Business and Competitive Analysis: Effective Application of New and Classic Methods

The Definitive How-To Guide for Business and Competitive Analysis

• Transform raw data into compelling, actionable business recommendations

• Answer the questions executives ask--What?- -So What?- and -Now What?-

• Today-s 24 most valuable techniques: how to choose them, how to use them

• For everyone who performs analysis: managers, consultants, functional specialists, and strategists

• A completely new book by the authors of the popular Strategic and Competitive Analysis

Business success begins with deep clarity about your competition and your business environment. But, even as data gathering has improved dramatically, few business professionals know the state-of-the-art techniques for analyzing their data. Now there-s a comprehensive, immensely practical guide to today-s best tools and techniques for answering tough questions and making actionable recommendations.

Business and Competitive Analysis begins with end-to-end guidance on the analysis process, including defining problems, avoiding analytical pitfalls, choosing tools, and communicating results. Next, the authors offer detailed guides on 24 of today-s most valuable analysis models: techniques that have never been brought together in one book before.They offer in-depth, step-by-step guidance for using every technique-along with realistic assessments of strengths, weaknesses, feasibility, and business value.

You are flooded with data. This book will help you transform that data into actionable insights and recommendations that enterprise decision makers cannot and will not ignore. Craig S. Fleisher and Babette E. Bensoussan begin with a practical primer on the process and context of business and competitive analysis: how it works, how to avoid pitfalls, and how to communicate results. Next, they introduce their unique FAROUT method for choosing the right tools for each assignment. The authors then present 24 of today-s most valuable analysis methods.They cover -classic- techniques, such as McKinsey 7S and industry analysis, as well as emerging techniques from multiple disciplines:economics,corporate finance, sociology, anthropology, and the intelligence and futurist communities. For each, they present clear descriptions, background context, strategic rationales, strengths, weaknesses, step-by-step instructions, and references. The result is a book you can rely on to meet any analysis challenge, no matter how complex or novel.

• The fundamentals of business and competitive analysis
  Goals, processes, pitfalls, deliverables, and benefits

• Competitive analysis techniques
  Nine Forces, Competitive Positioning, Business Model, SERVO, and Supply Chain Analyses

• Enterprise analysis techniques
  Benchmarking, McKinsey 7S, Shadowing, Product Line, and Win/Loss Analyses

• Environmental analysis techniques
  Strategic Relationships, Corporate Reputation, Critical Success Factors, Driving Forces, and Country Risk Analyses

• Evolutionary analysis techniques
  Technology Forecasting,War Gaming, Event/Timeline, Indications and Warning Analyses, and more

• Financial, probabilistic, and statistical techniques
  Basic Statistics, Competitor Cash Flow, Analysis of Competing Hypothesis (ACH), and Linchpin Analyses