Strategic Managment Question: The external competitor assessment can seem an ove
ID: 344635 • Letter: S
Question
Strategic Managment Question:
The external competitor assessment can seem an overwhelming mix of factors. However, for most firms/organizations it is best to present a competitive assessment of how specific key rivals compare to the firm on whatever set of criteria you feel are most important to long-term success.
Identify the specific key rival(s) for your organization and assess how each compares to your organization. If your organization does not have any current rivals (consider yourself lucky if that is the case), then identify and assess the potential future rival organization.
Explanation / Answer
I work in a retail company in a city which has population of 0.3million. There are 2 retail stores in the city and both are rivals. Both compete with each other’s and try to get the customer footfall with different strategies.
As per our company rules me as a manager should go the competitors store on every Wednesday. I have the top 500 lists with me and have to compare the prices at their store. Top 500 list means top 500 articles which Although it is not permitted to write in the competitors retail store so I have to remember the approximate offers running in the store. That report I send to the head office. And they change the prices accordingly. But for staples items I have the right to change the prices because staple prices are compared by the customer most.
The manager of the rival retail outlets comes after every 2 days. As per my talk with them they list 10 items and take exact price from the store. After that they increase or decrease prices accordingly.
Actually my company does not focus on the competition because my retail is apparel focused company and FMCG contribution is near 15%. It is just to get the footfall while the competitor has FMCG focused company. Their FMCG contribution is 75%.
One disadvantage with the competitor is that the store is out of the city hence it is very far away from the customers because of that they were losing the customer footfall and sales hence they are running free bus service from the city to the retail stores.