Competitor Analysis:Working Paper

© 2011 by Jacob Varghese. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

First published by AuthorHouse 11/21/2011

ISBN: 978-1-4678-7403-8 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4678-7402-1 (ebk)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2011960732

Printed in the United States of America

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Contents

Introduction

Status Report:

Basic sources for Company history

Citations for Hitachi

Assembling Management profiles

Trade show information exchanges

Data Source on how to prepare for the Trade show Intelligence

Financial Analysis

Financial ratios

As an Analyst, one should ask questions. What is the standard industry level of debt?

Reference Books

Journals

Working paper

Internet sources.

Introduction

1.1 Given that competitor analysis is an essential component of corporate strategy,Porter(1980) argued that most firms do not conduct this type of analysis systematically enough.Rather, a lot of firms operate on what he calls informal impressions,conjectures, and intuition gained through the tidbits of information about competitors every manager continually receives. As a result,traditional environmental scanning places many firms at risk of dangerous competitive blind spots due to lack of robust competitor analysis. To rectify this situation, Iam wirting this working paper to make easy for students to study and understand.

1.2 Environment Scanning¹ or competitive intelligence is a rigorous approach to collecting, analyzing and communicating information about competitors’ activities, market changes that are occurring, changes related to the supply of raw materials, and other issues that could affect strategic directions. Such information is legally and ethically obtained from a wide range of sources using formalised techniques and can be factored into decision making.

Societal environment²

1.2.1 Steps in connecting data to intelligence3

Competitive Intelligence dwells on gathering data, analysing the gathered information and reproducing intelligence on the bases of the gathered information.

Data: Unconnected pieces of information

Information: Increased knowledge derived by understanding the relationships of data.

Intelligence: Organizing the information to fully appreciate the implications and impact on the organization.

1.2.2 The 80 / 20 Rule—Primary vs. Secondary4

Competitive intelligence follows a two phase process when it comes to collecting information:

Phase I : Secondary Research (80% volume/20%time)

Phase II : Primary Research (20% volume/ 80% time)

1.2.3 Phase I Secondary Research leads to Phase II primary research. Secondary research consists of press releases, analyst reports, trade journals, regulatory filings, transcripts of speeches, and other published sources of information. The bulk of the information (let’s say 80% of it) that we collect comes through secondary research. Once you shift through