Chapter 2 – Basic Strategy Frameworks
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company increases its price? What are their
preferences for company's product quality /
availability / reliability / performance? How can the
company segment the customer base to target its
products at specific segments? If the customers are
business / industrial houses, is it appropriate to
segment them as mid-market and Fortune 500; or does
it make more sense to segment the market
geographically? If these are individual consumers,
what are their demographic and psychographic
patterns; what do they crave that the company can't
provide; what will they be buying over the next two
years; and what will the next generation of customers
need from the company?
•
Competition: Who are the biggest competitors and
how much market share do they hold in each market
segment the company plays in? What are their
strategic advantages? Is it tight appropriability of their
product lines to the market segment requirements, is it
complementary assets like better sales and marketing
channels, or is it their speed of execution? Is any
competitor gaining market share in any specific
market / market segment? Is the competitor public or
private? Who are the key executives of the competitor
and what is their leadership / management style? What
are the competitor's core competencies?
•
Costs: Which costs are fixed and which are variable?
What is the basic split between fixed and variable
costs; are they likely to vary with volume; are they
likely to vary over time? How do the costs compare to
the competitors' costs? How do these costs compare to
the industry? Is there any advantage to off-shoring /
outsourcing to reduce costs?
•
Channels: What are the company's distribution
channels? Does it rely on a direct sales force
to deliver its products / services to customers, or does
it rely on indirect sales / channel partners? In the
context of manufactured products, distributors /
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