competitive-analysis-process skill

Competitive Analysis Process

Purpose

Orchestrate rigorous, repeatable competitive analysis across six analytical steps, producing four actionable output types (battle cards, comparison matrices, positioning counter-moves, threat assessments). This is the umbrella: each step names its purpose, its frameworks, and the skill that does the work — the way discovery-process orchestrates the discovery skills. Run all six for a strategy cycle; run one when a specific question walks in the door. The steps build on each other, but the sequence bends to the decision.

Input

Works best with: the market or competitor set in scope, and the decision this analysis supports — a roadmap bet, a positioning refresh, a market entry, deal defense. The decision determines which steps get depth and which get a pass. Also useful: any existing intelligence — a prior landscape scan, snapshots, battle cards, or company-intel output — so steps consume rather than repeat it.

Input supplied inline with the invocation — text after the skill name, a pasted context dump, or an appended ARGUMENTS: line — counts as answers already given. Use it; don't re-ask.

Arriving empty-handed? That works too. The workflow opens by asking what decision is on the table and what you already know, then recommends which steps to run and in what order.

Example invocation: Run the competitive analysis process on the mid-market payroll space — decision: whether we defend down-market or push up. We have last quarter's landscape scan.

Key Concepts

matrices, positioning moves, threat assessments) are what sales, execs, and roadmap owners actually consume. A step that doesn't feed an output is a detour.

• Six steps, four outputs. The steps are analytical lenses; the outputs (battle cards, comparison

This file holds the sequence, the frameworks, and the decision points — not the research mechanics.

• Steps delegate; this skill orchestrates. Each step below names the skill that does the work.

autonomous-investigation protocol (Fact/Inference/Assumption labels, real URLs, confidence stacking), drawing signals from the channels in intelligence-collection-disciplines.

• Evidence discipline throughout. Every step honors the

the Kano model, Jobs-to-be-Done, the Business Model Canvas, Ries & Trout positioning, Hamel & Prahalad strategic intent. The frameworks are defined where used; agents shouldn't assume prior knowledge.

• Named frameworks, cited. Each step stands on published strategy work — Porter's Five Forces,

and it's the step most teams skip, which is why they're perpetually surprised.

• Present ≠ future. Steps 1-5 read where competitors are; Step 6 reads where they're going —

Application

Step 0 — Scope. Confirm the decision, the competitor set (or run market-landscape-scan to find it), and which steps matter. Offer the six steps as a numbered menu; recommend a subset when the decision doesn't need all six.

Step 1: Overview of the Competitive Landscape

Who's in the game, where, and how they operate — market saturation, fragmentation, disruptive entrants.

competitors by GTM model, innovation pattern, or regional depth); market fragmentation indexing.

• Frameworks: Porter's Five Forces (industry structure); strategic group mapping (clustering

dynamics, whitespace with the dead-zone test.

• Run: market-landscape-scan — segments, player map,

• Decision point: which 2-4 players deserve depth? Everything downstream narrows to them.

Step 2: Comparisons at the Product Level

Beyond feature lists: value delivery, architecture, interoperability, lifecycle maturity.

Product model (core product vs. the ring of services and integrations deals actually hinge on); JTBD-based capability maps (compare by customer job, not by feature name).

• Frameworks: Kano model (which features delight vs. merely satisfy); Geoffrey Moore's Whole

selected players — its comparison matrix is this step's artifact.

• Run: competitive-research-snapshot on the

checklist hides: two "identical" features serving different jobs badly.

• Watch for: feature parity theater. A capability map by job-to-be-done exposes what a feature

Step 3: Ability to Fulfill Customer Needs

How well they serve real customers — outcomes, support quality, ecosystem benefits — not tech specs.

Proposition Canvas (their promise vs. the jobs/pains/gains that matter).

• Frameworks: Outcome-Driven Innovation (score against customer-defined outcomes); Value

buyer reads — need themes, quoted verbatims, competitor weak points, and switching triggers, each with a source-bias note.

• Run: voice-of-customer-miner across the sources your

signal; curated success stories are marketing.

• Watch for: vendor-authored "reviews" and case studies. Independent complaint clusters are the

Step 4: Compilation of Business Information

The financial, organizational, and market baseline: structure, revenue streams, growth levers, channels.

breakdown; sales channel profiling (direct vs. OEM vs. VAR vs. platform).

• Frameworks: Business Model Canvas (how the whole machine fits together); revenue stream

output (financials, offers, org signals) is this step's artifact; FININT sources per intelligence-collection-disciplines do the heavy lifting.

• Run: company-intel per deep-dive competitor — its eleven-section

companies lie less where lying is a felony.

• Watch for: press-release accounting. Filings and earnings calls outrank announcements —

Step 5: Perception and Relative Positioning

How buyers perceive you versus them — in promise, emotion, and mental association, not capability.

mapping (price vs. value-perception plots; find the uncontested space); Blue Ocean strategy canvas.

• Frameworks: Ries & Trout positioning theory (the battle is for the buyer's mind); perceptual

review mining); draft or revise with positioning-statement.

• Run: contrast their stated positioning (Step 2 snapshots) against customer language (Step 3

say they don't cash. That gap is a positioning counter-move waiting to be claimed.

• Watch for: the promise-delivery gap — where a competitor's marketing writes checks their reviews