COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS – PART 2

Guidelines and Rubric

Part 2 continues with research into Direct and Indirect Competitors, and answering your research question, with the following content:

Step 1 – Research

Direct Competitors

Select a direct competitor Mattel Toys.A direct competitor satisfies the same market need with a very similar product or service (NOTE: be sure both the competitive company you choose is also publicly-traded, so it will be easier to research company information).Create a brief profile of each of the two companies that includes these factors:

A.company history

B.corporate leaders

C.financial performance (actual sales and profits for the previous 3 years, and estimates

for this year)

D.most important product or service the company sells

E.pricing (higher, equal to or below competitors)

F.how their product or service is distributed to consumers

G.how and where they advertise

H.factors that make the company stronger than its competitors

I.factors that make the company weaker than its competitors

Indirect Competitor

Choose a publicly-traded company that competes indirectly with the competitors you profiled above.For instance, if your direct competitors were Whole Foods and Sprouts Farmers Market (specialty grocery stores), an indirect competitor might be Safeway Stores, a more mainstream grocery store that also offers natural and organic products.Remember that indirect competitors satisfy the same market need, but with a different product.Create an infographic that describes the same nine factors listed above (A through I) for the indirect competitor.

Competitive Analysis

In this section, you will draw upon your research for the prior sections to offer an “informed opinion” about the industry, its competitors, and the potential for future success.Be sure to comment on these issues, and support your answers with data and facts:

J.What is your answer to the original research question?Mention at least threespecific conclusions and the facts that led you to those conclusions.

K.Intensity of competition – do you believe this is a highly competitive industry?Why or why not?

L.Key success factors – what has allowed certain companies in the industry to succeed?

M.Potential for growth – if you had $100 million to spare, would you invest in this business or industry? Why or why not?

Step 2 – Infographics

Once you have gathered reliable information on these topics, you will create one or more infographics to communicate your findings.An infographic is a visual image – often a chart or diagram – that, with the addition of a few captions or labels, will quickly convey the data you found.Try to combine as much data into a single infographic as possible, without creating confusion.Remember: “a picture is worth a thousand words,” an adage variously attributed to Confucius, Napoleon, or 1920s-era ad man Frederick Barnard.Use the headings from Step 1, above.

You will not be writing a paper for this assignment, but creating an infographic.Depending on the software you choose to create the infographics (Piktochart is strongly preferred), you might turn in an image file, a series of image files (like jpeg’s), a PDF file, or links to infographics you have stored in web-based sources.

Step 3 – Annotated Bibliography

Rather than a typical APA-formatted References List, you will create an “annotated bibliography” to identify the information sources represented in your infographics.See exercise 4 in the InfoQuest workbook for details on how to develop and format this type of bibliography.The annotated bibliography you submit for this assignment should include ALL reference sources you used for the Competitive Analysis project – Part 1 and Part 2.

I have attached the Part 1 of the Competitive Analysis project for reference.