"Thank you for insisting on conducting a comprehensive review of existing Women’s Health initiatives prior to starting the primary research. This secondary research gave credibility to the study and provided an excellent framework on which to base the primary research. You really helped us understand the breadth of women’s health initiatives and identify the specific areas that needed to be validated by the local community."

Jim Wissler
President/Chief Executive Officer
Noyes Memorial Hospital
Competitive Intelligence
Competitive Analysis
Best of Breed Analysis
Competitive Value Chain Analysis
Technology Road Maps

You need to be aware.  There are others out there that offer the same or similar products or services today, or could do so in the future.  Scarier yet, there are others that could remove the need for your product or service through disruptive innovation.

By knowing your competition and being aware of the environment around you, you may be able to predict your competitor's behavior and not be blind-sighted by their actions.


Competitive Analysis
Karlamar Associates can help you to assess the capabilities of current and potential competitors, and help you answer questions such as:

  • Who are your competitors? Are they the same on a local, regional, national and global level?
  • What are the similiarities and differences between the products and services you offer as compared to your competition?
  • What are the strengths and weaknesses of their offerings as compared to your own?
  • What are key their differentiators? Opportunities? Threats?

Best of Breed Analysis
When performing assessments of current products, Karlamar Associates go well beyond the typical comparison of product specifications.  Spec sheets present the product attributes and features that vendors want to promote, and often do not adequately represent how well the product satisfies actual customer needs. Linking competitive product analysis directly to the needs articulated by the customer helps you to:

  • Assess how well your competitors currently satisfy customer needs for the total offering
  • Identify needs that are currently unmet by competitors, which could become potential areas for differentiation
  • Identify the level of performance considered "Best of Breed" today, in order to project what it will be in the future
  • Identify which needs are currently satisfied by which competitors
  • Identify which competitor provided the largest percentage of the total offering

Competitive Value Chain Analysis
In addition to comparing product and service offerings, it is also important to keep a watchful eye on your competitor's organization, identifying core competencies, and determining their capability to operationalize key strategies.  Some areas to monitor include key technologies and manufacturing processes, distribution channels, marketing and sales strategies, partnerships and alliances, management culture, critical skills, infrastructure and financials.   This information is valuable when trying to predict future competitive behavior.   

Technology Roadmapping
To stay competitive, it is important for you to track relevent technologies, including what needs they satisfy, how they are applied, who is applying them and how they change over time.  This not only provides a current and historic perspective of the technologies, but may also provide insight to predict future competitive behavior and trends.   Technology roadmaps help us to envision the possible futures available to decision makers.  The roadmapping process also provides a means to identify, evaluate, and select technical alternatives.


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