competitive-landscape

Identify direct, indirect, and future competitors, then apply Porter's Five Forces to assess industry attractiveness. Build profiles for your top 3-5 rivals covering product, pricing, go-to-market, strengths, and weaknesses, then summarize findings in a positioning map.

Porter's Five Forces evaluates industry attractiveness across threat of new entrants, supplier power, buyer power, threat of substitutes, and competitive rivalry. Score each force from 1-5 in a summary table to gauge overall market competitiveness.

Choose the two dimensions most important to customers, such as price versus features or simplicity versus complexity. Plot all competitors on the chart, identify gaps representing white space, and validate that the gap reflects a real customer need.

Blue Ocean Strategy uses the Four Actions Framework (eliminate, reduce, raise, create) to open uncontested market space through value innovation. Direct competition means going head-to-head with established players on existing factors, which requires stronger differentiation and resources.

Sustainable advantages include network effects, switching costs, economies of scale, brand, proprietary technology, and regulatory barriers. Test yours by asking whether competitors could copy it within two years and whether it genuinely matters to customers.

Review product release notes and news weekly, win/loss analysis and positioning maps monthly, and conduct deep competitive reviews quarterly. Perform a full strategy reassessment annually as market trends shift.