To differentiate itself from competitors, a business needs to develop a competitive advantage in the marketplace. A thorough analysis of its competitors is needed to determine what are their strengths and weaknesses.

Competitive strategies can generally fall into the following 5 categories:

• Product
• Distribution
• Pricing
• Promotion
• Advertising

Competitive analysis helps to develop assets, technologies or specialized skills that the competitors lack. These will provide businesses with unique and enduring competitive advantage to compete in the marketplace.

Some of the factors which will lead to the formation of a sound strategy may have been developed in the marketing strategies stage.

Having identified clear business competitive advantages is one of the main factors which will help to boost readers confidence in the business plan.

Article by Byon Ong, Singapore Business Resources for Entrepreneurs

January 2006

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