters will be identified, such as total revenue, parent market share, R&D investment, and EBITDA. Growth Strategy: Company’s growth strategy plays a key role in understanding the direction of company’s growth. There are several types of strategies. Majorly the analysis will be based on short term strategies and the generic strategies. o Generic Strategies: Generic growth strategies are usually classified in two major categories, viz. organic strategies, and inorganic strategies.

▪ Organic strategies: Organic growth strategies are nothing, but the strategies adopted to seek the growth from within. In this, the companies are increasingly reply on the in-house capabilities and strength. The major organic growth strategies are product launch, product development, expansion, investments, etc.

▪ Inorganic strategies: Inorganic growth strategies are the ones which arises from engaging with external forces and parties and utilising their capabilities to complement existing processes. Some of the key inorganic strategies are joint venture, merger and acquisition, collaboration, partnership, external contracts, and agreements, etc. o Short-term growth strategies: Strategies adopted by the companies to address the short-term agenda which could be business strategies, operating strategies and/or others. Major idea in this analysis is to identify the current focus of different companies by understanding their intent of such strategies which could be quick revenue generation, improved profitability, maintain cash flow, better customer engagement, etc.

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Productivity and Cost-Efficiency: It will be analysed on three parameters: Productivity of the company, company efficiency, and selling cost of the product.

Customer Value Creation - Based on various technologies' commercial and technological aspects from different companies' benchmarking, parameters will be identified. Parameters will be segregated into three criteria which are indicated as follows: o Identification: In this criterion, a parameter used to identify the criteria to purchase or adapt any technology will be covered. o Quantification: In this criterion, a parameter that is improvising operating conditions or features will be included.

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Implementation: In this criterion, a parameter that will create additional value as the output of the technology will be covered.

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