Playing Field, Competition, and Our Organization
TO: Insert name of CEO of selected Company
FROM: Your name
DATE: Today’s date
RE: Playing Field, Competition & Our Organization
(Student to update all sections color-coded in RED and change color to BLACK)
Introduction and Playing Field Description
Provide an opening paragraph that explains the intended purpose of this Executive Briefing.
| a. Company Name and Organization within the company | Example “Motel Six” |
| Example “Motel Division”. (note: If your company is diverse like Apple, it is advised to analyze a specific segment/business unit/product because competitors in the iPhone segment (Samsung/Google) are very different than competitors in their Music division (Spotify, Pandora) | |
| b. Industry | Example “Hospitality Industry” |
| c. Market Size | Provide a market size estimate for the Industry or the Playing Field |
| d. Playing Field |
Example: “Two-star motels in the US and Canada serving road travelers.” (note: this is the specific description of the segment of the industry in which you will compete. These often have geographic boundaries and descriptors of the key product attributes.) |
| e. Rationale for Selection | Brief explanation of why you selected this segment. (Note: we usually determine target segments based on factors like revenue potential, growth rates, financial attractiveness, conformance with our key capabilities and competencies, our ability to meet this segment’s customer needs, etc.) |
- Competitive Analysis
Competitor 1: Company Name
| a. Size | Provide information on the relative size of this competitor in the Playing Field. if specific data is not available, a qualitative description is acceptable like “Company X is believed to be the market leader” or “Company Y is relatively small and focused only in the US and doesn’t have a presence in Canada.” |
| b. Most Significant Strength and Weakness | Highlight their biggest strength, and briefly explain how it helps them compete effectively. |
| Highlight their biggest weakness, and briefly explain how it hinders their ability to compete effectively. | |
| c. Competitive Impact of Strength and Weakness. | Briefly explain how these strengths and weaknesses impact their ability to compete effectively. |
| d. Recent Performance | Describe the company’s recent performance. Explain whether they are generally winning or losing in this Playing Field. Note, you would be well-served to support your conclusions with data |
| e. Major Developments | Has the competitor introduced any game-changing new products, technologies, capabilities, etc. (focus on revolutionary and not evolutionary). Have they developed (or lost) a key competitive advantage? |
Competitor 2: Company Name
| a. Size | Provide information on the relative size of this competitor in the Playing Field. if specific data is not available, a qualitative description is acceptable like “Company X is believed to be the market leader” or “Company Y is relatively small and focused only in the US and doesn’t have a presence in Canada.” |
| b. Most Significant Strength and Weakness | Highlight their biggest strength, and briefly explain how it helps them compete effectively. |
| Highlight their biggest weakness, and briefly explain how it hinders their ability to compete effectively. | |
| c. Competitive Impact of Strength and Weakness. | Briefly explain how these strengths and weaknesses impact their ability to compete effectively. |
| d. Recent Performance | Describe the company’s recent performance Explain whether they are generally winning or losing in this Playing Field. Note, you would be well-served to support your conclusions with data |
| e. Major Developments | Has the competitor introduced any game-changing new products, technologies, capabilities, etc. (focus on revolutionary and not evolutionary). Have they developed (or lost) a key competitive advantage? |
- Organizational Assessment
| a. Size | Provide information on our relative size in the Playing Field – qualitative perspective is acceptable if data is not available |
| b. Most Significant Strength and Weakness | Highlight our biggest strength, and briefly explain how it helps us compete effectively. |
| Highlight our biggest weakness, and briefly explain how it hinders our ability to compete effectively. | |
| c. Competitive Impact of Strength and Weakness. | Briefly explain how these strengths and weaknesses impact our ability to compete effectively. |
| d. Recent Performance | Describe our company’s recent performance Explain whether we are generally winning or losing in this Playing Field. Note, you would be well-served to support your conclusions with data. |
| e. Major Developments | Have we introduced any game-changing new products, technologies, capabilities, etc. (focus on revolutionary and not evolutionary)? Have we developed (or lost) a key competitive advantage? |
- Key Conclusions
Provide a succinct conclusion that captures your critical insights about the target segment and the relative competitive balance of the three companies you analyzed.
- References
Include in-text citations for all data, assertions, and facts, and a corresponding reference list. Appendices are allowable if additional supplemental information is needed for the brief.
