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How to Write the Competitor Analysis Section of the Business Plan

Writing The Business Plan: Section 4

Susan Ward wrote about small businesses for The Balance for 18 years. She has run an IT consulting firm and designed and presented courses on how to promote small businesses.

how to make competition in business plan

The competitor analysis section can be the most difficult section to compile when writing a business plan because before you can analyze your competitors, you have to investigate them. Here's how to write the competitor analysis section of the business plan.

First, Find Out Who Your Competitors Are

If you're planning to start a small business that's going to operate locally, chances are you already know which businesses you're going to be competing with. But if not, you can easily find out by doing an internet search for local businesses, looking in the online or printed local phone book, or even driving around the target market area. 

Your local business may also have non-local competitors that you need to be aware of.

If you're selling office supplies, for instance, you may also have to compete with big-box retailers within a driving distance of several hours and companies that offer office supplies online. You want to make sure that you identify all your possible competitors at this stage.

Then Find Out About Them

You need to know:

  • what markets or market segments your competitors serve;
  • what benefits your competitors offer;
  • why customers buy from them;
  • as much as possible about their products and/or services, pricing, and promotion.

Gathering Information for Your Competitor Analysis

A visit is still the most obvious starting point - either to the brick and mortar store or to the company's website. Go there, once or several times, and look around. Watch how customers are treated. Check out the prices.

You can also learn a fair bit about your competitors from talking to their customers and/or clients - if you know who they are. Other good "live" sources of information about competitors include a company's vendors or suppliers and a company's employees. They may or may not be willing to talk to you, but it's worth seeking them out and asking.

And watch for trade shows that your competitors may be attending. Businesses are there to disseminate information about and sell their products or services; attending and visiting their booths can be an excellent way to find out about your competition.

You'll also want to search for the publicly available information about your competitors. Online publications, newspapers, and magazines may all have information about the company you're investigating for your competitive analysis. Press releases may be particularly useful. 

Once you've compiled the information about your competitors, you're ready to analyze it. 

Analyzing the Competition

Just listing a bunch of information about your competition in the competitor analysis section of the business plan misses the point. It's the analysis of the information that's important.

Study the information you've gathered about each of your competitors and ask yourself this question: How are you going to compete with that company?

For many small businesses, the key to competing successfully is to identify a market niche where they can capture a  specific target market  whose needs are not being met.

  • Is there a particular segment of the market that your competition has overlooked?
  • Is there a service that customers or clients want that your competitor does not supply? 

The goal of your competitor analysis is to identify and expand upon your competitive advantage - the benefits that your proposed business can offer the customer or client that your competition can't or won't supply.

Writing the Competitor Analysis Section

When you're writing the business plan, you'll write the competitor analysis section in the form of several paragraphs. 

The first paragraph will outline the competitive environment, telling your readers who your proposed business's competitors are, how much of the market they control and any other relevant details about the competition.

The second and following paragraphs will detail your competitive advantage, explaining why and how your company will be able to compete with these competitors and establish yourself as a successful business.

Remember; you don't have to go into exhaustive detail here, but you do need to persuade the reader of your business plan that you are knowledgeable about the competition and that you have a clear, definitive plan that will enable your new business to successfully compete.

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The 20 Best Business Plan Competitions to Get Funding

business plan competition

Business plan competitions can provide valuable feedback on your business idea or startup business plan template , in addition to providing an opportunity for funding for your business. This article will discuss what business planning competitions are, how to find them, and list the 20 most important business planning competitions.

On This Page:

What is a Business Plan Competition?

How do i find business plan competitions, 20 popular business plan competitions, tips for winning business plan competitions, other helpful business plan articles & templates.

A business plan competition is a contest between startup, early-stage, and/or growing businesses. The goal of the business plan competition is for participants to develop and submit an original idea or complete their existing business plan based on specific guidelines provided by the organization running the contest.

Companies are judged according to set criteria including creativity, feasibility, execution, and the quality of your business plan.

A quick Google search will lead you to several websites that list business planning competitions. 

Each site has a different way of organizing the business planning competitions it lists, so you’ll need to spend some time looking through each website to find opportunities that are relevant for your type of business or industry.

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Below we’ve highlighted 20 of these popular competitions, the requirements and how to find additional information. The following list is not exhaustive; however, these popular competitions are great places to start if you’re looking for a business competition.

Rice Business Plan Competition

The Rice University Business Plan Competition is designed to help collegiate entrepreneurs by offering a real-world platform on which to present their businesses to investors, receive coaching, network with the entrepreneurial ecosystem, fine-tune their entrepreneurship plan, and learn what it takes to launch a successful business.

Who is Eligible?

Initial eligibility requirements include teams and/or entrepreneurs that:

  • are student-driven, student-created and/or student-managed
  • include at least two current student founders or management team members, and at least one is a current graduate degree-seeking student
  • are from a college or university anywhere in the world
  • have not raised more than $250,000 in equity capital
  • have not generated revenue of more than $100,000 in any 12-month period
  • are seeking funding or capital
  • have a potentially viable investment opportunity

You can find additional  eligibility information on their website.

Where is the Competition Held?

The Rice Business Plan Competition is hosted in Houston, TX at Rice University, the Jones Graduate School of Business.

What Can You Win?

In 2021, $1.6 Million in investment, cash prizes, and in-kind prizes was awarded to the teams competing.

This two-part milestone grant funding program and pitch competition is designed to assist students with measurable goals in launching their enterprises.

Teams must be made up of at least one student from an institution of higher education in Utah and fulfill all of the following requirements:

  • The founding student must be registered for a minimum of nine (9) credit hours during the semester they are participating. The credit hours must be taken as a matriculated, admitted, and degree-seeking student.
  • A representative from your team must engage in each stage of Get Seeded (application process, pre-pitch, and final pitch)
  • There are no restrictions regarding other team members; however, we suggest building a balanced team with a strong combination of finance, marketing, engineering, and technology skills.
  • The funds awarded must be used to advance the idea.

The business plan competition will be hosted in Salt Lake City, UT at the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute at the University of Utah.

There are two grants opportunities:

  • Microgrant up to $500
  • Seed Grant for $501 – $1,500

Global Student Entrepreneur Awards

The Global Student Entrepreneur Awards is a worldwide business plan competition for students from all majors. The GSEA aims to empower talented young people from around the world, inspire them to create and shape business ventures, encourage entrepreneurship in higher education, and support the next generation of global leaders.

  • You must be enrolled for the current academic year in a university/college as an undergraduate or graduate student at the time of application. Full-time enrollment is not required; part-time enrollment is acceptable.
  • You must be the owner, founder, or controlling shareholder of your student business. Each company can be represented by only one owner/co-founder – studentpreneur.
  • Your student business must have been in operation for at least six consecutive months prior to the application.
  • Your business must have generated US $500 or received US $1000 in investments at the time of application.
  • You should not have been one of the final round competitors from any previous year’s competition.
  • The age cap for participation is 30 years of age.

You can find additional   eligibility information on their website.

Regional competitions are held in various locations worldwide over several months throughout the school year. The top four teams then compete for cash prizes during finals week at the Goldman Sachs headquarters in New York City.

At the Global Finals, students compete for a total prize package of $50,000 in cash and first place receives $25,000. All travel and lodging expenses are also covered. Second place gets US $10,000, while third place earns US $5,000. Additional prizes are handed out at the Global Finals for Social Impact, Innovation, and Lessons from the Edge.

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The collegiate entrepreneurs organization business plan competition.

The Collegiate Entrepreneurs Organization Business Plan Competition (COEBPC) exists to help early-stage entrepreneurs develop their business skills, build entrepreneurial networks, and learn more about how they can transform ideas into reality. It also offers cash prizes to reward entrepreneurship, provide an opportunity for recognition of top student entrepreneurs around the world, and provide unique opportunities for networking.

To compete, you must:

  • Be a currently enrolled student at an accredited institution
  • Have a viable business concept or be the creator of an existing business that generates revenue.

If you are among the top three finalists of the business plan competition and successfully receive prize money, you will be required to submit a class schedule under your name for the current academic semester. Failure to do so will result in the forfeit of the prize money.

All competitions are held online. The finalist will receive a trip to the International Career Development Conference, where they have an opportunity to win additional prizes from CEO’s sponsors.

  • First Place – $7,000
  • Second Place – $5,000
  • Third Place – $3,000
  • People’s Choice Award – Collegiate Entrepreneur of the Year – $600

MIT 100k Business Plan Competition and Expo

The MIT 100K was created in 2010 by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to foster entrepreneurship and innovation on campus and around the world. Consists of three distinct and increasingly intensive competitions throughout the school year: PITCH, ACCELERATE, and LAUNCH. 

  • Submissions may be entered by individuals or teams.
  • Each team may enter one idea.
  • Each team must have at least one currently registered MIT student; if you are submitting as an individual, you must be a currently registered MIT student.
  • Entries must be the original work of entrants.
  • Teams must disclose any funding already received at the time of registration.

Hosted in Cambridge, MA at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology beginning in October through May of each academic year.

Top finalists will have a chance to pitch their ideas to a panel of judges at a live event for the chance to win the $5,000 Grand Prize or the $2,000 Audience Choice Award.

20 Finalists are paired with industry-specific business professionals for mentorship and business planning and a $1,000 budget for marketing and/or business development expenses.

The 10 Top Finalists participate in the Showcase and compete for the $10,000 Audience Choice Award while the 3 Top Finalists automatically advance to LAUNCH semi-finals.

The grand prize winner receives a cash prize of $100,000 and the runner-up receives $25,000.

Florida Atlantic University (FAU) Business Plan Competition

The FAU business plan competition is open to all undergraduate and graduate student entrepreneurs. The competition covers topics in the areas of information technology, entrepreneurship, finance, marketing, operations management, etc.

All undergraduate and graduate students are eligible to participate.

The business plan competition will be held at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Florida.

  • First prize: $5,000 cash
  • Second prize: $500 cash

Network of International Business Schools (NIBS) Business Plan Competition

The Network of International Business Schools (NIBS) Business Plan Competition is designed to offer an opportunity to develop your business plan with the guidance of industry experts. It provides the opportunity for you to compete against fellow entrepreneurs and explore big ideas.

  • Participants must be the legal age to enter into contracts in the country of residence.
  • Participants may not be employed by an organization other than their own company or business that they are launching for this competition.
  • The plan should be for a new business, not an acquisition of another company.

The Network of International Business Schools (NIBS) Business Plan Competition is held in the USA.

There is a cash prize for first, second, and third place. There is also a potential for a business incubator opportunity, which would provide facilities and assistance to the winners of the competition.

Washington State University Business Plan Competition

The Washington State University Business Plan Competition has been serving students since 1979. The competition is a great opportunity for someone who is looking to get their business off the ground by gaining invaluable knowledge of running a successful business. It offers a wide range of topics and competition styles.

  • Any college undergraduate, graduate, or professional degree-seeking student at Washington State University
  • The company must be an early-stage venture with less than $250,000 in annual gross sales revenue.

The Washington State University Business Plan Competition is held in the Associated Students Inc. Building on the Washington State University campus which is located in Pullman, Washington.

There are a wide variety of prizes that could be won at the Washington State University Business Plan Competition. This is because the business plan competition has been serving students for over 30 years and as such, they have offered more than one type of competition. The common prize though is $1,000 which is awarded to the winner of each class. There are also awards for those who come in second place, third place, etc.

Milken-Penn GSE Education Business Plan Competition

The Milken-Penn GSE Education Business Plan Competition is one of the most well-known competitions in the country. They have partnered with many prestigious institutions to provide funding, mentorship, and expertise for the competition.

Education ventures with innovative solutions to educational inequity from around the world are encouraged to apply, especially those ventures founded by and serving individuals from marginalized and historically underrepresented communities.

We encourage applicants working in every conceivable educational setting–from early childhood through corporate and adult training. We also welcome both nonprofit and for-profit submissions.

The competition is held at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

All finalists receive $1,000 in cash and $5,000 in Amazon Web Services promotional credits.

Next Founders Business Plan Competition

Next Founders is a competition geared towards innovative startups with a social impact, looking to transform society by addressing key global human needs. The competition inspires and identifies energetic, optimistic entrepreneurs who are committed to achieving their vision.

Next Founders is for Canadian business owners of scalable, high-growth ventures.

Next Founders is held at the University of Toronto.

You could win up to $25,000 CAD in cash funding for your new business.

Hatch Pitch Competition

The Hatch Pitch competition is one of the most prestigious business competitions in the US. The winners of the Hatch Pitch Competition are given access to mentorship courses, discounted office space with all amenities included, incubators for startups, tailored education programs, financial counseling & more.

The competition is for companies with a business idea.

  • The company’s product/service must have launched within the past 2 years, or be launched within 6 months after the Hatch Pitch event.
  • Founders must retain some portion of ownership in the company.
  • Received less than $5 million in funding from 3rd party investors.
  • The presenter must actively participate in Hatch Pitch coaching.

The Hatch Pitch Competition is located at the Entrepreneur Space in Dallas.

The grand prize for this business plan competition is access to resources like incubators and mentorships that could prove invaluable in bringing your startup company to the next level.

TechCrunch’s Startup Battlefield

The Startup Battlefield is a business plan competition that is sponsored by TechCrunch.  It awards the winner $50,000. There are two different rounds to this competition:

  • First Round – 15 companies from all of the applicants that submitted their business plans for this round.
  • Second Round – Two finalist companies compete against each other at TechCrunch Disrupt NY’s main stage.

At the time of the application process, companies must have a functional prototype to demo to the selection committee. In selecting final contestants, we will give preference to companies that launch some part of their product or business for the first time to the public and press through our competition. Companies that are in closed beta, private beta, limited release or generally have been flying under the radar are eligible. Hardware companies can have completed crowdfunding but those funds should have been directed to an earlier product prototype. Existing companies launching new feature sets do not qualify.

TechCrunch’s Startup Battlefield is held at different locations.

The Startup Battlefield rewards the winner with $50,000. In addition, the two runner-ups get a prize of $5,000 each.

New Venture Challenge

New Venture Challenge is a competition hosted by the University of Chicago. There are 3 main categories that will be judged:

  • Innovative Concept – Arguably the most important category, this focuses on uniqueness, originality, and suitability.
  • Market Fit/Business Model – Are you solving an actual problem for your target market? Does your project have the potential for profit?
  • Presentation – Did you make a compelling, impactful presentation? Did you clearly communicate your goals and vision to potential investors?

You can find  eligibility information on their website.

The New Venture Challenge competition is held in Chicago, IL.

Finalists are awarded:

  • First Place: $50,000 equity investment and access to industry mentors and other resources.
  • Second place: $25,000 equity investment and access to industry mentors and other resources.
  • Third place: $15,000 equity investment and access to industry mentors and other resources.

New Venture Championship

The New Venture Championship is hosted by the University of Oregon and has been since 1987. The championship brings new ventures and innovative business ideas to life and the competition offers plan writing as a service to those who need it.

The University of Oregon New Venture Championship is open to university student teams with 2-5 members that have at least one graduate student involved with their venture. Students should be enrolled in a degree program or have finished their studies in the current academic year.

The New Venture Championship hosted by the University of Oregon is held in Eugene, Oregon.

Every business plan has a chance of winning a cash prize from $3,000 to $25,000 and additional benefits like plan coaching and office space rental.

Climatech & Energy Prize @ MIT

The Climatech & Energy Prize @ MIT is a competition that focuses on companies that are involved in the area of energy, environment, and climate change.

  • Participants must be a team of two or more people.
  • At least 50% of formal team members identified in the competition submission documentation must be enrolled as half-time or full-time college or university students.

The Climatech & Energy Prize @ MIT is held in Cambridge, MA.

The grand prize winner receives $100,000 and other winners may receive other monetary prizes.

Baylor Business New Venture Competition

This competition has been offered by Baylor for the last 20 years. It is designed to help aspiring entrepreneurs refine business ideas, and also gain valuable insights from judges and other entrepreneurs.

Must be a current undergraduate student at Baylor University or McLennan Community College.

The Baylor Business New Venture competition will be held at the Baylor University, Waco, TX.

The grand prize winner will receive $6,000. There are also other prizes given out to the other finalists in each category which are worth $1,500 – $2,000.

13th IOT/WT Innovation World Cup

The 13th IOT/WT Innovation World Cup was organized by the 13th IOT/WT Innovation World Cup Association. It was organized to provide a platform for innovators from all over the world to showcase their innovative ideas and projects. The competition aimed at drawing the attention of investors, venture capitalists, and potential business partners to meet with representatives from different companies and organizations in order to foster innovation.

The revolutionary Internet of Things and Wearable Technologies solutions from developers, innovative startups, scale-ups, SMEs, and researchers across the world are invited to participate. Eight different categories are available: Industrial, City, Home, Agriculture, Sports, Lifestyle, and Transport.

Only those submissions that have a functional prototype/proof of concept will advance in the competition, mere ideas will not be considered. 

The competition is held in Cleveland, Ohio also an important center for innovation and cutting-edge technology.

Win prizes worth over $500,000, connect with leading tech companies, speed up your development with advice from tech experts, join international conferences as a speaker or exhibitor, and become part of the worldwide IoT/WT Innovation World Cup® network. 

The U.Pitch is a competition that gives you a chance to share your idea and for the community of budding entrepreneurs, startup founders, CEOs, and venture capitalists to invest in your enterprise. It also provides mentoring by experts in the field.

  • Currently enrolled in an undergraduate or graduate program
  • Applicants may compete with either an idea OR business currently in operation
  • Applicants must be 30 years of age or under

The U.Pitch is held in San Francisco, California.

Enter to win a part of the $10,000 prize pool.

At the core of CodeLaunch is an annual seed accelerator competition between individuals and groups who have software technology startup ideas.

If your startup has raised money, your product is stable, you have customers, and revenue, you are probably not a fit for CodeLaunch.

CodeLaunch is based in St. Louis, Missouri. 

The “winner” may be eligible for more seed capital and business services from some additional vendors.

New York StartUP! Business Plan Competition

The New York StartUP! is a competition sponsored by the New York Public Library to help entrepreneurs from around the world to develop their business ideas.

  • You must live in Manhattan, The Bronx, or Staten Island
  • Your business must be in Manhattan, The Bronx, or Staten Island
  • All companies must have a big idea or business model in the startup phase and have earned less than $10,000

The New York StartUP! competition is held in New York, NY.

Two winners are chosen: 

  •  Grand Prize – $15,000  
  •  Runner-up – $7,500  

tips for success

First, determine if the competition is worth your time and money to participate.

  • What is the prize money?
  • Who will be on the judging panel?
  • Will there be any costs associated with entering and/or presenting at the competition (e.g., travel and lodging expenses)?

Once you’ve determined the worth of the competition, then shift to focusing on the details of the competition itself.

  • What are the rules of the competition?
  • Are there any disqualifying factors?
  • How will you be judged during the different parts of the competition?

After conducting this research, it’s best to formulate an idea or product that appeals to the judges and is something they can really get behind. Make sure you thoroughly understand the rules and what is expected from your final product. Once you know what is expected from you, you’ll be able to refine and practice your pitch to help you move through the stages of the competition.

These competitions are a fantastic method to get new business owners thinking about business possibilities, writing business plans, and dominating the competition. These contests may assist you in gaining important feedback on your business concept or plan as well as potential monetary prizes to help your business get off the ground.  

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  • How to create a competitive analysis (w ...

How to create a competitive analysis (with examples)

Team Asana contributor image

Competitive analysis involves identifying your direct and indirect competitors using research to reveal their strengths and weaknesses in relation to your own. In this guide, we’ll outline how to do a competitive analysis and explain how you can use this marketing strategy to improve your business.

Whether you’re running a business or playing in a football game, understanding your competition is crucial for success. While you may not be scoring touchdowns in the office, your goal is to score business deals with clients or win customers with your products. The method of preparation for athletes and business owners is similar—once you understand your strengths and weaknesses versus your competitors’, you can level up. 

What is a competitive analysis?

Competitive analysis involves identifying your direct and indirect competitors using research to reveal their strengths and weaknesses in relation to your own. 

[inline illustration] What is a competitive analysis (infographic)

Direct competitors market the same product to the same audience as you, while indirect competitors market the same product to a different audience. After identifying your competitors, you can use the information you gather to see where you stand in the market landscape. 

What to include in a competitive analysis

The purpose of this type of analysis is to get a competitive advantage in the market and improve your business strategy. Without a competitive analysis, it’s difficult to know what others are doing to win clients or customers in your target market. A competitive analysis report may include:

A description of your company’s target market

Details about your product or service versus the competitors’

Current and projected market share, sales, and revenues

Pricing comparison

Marketing and social media strategy analysis

Differences in customer ratings

You’ll compare each detail of your product or service versus the competition to assess strategy efficacy. By comparing success metrics across companies, you can make data-driven decisions.

How to do a competitive analysis

Follow these five steps to create your competitive analysis report and get a broad view of where you fit in the market. This process can help you analyze a handful of competitors at one time and better approach your target customers.

1. Create a competitor overview

In step one, select between five and 10 competitors to compare against your company. The competitors you choose should have similar product or service offerings and a similar business model to you. You should also choose a mix of both direct and indirect competitors so you can see how new markets might affect your company. Choosing both startup and seasoned competitors will further diversify your analysis.

Tip: To find competitors in your industry, use Google or Amazon to search for your product or service. The top results that emerge are likely your competitors. If you’re a startup or you serve a niche market, you may need to dive deeper into the rankings to find your direct competitors.

2. Conduct market research

Once you know the competitors you want to analyze, you’ll begin in-depth market research. This will be a mixture of primary and secondary research. Primary research comes directly from customers or the product itself, while secondary research is information that’s already compiled. Then, keep track of the data you collect in a user research template .

Primary market research may include: 

Purchasing competitors’ products or services

Interviewing customers

Conducting online surveys of customers 

Holding in-person focus groups

Secondary market research may include:

Examining competitors’ websites

Assessing the current economic situation

Identifying technological developments 

Reading company records

Tip: Search engine analysis tools like Ahrefs and SEMrush can help you examine competitors’ websites and obtain crucial SEO information such as the keywords they’re targeting, the number of backlinks they have, and the overall health of their website. 

3. Compare product features

The next step in your analysis involves a comparison of your product to your competitors’ products. This comparison should break down the products feature by feature. While every product has its own unique features, most products will likely include:

Service offered

Age of audience served

Number of features

Style and design

Ease of use

Type and number of warranties

Customer support offered

Product quality

Tip: If your features table gets too long, abbreviate this step by listing the features you believe are of most importance to your analysis. Important features may include cost, product benefits, and ease of use.

4. Compare product marketing

The next step in your analysis will look similar to the one before, except you’ll compare the marketing efforts of your competitors instead of the product features. Unlike the product features matrix you created, you’ll need to go deeper to unveil each company’s marketing plan . 

Areas you’ll want to analyze include:

Social media

Website copy

Press releases

Product copy

As you analyze the above, ask questions to dig deeper into each company’s marketing strategies. The questions you should ask will vary by industry, but may include:

What story are they trying to tell?

What value do they bring to their customers?

What’s their company mission?

What’s their brand voice?

Tip: You can identify your competitors’ target demographic in this step by referencing their customer base, either from their website or from testimonials. This information can help you build customer personas. When you can picture who your competitor actively targets, you can better understand their marketing tactics. 

5. Use a SWOT analysis

Competitive intelligence will make up a significant part of your competitor analysis framework, but once you’ve gathered your information, you can turn the focus back to your company. A SWOT analysis helps you identify your company’s strengths and weaknesses. It also helps turn weaknesses into opportunities and assess threats you face based on your competition.

During a SWOT analysis, ask yourself:

What do we do well?

What could we improve?

Are there market gaps in our services?

What new market trends are on the horizon?

Tip: Your research from the previous steps in the competitive analysis will help you answer these questions and fill in your SWOT analysis. You can visually present your findings in a SWOT matrix, which is a four-box chart divided by category.

6. Identify your place in the market landscape

The last step in your competitive analysis is to understand where you stand in the market landscape. To do this, you’ll create a graph with an X and Y axis. The two axes should represent the most important factors for being competitive in your market. 

For example, the X-axis may represent customer satisfaction, while the Y-axis may represent presence in the market. You’ll then plot each competitor on the graph according to their (x,y) coordinates. You’ll also plot your company on this chart, which will give you an idea of where you stand in relation to your competitors. 

This graph is included for informational purposes and does not represent Asana’s market landscape or any specific industry’s market landscape. 

[inline illustration] Identify your place in the market landscape (infographic)

Tip: In this example, you’ll see three companies that have a greater market presence and greater customer satisfaction than yours, while two companies have a similar market presence but higher customer satisfaction. This data should jumpstart the problem-solving process because you now know which competitors are the biggest threats and you can see where you fall short. 

Competitive analysis example

Imagine you work at a marketing startup that provides SEO for dentists, which is a niche industry and only has a few competitors. You decide to conduct a market analysis for your business. To do so, you would:

Step 1: Use Google to compile a list of your competitors. 

Steps 2, 3, and 4: Use your competitors’ websites, as well as SEO analysis tools like Ahrefs, to deep-dive into the service offerings and marketing strategies of each company. 

Step 5: Focusing back on your own company, you conduct a SWOT analysis to assess your own strategic goals and get a visual of your strengths and weaknesses. 

Step 6: Finally, you create a graph of the market landscape and conclude that there are two companies beating your company in customer satisfaction and market presence. 

After compiling this information into a table like the one below, you consider a unique strategy. To beat out your competitors, you can use localization. Instead of marketing to dentists nationwide like your competitors are doing, you decide to focus your marketing strategy on one region, state, or city. Once you’ve become the known SEO company for dentists in that city, you’ll branch out. 

[inline illustration] Competitive analysis framework (example)

You won’t know what conclusions you can draw from your competitive analysis until you do the work and see the results. Whether you decide on a new pricing strategy, a way to level up your marketing, or a revamp of your product, understanding your competition can provide significant insight.

Drawbacks of competitive analysis

There are some drawbacks to competitive analysis you should consider before moving forward with your report. While these drawbacks are minor, understanding them can make you an even better manager or business owner. 

Don’t forget to take action

You don’t just want to gather the information from your competitive analysis—you also want to take action on that information. The data itself will only show you where you fit into the market landscape. The key to competitive analysis is using it to problem solve and improve your company’s strategic plan .

Be wary of confirmation bias

Confirmation bias means interpreting information based on the beliefs you already hold. This is bad because it can cause you to hold on to false beliefs. To avoid bias, you should rely on all the data available to back up your decisions. In the example above, the business owner may believe they’re the best in the SEO dental market at social media. Because of this belief, when they do market research for social media, they may only collect enough information to confirm their own bias—even if their competitors are statistically better at social media. However, if they were to rely on all the data available, they could eliminate this bias.

Update your analysis regularly

A competitive analysis report represents a snapshot of the market landscape as it currently stands. This report can help you gain enough information to make changes to your company, but you shouldn’t refer to the document again unless you update the information regularly. Market trends are always changing, and although it’s tedious to update your report, doing so will ensure you get accurate insight into your competitors at all times. 

Boost your marketing strategy with competitive analysis

Learning your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses will make you a better marketer. If you don’t know the competition you’re up against, you can’t beat them. Using competitive analysis can boost your marketing strategy and allow you to capture your target audience faster.

Competitive analysis must lead to action, which means following up on your findings with clear business goals and a strong business plan. Once you do your competitive analysis, you can use the templates below to put your plan into action.

how to make competition in business plan

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How to Write Competitive Analysis in a Business Plan (w/ Examples)

The Competitive Analysis Kit

Free Competitive Analysis Kit

  • Vinay Kevadia
  • January 9, 2024

13 Min Read

competitive analysis in a business plan

Every business wants to outperform its competitors, but do you know the right approach to gather information and analyze your competitors?

That’s where competitive analysis steps in. It’s the tool that helps you know your competition’s pricing strategies, strengths, product details, marketing strategies, target audience, and more.

If you want to know more about competitor analysis, this guide is all you need. It spills all the details on how to conduct and write a competitor analysis in a business plan , with examples.

Let’s get started and first understand the meaning of competitive analysis.

What is Competitive Analysis?

A competitive analysis involves collecting information about what other businesses in your industry are doing with their products, sales, and marketing.

Businesses use this data to find out what they are good at, where they can do better, and what opportunities they might have. It is like checking out the competition to see how and where you can improve.

This kind of analysis helps you get a clear picture of the market, allowing you to make smart decisions to make your business stand out and do well in the industry.

After having a brief knowledge of what a competitive analysis is, let’s understand how to conduct it:

How to Conduct a Competitive Analysis?

  • Identify your direct and indirect competitors
  • Study the overall market space
  • Prepare a competitive framework
  • Take note of your competition’s strategies
  • Perform a SWOT Analysis of your competitors

1. Identify Your Direct and Indirect Competitors

First things first — identify all your business competitors and list them. You can make the final list later, but right now jot down all the competitors including new competitors.

Explore your competitors using Google, social media platforms, or local markets. Then differentiate them into direct or indirect competitors. And then distinguish them into direct or indirect competitors.

Direct competitors

Businesses offering the same products or services, targeting a similar target market, are your direct competitors.

These competitors operate in the same industry and are often competing for the same market share.

Indirect competitors

On the other hand, indirect competitors are businesses that offer different products or services but cater to the same target customers.

While they may not offer identical solutions, they compete for the same customer budget or attention. Indirect competitors can pose a threat by providing alternatives that customers might consider instead of your offerings.

2. Study the Overall Market

Now that you know your business competitors, deep dive into the market research. The research should be a combination of both primary and secondary research methods.

Primary research

It means being involved in getting the information directly from customers or by buying the product itself. Some examples of primary market research methods include:

  • Purchasing competitors’ products or services
  • Conducting interviews with customers
  • Administering online surveys to gather customer insights

Secondary research

The secondary research involves utilizing pre-existing gathered information from some relevant sources. Some of its examples include:

  • Scrutinizing competitors’ websites
  • Assessing the current economic landscape
  • Identifying technological advancements

Have a good understanding of the market at this point before you proceed with the next step.

3. Prepare a Competitive Framework

Creating a competitive framework is like charting a strategic roadmap for your business in the competitive landscape. It includes defining your USPs, market positioning, and various strategies.

Establishing your competitive positioning clarifies where your business stands among competitors.

Plan how to make your product or service stand out by figuring out ways to make it different to stand out, whether it’s through new features, better quality, or excellent customer service.

Craft unique value propositions that resonate with your target audience, communicating the benefits of choosing your offerings. This framework serves as a compass for crucial business decisions, ensuring alignment with your strategic positioning.

By consistently referencing this framework, your business can effectively meet customer needs, fostering satisfaction and loyalty through tailored products, services, and interactions.

4. Take Note of Your Competition’s Strategies

By stepping into your competitors’ research, you will learn what strategies they use to market their products or services and how they engage with their customers.

This will motivate you to do something more for customers and give you an idea of what your consumers like.

Start by analyzing their marketing strategies, such as sales and marketing channels, promotional activities, and branding strategies. Understand how they position themselves in the market and what USPs they emphasize.

Evaluate their pricing strategies and offerings, and keep an eye on their distribution channel to better understand your competitors. For example, here are the pricing strategies of a barber shop and its competitors:

This information allows you to make informed decisions about your strategies, helping you identify opportunities for differentiation and improvement.

5. Perform a SWOT Analysis of Your Competitors

You would love to know the opportunities and threats of your business, right? To be prepared for it when the time comes.

Well, conducting a SWOT analysis is like the same, it is more about getting to know about your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. It also helps you understand your competitive edge in the market.

Whereas strengths and weaknesses focus on internal aspects of your company — opportunities and threats examine the external factors related to the industry and market.

Things to include in your SWOT analysis are:

It includes the positive features of your internal business operations. For example, it might include a strong brand, skilled workforce, innovative products/services, loyal customer base, etc.

It includes all the hindrances of your internal business operations. For example, it might include limited resources, outdated technology, weak brand recognition, inefficient processes, etc.

Opportunities

As the name says, it is all about the opportunities that will come your way in the near or far future. It is mainly about the external factors related to the market or industry trends.

For example, it might include emerging markets, technological advancements, changing consumer trends, profitable partnerships in the future, etc.

You should include any external factor that poses a challenge or any risk for your business in this section. For example, it might include intense competition, economic downturns, regulatory changes, or any advanced technology disruption.

These were the elements to help you conduct the competitive market analysis. Let us now go through how to write it in a business plan.

how to make competition in business plan

Want to Perform Competitive Analysis for your Business?

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How to Write Competitive Analysis in a Business Plan

1. determine who your readers are.

Know your audience first, because that will change the whole context of your competitor analysis business plan.

The competitive analysis section will vary depending on the intended audience is the team or investors.

Consider the following things about your audience before you start writing this section:

Internal competitor plan (employees or partners)

Objective: The internal competitor plan is to provide your team with an understanding of the competitive landscape.

Focus: The focus should be on the comparison of the strengths and weaknesses of competitors to boost strategic discussions within your team.

Use: It is to leverage the above information to develop strategies that highlight your strengths and address your weaknesses.

Competitor plan for funding (bank or investors)

Objective: Here, the objective is to reassure the potential and viability of your business to investors or lenders.

Focus: This section should focus on awareness and deep understanding of the competitive landscape to persuade the readers about the future of your business.

Use: It is to showcase your market position and the opportunities that are on the way to your business.

This differentiation is solely to ensure that the competitive analysis serves its purpose effectively based on the specific needs and expectations of the respective audience.

2. Describe Competitive Advantage

One of the most important things in the competitive analysis is to know your competitive advantage and gain insight into how you are a better option than competitors.

Your competitive analysis should pinpoint the competitive advantage based on the competitors’ product line or service and market segment, pricing, and other such situations. Some of the points you might include in this section are:

  • Product/service differentiation in terms of quality or innovation
  • Cost leadership or competitive pricing
  • Brand reputation
  • Customer service excellence
  • Diverse and effective marketing strategy

3. Explain your strategies

Your competitor analysis section should not only highlight what opportunities or threats your business has. It should also mention that what will be the strategies to overcome those threats or capitalize on the opportunities.

It could be for taking a top-notch quality for your products or services, exploring the unexplored market segment, or having creative marketing strategies.

4. Know the pricing strategy

To understand the pricing strategy of your competitors, there are various aspects you need to have information about. It involves knowing their pricing model, evaluating their price points, and considering the additional costs, if any.

One way to understand this in a better way is to compare features and value offered at different price points and identify the gaps in competitors’ offerings.

Once you know the pricing structure of your competitors, compare it with yours and get to know the competitive advantage of your business from a pricing point of view.

Competitive analysis example

Need help writing the competitive analysis section of your business plan? Here’s the barbershop competitive analysis example to help you get started.

1. List of competitors

Direct & indirect competitors.

The following retailers are located within a 5-mile radius of J&S, thus providing either direct or indirect competition for customers:

Joe’s Beauty Salon

Joe’s Beauty Salon is the town’s most popular beauty salon and has been in business for 32 years. Joe’s offers a wide array of services that you would expect from a beauty salon.

Besides offering haircuts, Joe’s also offers nail services such as manicures and pedicures. In fact, over 60% of Joe’s revenue comes from services targeted at women outside of hair services. In addition, Joe’s does not offer its customers premium salon products.

For example, they only offer 2 types of regular hair gels and 4 types of shampoos. This puts Joe’s in direct competition with the local pharmacy and grocery stores that also carry these mainstream products. J&S, on the other hand, offers numerous options for exclusive products that are not yet available in West Palm Beach, Florida.

LUX CUTS has been in business for 5 years. LUX CUTS offers an extremely high-end hair service, with introductory prices of $120 per haircut.

However, LUX CUTS will primarily be targeting a different customer segment from J&S, focusing on households with an income in the top 10% of the city.

Furthermore, J&S offers many of the services and products that LUX CUTS offers, but at a fraction of the price, such as:

  • Hairstyle suggestions & hair care consultation
  • Hair extensions & coloring
  • Premium hair products from industry leaders

Freddie’s Fast Hair Salon

Freddie’s Fast Hair Salon is located four stores down the road from J&S. Freddy’s has been in business for the past 3 years and enjoys great success, primarily due to its prime location.

Freddy’s business offers inexpensive haircuts and focuses on volume over quality. It also has a large customer base comprised of children between the ages of 5 to 13.

J&S has several advantages over Freddy’s Fast Hair Salon including:

  • An entertainment-focused waiting room, with TVs and board games to make the wait for service more pleasurable. Especially great for parents who bring their children.
  • A focus on service quality rather than speed alone to ensure repeat visits. J&S will spend on average 20 more minutes with its clients than Freddy’s.

While we expect that Freddy’s Fast Hair Salon will continue to thrive based on its location and customer relationships, we expect that more and more customers will frequent J&S based on the high-quality service it provides.

2. Competitive Pricing

John and Sons Barbing Salon will work towards ensuring that all our services are offered at highly competitive prices compared to what is obtainable in The United States of America.

We know the importance of gaining entrance into the market by lowering our pricing to attract all and sundry that is why we have consulted with experts and they have given us the best insights on how to do this and effectively gain more clients soon.

Our pricing system is going to be based on what is obtainable in the industry, we don’t intend to charge more (except for premium and customized services) and we don’t intend to charge less than our competitors are offering in West Palm Beach – Florida.

how to make competition in business plan

3. Our pricing

how to make competition in business plan

  • Payment by cash
  • Payment via Point of Sale (POS) Machine
  • Payment via online bank transfer (online payment portal)
  • Payment via Mobile money
  • Check (only from loyal customers)

Given the above, we have chosen banking platforms that will help us achieve our payment plans without any itches.

4. Competitive advantage

how to make competition in business plan

5. SWOT analysis

how to make competition in business plan

Advantages of a Competitive Environment

Somewhere we all think, “What if we had no competition?” “What if we were the monopoly?” It would be great, right? Well, this is not the reality, and have to accept the competition sooner or later.

However, competition is healthy for businesses to thrive and survive, let’s see how:

1. It pushes you to innovation and improvement

In the competitive environment, a businessperson might get a new idea to bring innovation to the market to keep their products and services trending. This way innovation is promoted.

2. Competition validates your idea

Having a good idea becomes valid when others are developing similar products or services. A competitive market confirms that there is a market for your product and service. It also implies that the expenses of marketing and educating your target customers might likely decrease.

3. Efficiency and cost control

Businesses competing with each other get the motivation to operate efficiently to reduce costs and offer competitive prices. This thing for more sales benefits both businesses and customers.

4. Market responsiveness

A competitive environment forces businesses to be quick to adapt to market changes and customer demands. Companies need to adapt quickly to stay relevant and meet consumer preferences.

Competitive Analysis is critical, but don’t go overboard

Whether you are starting a new business or have an experience in the same field, gaining insight from your competitors will always be beneficial for your business.

Remember: Competitive analysis is essential for your business, but you can not assume all things positive on your side. Be realistic and practical while both conducting and writing this section.

Not only competitive analysis, but the whole business plan is necessary for any business to stay on the path. It will be your guide whenever your business is in any problem.

For assistance, you can visit our business plan writing guide . Additionally, we wish you all the luck in your competitive analysis journey.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Is swot analysis a competitive analysis.

SWOT analysis is a component of a competitive analysis, not the whole competitive analysis. Competitive analysis covers a broad topic of analyzing competitors and knowing the competitive advantage.

What Tools Can I Use for Competitor Analysis?

Executing a thorough competitor analysis requires the use of various tools to collect and analyze data. Here are some tools you can consider:

  • Google Alerts
  • Social media analytics
  • Google Trends
  • Google Analytics
  • Competitors’ website

What are the 5 parts of a competitive analysis?

The main five components to keep in mind while having a competitor analysis are:

  • Identifying the competitors
  • Analyzing competitor’s strengths and weaknesses
  • Assessing market share and trends
  • Examining competitors’ strategies and market positioning
  • Performing SWOT analysis

What is the difference between market analysis and competitive analysis?

Market analysis involves a comprehensive examination of the overall market dynamics, industry trends, and factors influencing a business’s operating environment.

On the other hand, competitive analysis narrows the focus to specific competitors within the market, delving into their strategies, strengths, weaknesses, and market positioning.

About the Author

how to make competition in business plan

Vinay Kevadiya

Vinay Kevadiya is the founder and CEO of Upmetrics, the #1 business planning software. His ultimate goal with Upmetrics is to revolutionize how entrepreneurs create, manage, and execute their business plans. He enjoys sharing his insights on business planning and other relevant topics through his articles and blog posts. Read more

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Home > Business Plan > Competition in a Business Plan

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Competition in a Business Plan

… there is competition in the target market …

Who is the Competition?

By carrying out a competitor analysis a business will be able to identify its own strengths and weaknesses, and produce its own strategy. For example a review of competitor products and prices will enable a business to set a realistic market price for its own products. The competition section of the business plan aims to show who you are competing with, and why the benefits your product provides to customers are better then those of the competition; why customers will choose your product over your competitors.

  • Who are our competitors?
  • What are the competitors main products and services?
  • What threats does the competitor pose to our business?
  • What are the strengths and weaknesses of our competitors?
  • What are the objectives in the market place of the competitors?
  • What strategies are the competitors using?
  • What is the competitors market share?
  • What market segments do the competitors operate in?
  • What do customers think of the competition?
  • What does the trade think of the competitor?
  • What makes their product good?
  • Why do customers buy their product?
  • What problems do customers have with the product?
  • What is the competitors financial strength?
  • What resources do the competition have available?

The focus is on how well the customer benefits and needs are satisfied compared to competitors, and not on how the features of the product compare. For example, key customer benefits might include affordability, can be purchased online, or ease of use, but not a technical feature list.

Competition Presentation in the Business Plan

The business plan competitor section can be presented in a number of formats including a competitor matrix, but an informative way of presenting is using Harvey balls . Harvey balls allow you to grade each customer benefit from zero to four, and to show a comparison of these benefits to your main competitor products. The competitors might be individual identified companies, or a generic competitor such as ‘fast food restaurants’.

In the example below, the key benefits of the product are compared against three main competitors. Each row represents a key benefit to the customer, the first column represents your business, and the remaining three columns each represent a chosen competitor.

The investor will want to understand that your product has the potential to take a major share of the chosen target market by being shown that it is sufficiently competitive for a number of key customer benefits.

This is part of the financial projections and Contents of a Business Plan Guide , a series of posts on what each section of a simple business plan should include. The next post in this series will deal with the competitive advantages the business has in the chosen target market.

About the Author

Chartered accountant Michael Brown is the founder and CEO of Plan Projections. He has worked as an accountant and consultant for more than 25 years and has built financial models for all types of industries. He has been the CFO or controller of both small and medium sized companies and has run small businesses of his own. He has been a manager and an auditor with Deloitte, a big 4 accountancy firm, and holds a degree from Loughborough University.

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What is competitive analysis? Template, examples, and how-to

how to make competition in business plan

In this comprehensive guide, we’ll define what a competitive analysis is, describe the benefits product teams stand to gain from conducting one, and walk through the steps of how to do a competitive analysis.

What Is Competitive Analysis? Template, Examples, And How-To

Through the tutorial, we’ll refer to examples to demonstrate how each step of a competitive analysis works in practice. We’ll also provide a list of customizable, free competitive analysis templates for you to use when completing these steps on your own.

Complete guide to competitive analysis

Picture this: you just came up with the next disruptive, game changing, AI-powered e-commerce marketplace. The objective is to connect buyers with sellers to fulfill their tailored and customized product needs.

You’re confident your product will take on Etsy and other big players in the market. You did some market and user research and have a good idea of your ideal customer and their (underserved) needs. Based on this data, you believe your marketplace can reach product-market fit quickly.

It’s now time for you to dust off your copy of Sun Tzu’s  T he Art of War . Why is that, you ask?

The Art of War is an ancient Chinese military textbook that, although dated somewhere between ~500–400 B.C., is one of the most influential management books out there to this day. It provides great strategic and tactical advice. Moreover, it provides guidance to help you assess yourself and your competition to gain an advantage.

Maintaining a competitive advantage is the goal. Even if you have the best product in the world and you know there is a market for it, if you don’t understand your competition, you‘re bound to fail. That’s why you need to perform a competitive analysis.

As the band Rage Against the Machine would say, know your enemy .

What is competitive analysis?

Competitive analysis (sometimes called a competitor analysis or competition analysis) is exactly what it sounds like: a structured approach to identifying and analyzing your competitors. More concretely, it’s an assessment of your competition’s offerings, strategy, strengths, and weaknesses.

A competitive analysis helps you answer questions such as:

  • Which other companies are providing a solution similar to ours?
  • What are the ideal customer’s minimum expectations?
  • What are they currently not getting from our product with regard to those expectations?
  • What barriers do competitors in the market fce?
  • What should we avoid introducing in our product?
  • What price are customers willing to pay for our product?
  • What value do we need to provide to make our product stand out in the market?
  • What trends are happening and how might they change the playing field?

When conducted thoroughly and regularly, a competitive analysis provides you with tons of information that can be used to improve and optimize your product. The end result is a holistic overview of your competitor landscape.

Why do a competitive analysis?

Competitive analysis is a fundamental product management instrument. It helps PMs learn what works and what doesn’t when trying to acquire market share, identify market trends, and locate gaps in their product offering.

Competitive analysis exists to help you avoid making mistakes and empower you to beat competitors to the punch in the pursuit of product growth and success.

Knowing your competition will bring you great rewards. Conducting a competitive analysis will help you more effectively:

  • Create benchmarks
  • Identify opportunities to better serve customers
  • Make strategic decisions
  • Determine your pricing strategy
  • Identify market gaps
  • Determine distribution and marketing strategies

Typically, the first time you create a competitor analysis is when doing your market research. This helps you get an idea of the product-market fit , which will evolve along your journey.

As a product manager, your role is not to analyze how well your competitors are able to showcase themselves. It is your job to make the product what the customer needs it to be. Understanding your competitor’s capabilities, pricing, and product positioning helps you in this.

Keep in mind that your competitors will likely showcase themselves to appear better than they probably are. You’ll be able to acquire tons of information about them, but you should take that information with a pinch of salt.

How to do a competitive analysis

There is no a single way to do a competitive analysis. In general, a competitive analysis is made up of three fundamental components:

  • A shortlist of competitors
  • A competitor deep dive
  • A holistic overview and strategy

Diagram: How To Do A Competitive Analysis

To demonstrate how to do a competitor analysis, we’ll refer back to the example outlined in the introduction.

how to make competition in business plan

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Remember, in our example, we’re looking to disrupt the market with an AI-powered e-commerce marketplace app that helps buyers and sellers connect to fulfill highly customized orders. Let’s call our innovative new product AGORA.

1. Create a shortlist of your competitors

Three Types Of Competitors To Include In A Competitor Analysis: Direct, Indirect, And Replacement

There are three types of competitors:

  • Direct — Competitors that offer the same product and target the same ideal customer; you are battling direct competitors heads-on
  • Indirect — Competitors that either offer a somewhat similar product or target the same ideal customer
  • Replacement — Competitors that offer a different product but target the same ideal customer

For a competitive analysis, you need to identify at least your direct and indirect competitors. So how do you do that? By looking inward and researching obsessively .

Look inward

To figure out who your direct and indirect competitors are, you need to look inward first to understand your product positioning: who are you servicing and what is the offering you are providing?

You can answer these questions by doing a self-assessment using the product canvas . Originally introduced by Roman Pichler, the product canvas has since tbeen tweaked and refined.

In its core, the product canvas covers:

  • The name of the product
  • Objectives and key metrics for success
  • The ideal customer
  • A high-level overview of what’s required to meet the customer’s needs
  • Just enough product details about short-term goals

For our example product, the competitive analysis might look something like this:

Competitive Analysis Example

Research obsessively

A simple Google search using keywords from your self-assessment can get you pretty far. Other resources that can help you identify your competitors include tools such as Crunchbase, Similarweb, Statista, etc.

As the old saying goes, the customer knows best. If you don’t have many customers yet, review sites such G2, Capterra, Trustpilot, and Google Reviews can help you.

If you do have customers, go ask them. Most customers try and evaluate several products before deciding on the right product to buy. Nothing is stopping you from asking them which other brands they considered and why they ultimately chose yours.

Once you have established who your competitors are, you might find yourself in a market with many direct and indirect competitors. If that is the case, select about seven of the most relevant competitors to include in your competitor deep dive.

2. Do a deep dive on each competitor

From your a shortlist of competitors, choose about seven of your most important and dig up all the relevant information on each one.

The research conducted during the previous step will help you capture the most relevant information about your competitors for the following categories:

Company profile

Ideal customer profile, product information, market approach, swot analysis.

Start by creating a company profile for each of your competitors to gain a better understanding of who they are. Include the following information:

  • Name   —  What is the name of your competitor?
  • Founding date  —  When was the company founded? How long has it been in the market?
  • Company size  —  How many employees does the company have? Are they equipped to service the market and innovate?
  • Market share  — The portion of the market controlled by the competitor’s product
  • Revenue   —  The income the competitor generates from its product
  • Reputation   —  What do customers think of your competitor’s product on a scale from one to five?

Let’s apply this framework to our AGORA competitive analysis example:

Competitive Analysis Example: Company Profile

It’s important to understand who your competitors are serving and who is buying the product. This not only to reconfirm that the competitor is indeed a direct (or indirect) competitor, but also to understand what customers like and dislike about the competitor’s product.

The information you’re looking for includes:

  • Ideal customer   —  Who is the competitor’s target customer and what defines them?
  • Motivations   —  What does the customer enjoy about your competitor’s product?
  • Frustrations   —  What does the customer hate about the product?
  • Primary buyer  —  Who is the primary buyer of the product? Is it the as the ideal customer, or is it a different persona?

Let’s see what this would look like following our AGORA example. Below is an example ideal customer profile for Etsy. First, for the buyer:

Competitive Analysis Example: Customer Profile

And the ideal customer profile for Etsy sellers:

Competitive Analysis Example: Customer Profile

Not to be captain obvious, but you want to capture more details about the product your competitor is offering and its positioning.

The information we’re looking for at this step includes:

  • The product   —  What is the tagline your competitor is using to market its product?
  • Positioning   —  Based on the quality and price of the product, place the product into a one of several buckets. For example, Economy (low quality, low price), Skimming (low quality, high price), Penetration (high quality, low price), and Premium (high quality, high price)
  • Product features   —  What are the key features being marketed and promoted?

Referring to our example AGORA app, the product information associated with Etsy on a competitor analysis might look as follows:

Competitive Analysis Example: Product Information

Next, seek to understand how your competitors are bringing the product to market .

List the following information:

  • Pricing — What does the product costs? If there is a tiered pricing model, what does it look like?
  • Distribution channels — Through which channels is your competitor selling the product?
  • Marketing channels — Through which channels is the product being promoted?

In our AGORA competitor analysis example, this section would look something like:

Competitive Analysis Example: Market Approach

With all the information you’ve collected, you’ll find yourself in a good place to do a SWOT analysis . This is one of the most common and popular competitive analysis frameworks.

SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats:

  • Strengths  —  What is going well for the competitor?
  • Weaknesses   —  What is not going well? What obvious flaws are there?
  • Opportunities   —  What could give your competitor an advantage?
  • Threats  —  What might harm your competitor’s product?

For AGORA, our example competitive analysis might include a SWOT analysis that looks like this:

Example Of A SWOT Analysis Conducted As Part Of A Competitive Analysis

3. Develop a holistic overview and strategy

Now that you have a better view of your competitors, it’s time to determine how you want to approach them in the market: do you want to avoid your competitors or attack them?

Two extremely useful tools that can help you make this assessment are the competitive matrix and battle cards .

Competitive matrix

One way to operationalize the data you gathered during your competitive analysis is to plot out a four-quadrant competitive matrix.

Define key factors for the and x and y axes and plot yourself and your competition accordingly to see how you stack up. This approach is also known as perceptual mapping.

A competitive matrix for our example would look like this:

Competitive Matrix Example

Battle cards

You can use the four-quadrant competitive matrix and competitor insights to create battle cards for each of your competitors.

Battle cards are a visual aid that help you compare your product against those of your competitors at a glance. It’s a quick and easy way to see how you stack up in key areas of performance and value. It’s also a neat way to help sales in their conversations with customers.

Here’s what you should include on each battle card:

  • Company name — Name of your competitor
  • Powers  —  What makes this competitor stand out from the rest?
  • How we win   —  What should we do to gain a competitive advantage over this competitor?
  • Why we lose   —  What is this competitor better at? What should we avoid so we don’t lose market share?
  • Pricing   —  How much of a threat is the competitor’s product to our market share (low, medium, or high)?
  • Strategy   — Should we attack or avoid this competitor?

A battle card for our example competitive analysis might look as follows:

Competitive Analysis Example: Battle Cards

Alternative competitive analysis frameworks

If you‘ve followed the framework described above, you should have solid insight into your competitors, your product opportunities, and the best strategy to attack or avoid your competitors in the market.

If you want to dig deeper, you can follow up your competitive analysis by producing a Five Forces analysis and/or customer journey map .

The Five Forces model

Diagram: Michael Porter's Five Forces Model

You still might want to consider gaining more insights into the competitive structure of the market you are in — in other words, gain a better understanding of how easy it is to either enter or be replaced by a competitor in the market.

A great framework to use for this type of competitor analysis is the Five Forces model , originally conceived by Michael Porter.

According to the Five Forces model, you can assess the market you are in by looking at:

  • Intensity of competitive rivalry
  • Negotiation power of new buyers
  • Negotiation power of suppliers
  • Threat of new entrants
  • Threat of substitutes

Customer journey map

Instead of zooming out, you can also zoom in on the journey ideal customers make when interacting with the product itself, the distribution, or marketing channels.

On a journey map, your touchpoints are the customer, the activity performed, how the customer experiences the activities, and their expectations.

Free competitive analysis templates

A competitive analysis is a continuously updated document packed with information about your most important competitors to help you determine how to approach them in your target market.

The competitive analysis model described in this article consists of three steps that are designed to produce the insights you need to rule the market once and for all.

Below are free, customizable competitive analysis templates for each step of the process described in this article:

  • Competitive analysis template
  • Product canvas template
  • Competitive matrix template
  • Battle card template
  • Customer journey map template

NOTE : To use and customize the competitive analysis templates above, after opening, select File > Make a copy from the main menu.

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Business Plan and Pitch Competition Guide

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2 min. read

Updated January 4, 2024

Pitch competitions are more than an opportunity to win funding; they’re a valuable platform to practice and perfect your business pitch. By participating, you gain critical experience presenting your ideas, receive expert feedback, and engage with potential investors and partners.

This guide is designed to help you prepare for these business plan competitions. Whether you’re an aspiring entrepreneur or an experienced business owner—here is what you need to know about pitch competitions.

If you need to develop your pitch deck or elevator pitch , check out our other guides.

  • What is a pitch competition?

A pitch or business plan competition is an event where people with business ideas or who are running early-stage startups get the chance to present to a group of judges. Entrepreneurs need to cover their business model, target market, financial plans, and other vital areas of their businesses within a fixed time limit. 

The judges, typically experts in business and investment, evaluate and provide feedback on these presentations. The best pitches, as determined by the judges, may receive prizes often in the form of funding, mentorship, or resources to help develop or scale their businesses.

  • How to prepare for a pitch competition

Are you participating in your first startup pitch or business plan contest? Check out these guides to refine your pitch and better understand what it takes to succeed.

How to win a business plan competition

What does it take to stand out from the competition and win a pitch contest? Check out these insights from business planning expert Tim Berry to help you prepare.

Common business plan competition mistakes to avoid

Startup competitions are a great opportunity to practice your pitch and even win some prize money to fund your business. Just be sure you don’t make these big mistakes.

Pitch competition resources and tools

Resources and templates to help you successfully pitch your business idea.

how to make competition in business plan

Free investor pitch deck template

Visualize your business pitch and wow investors with this free pitch deck template.

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Home » Business Plans

How to Write a Market Analysis for a Business Plan

After giving the reader a good idea of the important trends and paradigm shifts in the industry, you will need to specifically point out your major competitors This means factoring in on not just your direct competition, but the indirect competition as well.

One very important aspect of business that every business owner must deal with is competition. It is a fact every business has competition regardless of how small or large it is. The way you decide to handle competition in your business can make the difference between profit and loss; and between you staying in the race or you getting kicked out.

This is why it is very necessary for every entrepreneur to have plans on how to deal with competition and competitors when starting a business.

It is for this reason that business plans have sections for competitor and competitive analysis. This section of your business plan is devoted to analyzing your competition, and not just your current competition, but also potential competitors who would enter your market at one point or the other.

What is Competitor Analysis?

A competitor analysis is an assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of your businesses’ competitors. Carrying out competitor and competitive analysis would help you identify your competitors and see how they would influence your revenue.

A comprehensive analysis of your competitors will also allow you to track how your business compares with that of your competitors in terms of financial resources, staff, products or services, market share, pricing, customers, financial data, brand recognition, location, marketing tactics, logistics etc.

Including a competitor analysis in your business plan tells investors that you know what you are getting into, that you understand your marketplace and that you have plans in place to compete at the same level as established competitors. This can actually up your chances of getting startup capital.

Why Should You Include a Competitive and Competitor Analysis in your Business Plan?

  • It can help you understand the competitive advantages and disadvantages in your industry
  • It would help you gain insight into your competitors’ business strategies
  • It would help you develop strategies to achieve in the future
  • It can assist your management with developing well-tailored
  • It can help you identify opportunities in the market that are under-served
  • It can help you take advantage of competitors’ weaknesses to grow your market share
  • It can help you in forecasting future investments

4 Types of Competitors your Business Would Be Up Against

Every business has different types of competitors that it should be wary of and they typically include;

a. Direct Competitors: These are competitors that provide exactly the same products or service that you are providing. No matter what business line you are into, direct competitors are usually your main competitors. For instance, if you want to establish a business that retails cosmetics, other cosmetic shops around your vicinity are your direct competitors.

b. Indirect competitors : these are businesses that offer products and services that are close substitutes, and as well target the same group of customers with the goal of satisfying the same need. For instance, a cosmetic shop competes indirectly with a hair salon or spa.

c. Occasional Competitors: these are competitors that provide services or products which differ slightly to yours or they are situated in a different location.

d. Future competitors: these are existing companies that are not yet in the market-space that you intend to occupy but could move there at any time. For instance, a spa is not in direct competition with a cosmetic shop, but it has every tendency of offering its clients cosmetics in the near future.

9 Steps to Conducting Competitive and Competitor Analysis

Conducting an effective and efficient competitor analysis takes procedures that may include;

Identify your Competitors

The first step in conducting a competitor analysis is to identify your competitors. You can start this by considering the range of competition in your market-space because not all competition are the same, and there are different types of competitors your business will face. Your main competitors are companies that customers can easily buy from instead of from you and they represent your most intense competition.

When conducting a competitor or competitive analysis, your first port of call is to identify each of your competitors; in fact, you need to profile them. If you plan on opening an antique store, your competitors would be any store that sells antiques, crafts, jewelry etc within your location.

Online stores should also be included if you plan to take your wares online. You may also want to include information on companies that may be entering your market in the coming year or subsequently. You equally have to look at their aims and objectives, the market share they occupy and what they aim to achieve in the now and the near future.

Identify their strengths and weaknesses

Once you have identified your competitors, you then have to find out that makes them tick. This can be identified as their strengths. For a business, their strengths can be their price range, service or product, convenience, extensive inventory etc.

These areas are what can help them to edge you out of the market, so you really have to take note of them when writing your competitor analysis. Another thing of importance to note here is their weaknesses; what makes them not to sell as much as they should.

These are areas you should aim to capitalize on to grow your business and gain market share. This maybe their poor publicity strategies, limited products range, etc. To obtain most of this information, you can go through their websites and marketing materials.

Most of the information you need about products, services, prices, and company objectives should be readily available there. If that information is not available, then you may have identified a weakness. In addition to visiting their website, you have to as well visit their offline locations to see things for yourself.

Target Market

This is a section where you zero in on your competitors target market. First of all, a businesses’ primary target market is the group of customers that they service the most. Identify who your target market is and then do some research on your competitors to see who their target market is. A good place to start would be their website and marketing communications.

Market Share

Market share can be defined as the percentage of the market you account for. You have already identified your target market, now it is time to calculate your market share based on your competitors. You have to make a complete analysis of your market share to know which sections you have to devote most of your time, energy and finances to.

Marketing Strategies

In this section of the template, you have to fill in your marketing strategies and predict those of your competitors. If you are not familiar with what they are doing, do some research and observe what strategies they are using. A good place to start looking is their advertising campaigns and promotional materials. The goal here is to try and predict what they might have planned for the future and how that will affect you.

How a company advertises creates a great opportunity to uncover the objectives and strategies of that business. Advertising should help you quickly determine how a company positions itself, who it markets to, and what strategies it employs to reach potential customers.

Carry out Product/Service Profiling

Your product and/or service offering include your range of products and services. This section of the competitor analysis template involves comparing your offerings to those of your competitor. It is important here to take a look at your product range, product quality and brand credibility.

Here, you need to evaluate your products and services for strengths and weaknesses; in fact you can conduct a full SWOT analysis on your products or services, and if you like, put them in a scale from 1 to 10.

It is much easier to find information on public companies than private companies, but it’s always a good idea to do as much background research as possible. When discussing each of your competitors, you will want to use the SWOT Analysis. Here’s what it stands for:

SWOT Analysis

  • S – Strengths : What do they have going for them? Is it their technology, brand, people, or lean value chain ?
  • W – Weakness : What are they missing out on? Do they lack experienced management, reliable customer service, or customer retention tactics ?
  • O – Opportunities : What are they positioned to take advantage of? Are their environmental, technological, or other trends or changes they are likely to benefit from ?
  • T – Threat : What gives them sleepless nights? What are they always worried about ?

Do the same for your competitors’ products or services and you would get to see the difference. This would help you know which product or service is likely to get more market share and why. This section gives you the opportunity to identify new viable markets that can be exploited with a new product, or make product or service variations to fill a gap in an existing market.

Pricing and Costs

Pricing can tell a lot about your competitors. Here you want to be looking at what pricing strategies you and your competitors are implementing. You have to find out if they are low-cost or high-cost providers, what are their mark-ups, does their business require volume sales or once off purchases?

These and other questions would help you determine the price range of your competitors and use it to compare your own. Again, pricing is an observable source so you should be able to get most of the answers by looking at your competitors offerings.

Market Outlook

Here, you need to ask yourself a few questions. What is the market for your company’s product like? Is it growing? If so, then you may not have issues with your competitors as regards customers. If on the other hand the market is flat, then the competition for customers is likely going to be fierce.

Your company may find itself scrambling to win market share. By the time you have done most of your research, you will have enough information to determine what the outlook really is.

Competitive Advantage

Next, find out what makes each of your outlined competitors unique. Their competitive advantage is what would help them outperform you and other businesses offering the same kind of product or service. You need to determine what they offer that the other businesses on the list don’t, and why some customers pick them over you or your other competitors. This is a very important aspect of your competitor analysis so you have to take your time on it.

Next, you will discuss what makes your offer distinct from others in the marketplace. These variables are your “ unique selling points, ” “ value propositions ,” or “ competitive strategy. ” The following questions will help you craft this part perfectly:

  • Can you scale your operations in order to offer lower prices than majority of the players in an effort to maximize profits?
  • Does your business offer something distinct from those of the current cost leaders in your industry?
  • What is your niche or specific target market ?

Finally, it is important you bear in mind that your product or service will have a competitive advantage if it meets the following conditions:

  • Satisfies a previously undiscovered need, or comes as a first-of-its-kind solution to an existing need
  • Solves problems faster than other offers available
  • Spots a better design that stands out from others
  • Comes at a lower price than other offers
  • Helps customers save money
  • Helps customers reduce risk
  • Taps into a previously under served or never served market
  • Offers greater ease of use than other offers

In conclusion ,

As an entrepreneur, your competitor should not be seen as a threat but as a source of inspiration and a reference point that will enable you establish a stronger product or service base. Analyzing of your competitors can help you keep your finger on the pulse of what is happening in the industry, thus preventing you from taking any unnecessary risks.

A quick and easy way to compare your product or service with similar ones on the market is to make a competition grid. Get a piece of paper and write out the names of four or five products or services that compete with yours. To help you generate this list, think of what your customers would buy if they didn’t buy your product or utilize your service.

Across the top of the paper, list the main features and characteristics of each product or service. Include such things as target market, price, size, method of distribution, and extent of customer service. For a service, list prospective buyers, where the service is available, price, website, toll-free phone number, and other features that are relevant.

A glance at the competition grid will help you see where your product fits in the overall market. Bear in mind that you don’t need to be perfect, offer the lowest prices or provide an extremely efficient service. The most important thing is just to be slightly better than your competitors.

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How to Create a Competitor Analysis Report (Examples Included)

By Midori Nediger , Nov 09, 2023

Your business will always have competition.

And if you don’t know what that competition is up to, you could be missing out on huge opportunities.

That’s why a competitive analysis is so crucial to your success as a business. It gives you the tools to quickly adapt to any changes in the competitive landscape and potentially capitalize on industry trends that your competitors haven’t even noticed.

So let’s get some basics out of the way…

What is a competitive analysis report?

A competitive analysis report outlines the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors compared to those of your own business.

Typically, a competitive analysis report will contain:

  • A description of your business’s target market
  • Details about the features of your product compared to your competitors’ products
  • A breakdown of current and projected market share, sales, and revenues
  • Comparisons of pricing models
  • An analysis of marketing strategy and social media strategy
  • A description of customer ratings of the features of each competitor

how to make competition in business plan

Whether you’re a startup trying to break into the marketplace , a consultant trying to get results for your client, or an established company looking to cement your foothold against the competition, a well-researched competitive analysis gives you the tools you need to make strategic decisions.

Your competitive analysis should inform your marketing plan , your business plan , your consultant report and every part of your high-level business strategy.

But how do you actually create a competitive analysis report?

How to make competitor analysis report :

  • Start with a competitor overview
  • Conduct market research to uncover customer personas and industry trends
  • Compare product features in a feature comparison matrix
  • Summarize your strengths and weaknesses with a SWOT analysis
  • Show where you fit in the competitive landscape
  • Use a competitor analysis template for a professional look and feel

The level of detail you include in each section of your competitive analysis report will vary depending on the stage of your business growth and your goals. For example, a startup might create a report that focuses on market research, while an established business might dive into detail on an emerging competitor.

But let’s talk about the parts of a competitive analysis that every report should include.

1. Start with a competitor overview

A strong report shows exactly what a company must out-compete to be successful.

Meaning you must audit any product or service that currently solves the problem your business is trying to solve for customers and write a quick profile for each competitor.

Like the template below, each competitor profile might include:

  • The company’s revenue and market share
  • The company’s size and information about their management team
  • A broad description of the company’s strengths and weaknesses
  • An overview of how the company is perceived by customers

how to make competition in business plan

This overview will help your readers get a big-picture view of the market landscape.

2. Conduct market research to uncover customer personas and industry trends

You can’t create a competitive analysis report without doing extensive market research , which is all about gathering information to understand your customers, identify opportunities to grow, and recognize trends in the industry.

This research can help you put together the customer personas that will guide business and marketing decisions down the line, and allow you to plan for any shifts that might disrupt the marketplace.

You can conduct primary market research, with:

  • Customer interviews
  • Online surveys or questionnaires
  • In-person focus groups
  • Purchasing a competitor product to study packaging and delivery experience

Or secondary market research, by:

  • Reading company records
  • Examining the current economic conditions
  • Researching relevant technological developments

When assembling your market research you may just want provide a high-level summary of the industry trends, like this competitor analysis example shows:

how to make competition in business plan

Or you may want to dive into detail on the demographics of a particular consumer segment, like this:

how to make competition in business plan

But if you’re a consultant or advisor struggling to get buy-in from skeptical stakeholders, the report below would be ideal. Covering everything from market forecasts to consumer profiles, it can help you get clients and decision-makers on board.

how to make competition in business plan

3. Compare product features in a feature comparison matrix

The feature comparison is arguably the most important part of the competitive analysis. Breaking down your product and your competitors’ products feature-by-feature will allow you to see what really sets everyone apart.

In addition to specific product features, here are some attributes that you might include in a feature comparison matrix:

  • Product quality
  • Number of features
  • Ease of use
  • Customer support
  • Brand/style/image

The most common format for a features analysis is a simple matrix with you and your competitors along one side and all of the relevant features along the other. You can check off or rate how you perform in each area:

how to make competition in business plan

But these tables can get pretty long. Another approach is to focus on the things that provide the most value to the user, like in this competitor analysis example from Mint. It only includes ease of use, costs, and benefits:

how to make competition in business plan

If you want to visualize your comparisons in an engaging way, you could use a comparison infographic . 

Great resources for this section of your competitive analysis report are product rating sites like Capterra and G2Crowd . They’ll give you an unbiased view of your company and your competitors.

And as with any market research, it’s critical that you speak with real people who use your product and your competitors’ products. That’s the only way to get an accurate picture of how your target customers rate the competition .

4. Summarize your strengths and weaknesses in a SWOT analysis

When you’re conducting research for your competitive analysis, it’s going to be messy. You’ll have a lot of data and it’ll be hard for an outsider to understand.

That’s what makes the SWOT analysis so essential.

A SWOT analysis is a framework for evaluating your competitive position by listing your key strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

It can act like a short summary of the rest of your competitive analysis report for anyone who doesn’t have time to dig into the details.

how to make competition in business plan

Click the template above to enter our online SWOT analysis maker tool. Customize the template to your liking–no design no-how required.

Here are some questions to kickstart your SWOT analysis:

  • Strengths: What are we doing really well (in terms of marketing, products, sales, branding, technology, etc.)?
  • Weaknesses: What are we struggling with? What’s holding us back?
  • Opportunities: What’s the weakest area for our biggest competitor? Are there any gaps in the market that aren’t current being addressed? What has recently changed in our business or the market?
  • Threats: What is our biggest competitor doing much better than us? What new products/features are they working on? What problems aren’t we currently addressing?

In your report, you could arrange your SWOT analysis in a simple list, but it can be helpful to use color-coded quadrants, like the competitor analysis example below. Note how each quadrant is paired with an icon:

how to make competition in business plan

5. Show where you fit in the competitive landscape

After summarizing your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, it’s time to look at the bigger picture. It’s time to figure out where every major competitor currently fits into the competitive landscape.

The most popular way of doing this is to identify the two dimensions that are most important for being competitive in your industry and plot them on a matrix, like this one from the Boston Consulting Group:

Boston Consulting Group Competitive Analysis Template

And this one from G2 Crowd (which looks at market presence and customer satisfaction):

G2 Crowd Competitor Analysis Template

You may want to focus on where you fit in the market landscape based on your own biggest strengths and weaknesses, or the biggest threats and opportunities you identified in the SWOT analysis.

Or, it may be enough just to summarize in words the features and benefits that set your apart from your competitors (which is a great way to end your report on a high note).

how to make competition in business plan

Competitor analysis examples for strategic planning

In the fast-paced world of business, strategic decision-making is crucial and competitor analysis is a powerful tool for gaining a competitive edge. Let’s delve into some competitor analysis examples that can empower your organization to navigate the market effectively.

1. Competitor analysis example for marketing specialists

Imagine this: You are a Marketing Specialist and your goal is to establish a strong online presence and attract a diverse user base. However, you face stiff competition from established players in the market. Here are some things you should look into when doing your competitor analysis:

Competitor analysis focus:

  • SEO strategies: Analyze competitors’ websites to understand their SEO strategies. Identify high-ranking keywords, backlink strategies, and content optimization techniques . Alternatively, if you’re running a local business, you might want to analyze and scrape Google Maps listings to better assess how companies are optimizing Google My Business to generate leads.
  • Social media engagement: Examine competitors’ social media presence. Evaluate the type of content that garners engagement, the frequency of posts, and audience interactions.
  • Online advertising: Investigate competitors’ online advertising campaigns. Are they leveraging Google Ads, social media ads, or other platforms? Assess the messaging, visuals, and targeting criteria.
  • Content marketing: Scrutinize competitors’ content marketing efforts. Identify the topics that resonate with their audience, the formats they use (blogs, videos, infographics), and the platforms they prioritize.

Here’s a SWOT analysis template to help you get started:

how to make competition in business plan

2. Competitor analysis example for SME business development managers

Imagine this: As the business development manager for a medium sized start up, you are tasked with expanding the client base. The market is crowded with similar service providers, and differentiation is key. When doing your competitor analysis report, look into:

  • Client testimonials and case studies: Explore competitors’ websites for client testimonials and case studies. Identify success stories and areas where clients express satisfaction or dissatisfaction.
  • Service offerings: Analyze the range of services offered by competitors. Identify gaps in their offerings or areas where you can provide additional value to clients.
  • Pricing models: Investigate competitors’ pricing structures. Are they offering packages, subscription models, or customized solutions? Determine whether there’s room for a more competitive pricing strategy.
  • Partnerships and collaborations: Explore potential partnerships or collaborations that competitors have formed. This can provide insights into untapped markets or innovative service delivery methods.

Here’s a competitor analysis comparison chart template that you could use:

how to make competition in business plan

3. Competitor analysis example for product managers

Imagine this: You are a Product Manager for a consumer electronics company tasked with improving your company’s products and services. The market is buzzing with innovation, and staying ahead requires a deep understanding of competitor products.

  • Feature comparison: Conduct a detailed feature-by-feature comparison of your product with competitors. Identify unique features that set your product apart and areas where you can enhance or differentiate.
  • User experience (UX): Evaluate the user experience of competitors’ products. Analyze customer reviews, app ratings, and usability feedback to understand pain points and areas for improvement.
  • Technological advancements: Investigate the technological capabilities of competitors. Are they integrating AI, IoT, or other cutting-edge technologies? Assess whether there are emerging technologies you can leverage.
  • Product lifecycle management: Examine competitors’ product release cycles. Identify patterns in their product launches and assess whether there are opportunities for strategic timing or gap exploitation.

To help you get started, use this competitive analysis report template to identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the product or service

how to make competition in business plan

How to present a competitor analysis

Presenting a competitor analysis effectively involves organizing and communicating information about your competitors in a clear and concise manner. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to present a competitor analysis:

  • Introduction: Start with a brief introduction to set the stage. Outline the purpose of the competitor analysis and its significance in the current market context.
  • Competitor identification: Clearly list and identify the main competitors. Include both direct and indirect competitors. Briefly describe each competitor’s core business and market presence.
  • Key metrics and performance: Present key metrics and performance indicators for each competitor. This may include market share, revenue, growth rate, and any other relevant quantitative data.
  • SWOT analysis: Conduct a concise SWOT analysis for each competitor. Summarize their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Use a simple visual representation if possible.
  • Market positioning: Discuss how each competitor is positioned in the market. This could include their target audience, unique selling propositions, and any specific market niches they occupy. Also, focus on finding keywords , as your competitor’s targeted keywords are the main source of information on their online market performance.
  • Strategic moves: Highlight recent strategic moves made by your competitors. This could include product launches, partnerships, mergers, acquisitions, or changes in pricing strategy. Discuss how these moves impact the competitive landscape.
  • Recommendations and implications: Based on the analysis, provide recommendations and implications for your company. Identify opportunities to capitalize on competitors’ weaknesses and outline potential threats that need to be addressed. Discuss any adjustments to your own strategy that may be necessary in response to the competitive landscape.

3 tips to improve your competitive analysis report design

How you design your competitive analysis report can have a significant impact on your business success. The right report design can inspire stakeholders to take action based on your findings, while a mediocre design may reflect poorly on your hard work.

Here are a few report design best practices to keep in mind when designing your competitive analysis report:

  • Start with a competitive analysis report template
  • Keep core design elements like colors and fonts consistent
  • Use visuals to summarize important information and keep your audience engaged

1. Start with a competitor analysis template

The quickest way to lose the confidence of your stakeholders is to present a messy, amateur report design. Besides distracting from the content of the report, it might even put your credibility at risk.

Starting with a pre-designed competitor analysis template, like the one below, takes almost all of the design work out of the mix so you can focus on the content (while still impressing your stakeholders).

how to make competition in business plan

And if you’re a consultant competing for a project, a pre-designed template may just give you the edge you need to land that client.

Click on any of our templates; you’ll enter our online drag and drop report maker tool. No design know-how required.

2. Keep core design elements like colors and fonts consistent

If you take a look at the competitor analysis template below, you might notice that the designer has switched up the layout from page to page, but many of the other design elements are kept consistent.

That consistency helps the report design feel cohesive while making it easier for readers to quickly skim for key pieces of information.

Here are a few quick guidelines for keeping important design elements consistent:

  • Use the same color scheme throughout your report (with one highlight color to draw attention to key takeaways and important numbers)
  • Use the same font styles for your headers, subheaders, and body text (with no more than 2-3 font styles per report)
  • Use the same style of visuals throughout your report (like flat icons or illustrated icons… but not both)

how to make competition in business plan

3. Use visuals to summarize important information and keep your audience engaged

The challenge with a competitive analysis report is that you collect heaps of background research, and you have to condense it into a brief report that your client will actually read.

And written summaries will only get you so far.

Visuals like charts and tables are a much better way to communicate a lot of research quickly and concisely, as seen in the market research summary below.

how to make competition in business plan

Even lists can be made more engaging and informative by spacing out list items and giving more emphasis to headers:

how to make competition in business plan

The more you can replace descriptive paragraphs and long lists with thoughtful visuals, the more your readers will thank you.

A competitive analysis will allow you to think up effective strategies to battle your competition and establish yourself in your target market.

And a report that communicates the findings of your competitive analysis will ensure stakeholders are on board and in the know.

Now that you know how to design a competitive analysis report, you’re ready to get started:

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How Fast Should Your Company Really Grow?

  • Gary P. Pisano

how to make competition in business plan

Growth—in revenues and profits—is the yardstick by which the competitive fitness and health of organizations is measured. Consistent profitable growth is thus a near universal goal for leaders—and an elusive one.

To achieve that goal, companies need a growth strategy that encompasses three related sets of decisions: how fast to grow, where to seek new sources of demand, and how to develop the financial, human, and organizational capabilities needed to grow. This article offers a framework for examining the critical interdependencies of those decisions in the context of a company’s overall business strategy, its capabilities and culture, and external market dynamics.

Why leaders should take a strategic perspective

Idea in Brief

The problem.

Sustained profitable growth is a nearly universal corporate goal, but it is an elusive one. Empirical research suggests that when inflation is taken into account, most companies barely grow at all.

While external factors play a role, most companies’ growth problems are self-inflicted: Too many firms approach growth in a highly reactive, opportunistic manner.

The Solution

To grow profitably over the long term, companies need a strategy that addresses three key decisions: how fast to grow (rate of growth); where to seek new sources of demand (direction of growth); and how to amass the resources needed to grow (method of growth).

Perhaps no issue attracts more senior leadership attention than growth does. And for good reason. Growth—in revenues and profits—is the yardstick by which we tend to measure the competitive fitness and health of companies and determine the quality and compensation of its management. Analysts, investors, and boards pepper CEOs about growth prospects to get insight into stock prices. Employees are attracted to faster-growing companies because they offer better opportunities for advancement, higher pay, and greater job security. Suppliers prefer faster-growing customers because working with them improves their own growth prospects. Given the choice, most companies and their stakeholders would choose faster growth over slower growth.

Five elements can move you beyond episodic success.

  • Gary P. Pisano is the Harry E. Figgie Jr. Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School and the author of Creative Construction: The DNA of Sustained Innovation (PublicAffairs, 2019).

Partner Center

Entrepreneur

How to Create a Growth Plan for Your Business in 6 Simple Steps

The following is an excerpt from Grow Your Business: Scaling Your Business for Long-Term Success by the staff of Entrepreneur Media and Eric Butow, on sale now.

To grow your company, you need a plan that establishes how you will grow and why your ideal customers should buy from you. Then you need to invest in the people and tools that can turn your plans into reality. If possible, distill your growth plan into a one-page document that will help you focus on the essentials and be easy for your team to digest. Growth plans are different for each business, and you can implement different strategies depending on what type of business you have. But regardless, you need to keep your team thinking in terms of growth. Once you establish a growth mindset in your employees, you and your team can continuously look for new opportunities for growth.

What a Growth Plan Is . . . and Isn't

A growth plan may be hard to wrap your head around when you're getting started in your business. Before you offer your product and/or service to the world, you need to focus on establishing a value proposition for potential customers and find out where your ideal customers are. Once you do, you can measure your progress as you sell your product and/or service. Those measurements will help you identify new revenue streams and let you compare yourself to the competition. That comparison will tell where your strengths are so you can focus on them. And when you have a clear idea of what you do and who your customers are, you can use that information to attract talented employees. Establish a Value Proposition Before you can grow, you need to think about what sets you apart from the competition. For example, some companies compete on authority. Whole Foods Market touts itself as the place to buy healthy and organic foods. Walmart asserts that it's the low-price leader and no one can beat its prices. Whatever competitive advantage you find, stick with it. If you don't, you run the risk of devaluing your business because customers won't know what you stand for.

Grow Your Business: Scaling Your Business for Long-Term Success is available now at Entrepreneur Bookstore | Amazon | Barnes and Noble

1. Pinpoint Your Ideal Customer

You started a business so you could solve a problem for a specific audience. During the startup stage, you may have identified numerous markets you thought you might be able to serve before narrowing it down to your specific niche market. Now you need to hone your target market even further until you've winnowed it down to your ideal customer. Once you know who they are, you can address them consistently in your market or submarket as you grow.

Related: How to Leverage Virtual Sales Events to Grow Your Business

2. Define Key Indicators

You won't be able to measure growth if you can't measure change. Start by identifying key performance indicators (KPIs), which are quantifiable measurements of a company's performance in specific areas over time. (Examples of commonly tracked KPIs include net profit, liquidity ratio, customer satisfaction, and customer retention.) Then dedicate time and money to improving those indicators.

3. Verify Your Revenue Streams

Don't just think about your current revenue streams—think about new revenue streams that could make your business more profitable. Once you've started identifying possible new revenue streams, get in the habit of asking yourself (and your team) if every cool new idea you and they come up with has a revenue stream attached. If it does, ask if that stream is sustainable over the long run.

Related: 5 Reasons Why Your Brand Needs a Chief Growth Officer

4. Research Your Competition

If your company is struggling with something, you likely have a competitor that excels at it. Don't just put your head down and try to surmount a challenge yourself. Look at similar growth businesses to inform your strategies and solutions. If you belong to an industry trade group or a networking organization (and you should), don't be afraid to ask for advice. Why have similar businesses made different choices? Do your competitors' growth choices mean that their businesses are positioned differently?

5. Focus on Your Strengths

Tailoring your growth plan to focus on and maximize your strengths can help you identify strategies for success. That doesn't mean you should ignore your weaknesses, but starting from a position of strength will give your company the fuel it needs to grow.

6. Invest in Talent

Your employees have direct or indirect contact with your customers, so you should hire people who are motivated by your company's value proposition and your plans for growth. Pay and treat your employees well because their positive energy will inspire your customers. Your employees will also listen to your customers and bring back ideas from them that will help you grow your business.

For more growth strategies, pickup Grow Your Business: Scaling Your Business available now at Entrepreneur Bookstore | Amazon | Barnes and Noble

How to Create a Growth Plan for Your Business in 6 Simple Steps

  • Growth and Jobs at Davos 2024: What to know
  • How using genAI to fuse creativity and technology could reshape the way we work

1. Generative AI boosts productivity, unevenly

In 2024, most chief economists surveyed by the Forum believe generative AI will increase productivity and innovation in high-income countries. But for low-income countries, just over a third think this will be the case.

Productivity boosts are expected in knowledge-heavy industries, including IT and digital communications, financial and professional services, medical and healthcare services, retail, manufacturing, engineering and construction, energy and logistics.

These potential benefits are in "sharp contrast with concerns about the risks of automation, job displacement and degradation", says the report.

Almost three-quarters (73%) of chief economists surveyed "do not foresee a net positive impact on employment in low-income economies".

how to make competition in business plan

2. Digital jobs keep growing

By 2030, the number of global digital jobs is expected to rise to around 92 million. These are generally higher-paid roles, according to the Forum's white paper, The Rise of Digital Jobs .

Digital jobs could help to balance skill shortages in higher-income countries, while boosting opportunities for younger workers in lower-income countries: "If managed well, global digital jobs present an opportunity to utilize talent around the world, widening the talent pool available to employers and providing economic growth pathways to countries across the income spectrum."

3. Unemployment levels could rise

The labour market showed resilience in 2023, with employment remaining high, said Gilbert Fossoun Houngbo, Director-General of the International Labour Organization (ILO), in the Davos session ' What to Expect From Labour Markets '.

But he said ILO projections in early January suggested the global unemployment rate could rise from 5.1% to 5.2% in 2024, with an extra two million workers expected to be looking for jobs.

In the US, the jobs market remained stronger than expected for the first month of the year, with more than 350,000 new jobs added. The unemployment rate for January was 3.7%, close to a 50-year low, according to The Guardian .

Houngbo said ILO data shows inequalities persist between low- and high-income countries, while young people are 3.5 times more at risk of being unemployed than the rest of the adult population and "many workers are struggling to pay bills, which is very worrisome".

The impact of AI on jobs was not going to be "an employment apocalypse", but that reskilling, upskilling and lifelong learning would be key to managing the transition to augmentation, he stressed.

4. More pop-up offices

LinkedIn has seen a drop in the number of fully remote job postings, from a peak of 20% in April 2022, to just 8% in December 2023, said co-founder Allen Blue, speaking in a Davos session ' The Role of the Office is Still TBC ' .

But employee interest in taking remote or hybrid jobs remains high, at around 46% of applications.

"The office is going to be in competition with working from home ... that’s a good thing for the office," he said, as management would need to innovate and create a workplace environment that "emphasizes dynamic human interaction".

Young people taking their first job want human connection, so they're more interested in hybrid than remote roles.

Martin Kocher, Austria's Federal Minister of Labour and Economy, said that some Austrian villages are actually paying for pop-up community office spaces, because people don’t want to work from home, and they can make use of other amenities close by.

He predicted the development of more pop-up office spaces away from company headquarters.

Have you read?

  • Davos 2024: 6 innovative ideas on reskilling, upskilling and building a future-ready workforce
  • From hierarchy to partnership: rethinking the employee/employer relationship in 2024

5. Skills will become even more important

With 23% of jobs expected to change in the next five years, according to the Future of Jobs Report, millions of people will need to move between declining and growing jobs.

Coursera CEO, Jeff Maggioncalda and Denis Machuel, CEO of Adecco Group AG, joined the Davos session ' The Race to Reskill ' to discuss the transferability of skills, and the potential of AI to help with personalized learning and productivity, which also levels the playing field for job opportunities globally.

But the key is in learning how to use AI and digital technologies, as Code.org Founder and CEO, Hadi Partovi, pointed out in the session ' Education Meets AI '.

When people think about job losses due to AI, he said, the risk isn't people losing their jobs to AI: "It's losing their job to somebody else who knows how to use AI. That is going to be a much greater displacement.

"It's not that the worker gets replaced by just a robot or a machine in most cases, especially for desk jobs, it's that some better or more educated worker can do that job because they can be twice as productive or three times as productive.

“The imperative is to teach how AI tools work to every citizen, and especially to our young people."

6. More women enter the workforce

In 2020, the World Bank found that potential gains from closing economic gender gaps could unlock a “gender dividend” of $172 trillion for the global economy.

But the Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2023 found that the Economic Participation and Opportunity gap has only closed by just over 60%.

Several sessions at Davos looked at how inclusion could benefit the economy , particularly by helping mothers return to the workforce, which could close skills gaps.

“There are 606 million women of working age in the world who are not working because of their unpaid care responsibilities, compared to 40 million men," Reshma Saujani, Founder and CEO of Moms First, explained in a session on the ‘ Workforce Behind the Workforce ’.

“At Moms First, we're working with over 130 companies in every sector, who are saying, ‘I don't have enough workers’. We are working with them to redesign their childcare packages and increase their subsidies.

“Childcare pays for itself. When you offer childcare to employees, you get higher worker productivity and lower rates of attrition, and greater rates of retention. We have to look at care as an economic issue that world leaders must actually do something about.”

IMAGES

  1. FREE 10+ Competition Business Plan Samples in PDF

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  2. FREE 10+ Competition Business Plan Samples in PDF

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  3. Marking target market and competitions in business plan

    how to make competition in business plan

  4. FREE 10+ Competition Business Plan Samples in PDF

    how to make competition in business plan

  5. How to Create a Competitive Analysis (With Examples) • Asana

    how to make competition in business plan

  6. How to Write a Business Plan: Beginner’s Guide (& Templates)

    how to make competition in business plan

VIDEO

  1. 1.2 Why create a business plan?

  2. BUSINESS PLAN PRESENTATION //Business plan presentation discussion //How to make business plan

  3. PITCHING BUSINESS PLAN INFEST COMPETITION 2022

  4. BUSINESS PLAN PRESENTATION || Business plan presentation discussion || How to make business plan

  5. Business Without Investment

  6. BUSINESS PLAN PREPARATION ll Business plan presentation discussion ll How to make business plan

COMMENTS

  1. How to Write and conduct a Competitive Analysis

    1. Identify your competitors The first step in conducting a comprehensive competitive analysis is to identify your competitors. Start by creating a list of both direct and indirect competitors within your industry or market segment.

  2. How to Write the Competitive Analysis of a Business Plan

    The steps to developing the competitive analysis section of your business plan include: Identify your competition. Select the appropriate competitors to analyze. Determine your competitive advantage. 1. Identify Your Competition To start, you must align your definition of competition with that of investors.

  3. Write the Competition Section: Business Plan Writing

    Write the Competition Section: Business Plan Writing Aayushi Mistry December 21, 2023 11 Min Read John: Oh, everything looks amazing but Jack, you haven't added the competition section to your business plan. Jack: Oh do I need to add it to the business plan? John: Well, yes. That's how our investors will know about our competition.

  4. Writing a Business Plan: Competitor Analysis Section

    Writing the Competitor Analysis Section. When you're writing the business plan, you'll write the competitor analysis section in the form of several paragraphs. The first paragraph will outline the competitive environment, telling your readers who your proposed business's competitors are, how much of the market they control and any other ...

  5. How to Write a Great Business Plan: Competitive Analysis

    First develop a basic profile of each of your current competitors. For example, if you plan to open an office supply store you may have three competing stores in your market. Online retailers...

  6. The 20 Best Business Plan Competitions [Updated 2024]

    The Best and Simplest Way to Create A Business Plan to Win a Business Plan Competition is to Download Growthink's Ultimate Business Plan Template. 20 Popular Business Plan Competitions

  7. Conduct a Competitive Analysis (With Examples) [2023] • Asana

    1. Create a competitor overview In step one, select between five and 10 competitors to compare against your company.

  8. How To Write A Competitive Analysis For Your Business Plan

    Your competitive analysis should start with your SWOT Analysis — Strengths, Opportunities, Weaknesses and Threats — to borrow a grad school MBA's favorite acronym. Inside the Investor's Mind Your investor is probably thinking something like this:

  9. Market research and competitive analysis

    Use competitive analysis to find a market advantage. Competitive analysis helps you learn from businesses competing for your potential customers. This is key to defining a competitive edge that creates sustainable revenue. Your competitive analysis should identify your competition by product line or service and market segment.

  10. How to Write Competitive Analysis in a Business Plan (w/ Examples)

    Perform a SWOT Analysis of your competitors. 1. Identify Your Direct and Indirect Competitors. First things first — identify all your business competitors and list them. You can make the final list later, but right now jot down all the competitors including new competitors.

  11. Competition in a Business Plan

    The competition section of the business plan aims to show who you are competing with, and why the benefits your product provides to customers are better then those of the competition; why customers will choose your product over your competitors. Competition analysis should include answers to the following questions: Who are our competitors?

  12. How to Win a Business Plan Competition

    1. Know the judging guidelines As business plan competitions have grown and developed, most of them have fine-tuned the details of judging procedures and criteria. For example, many ask judges to choose which entrant is the best investment for outsiders. That's different from which is the best business or which they would rather own or share in.

  13. What is competitive analysis? Template, examples, and how-to

    How to do a competitive analysis. 1. Create a shortlist of your competitors. 2. Do a deep dive on each competitor. 3. Develop a holistic overview and strategy. Alternative competitive analysis frameworks. The Five Forces model.

  14. Business Plan and Pitch Competition Guide

    How to win a business plan competition What does it take to stand out from the competition and win a pitch contest? Check out these insights from business planning expert Tim Berry to help you prepare. Read More Common business plan competition mistakes to avoid

  15. How To Create A Competitive Analysis For Your Business Plan

    2. Determine Products and Services That Your Competition Offers. To conduct a comprehensive competitor analysis, choose five to 10 competitors with similar product or service offerings and business models. Select a mix of direct and indirect competitors to understand how new markets may affect your company.

  16. How To Write A Business Plan (2024 Guide)

    Describe Your Services or Products. The business plan should have a section that explains the services or products that you're offering. This is the part where you can also describe how they fit ...

  17. What Is a Competitive Analysis? (How-To Guide) (2023)

    Make a strategic plan to respond to your competitors' activities with your own updates. 4. Working harder instead of smarter. ... Competitive intelligence is vital when starting a business. By doing market competition analysis on an ongoing basis, you can stay on top of your competition. You'll be able to break into new markets, launch new ...

  18. How to Win a Business-Plan Competition

    Dig Deeper: Top Business-Plan MistakesWinning a Business-Plan Competition: Identify the Real Market Share. Recently Burke encountered an entrepreneur who claimed that in a $9 billion market, the ...

  19. How to Win Any Business Plan Competition, From a 4-Time Winner

    Strategy How to Win Any Business Plan Competition, From a 4-Time Winner Alison Alvarez has gotten really good at understanding what judges want. Here are her top tips. By Burt Helm,...

  20. How to Write a Competitive Market Analysis for a Business Plan

    9 Steps to Conducting Competitive and Competitor Analysis. Conducting an effective and efficient competitor analysis takes procedures that may include; Table of Content [ show] Identify your Competitors. Identify their strengths and weaknesses. Target Market. Market Share.

  21. How to Create a Competitor Analysis Report (Examples Included)

    1. Start with a competitor overview A strong report shows exactly what a company must out-compete to be successful. Meaning you must audit any product or service that currently solves the problem your business is trying to solve for customers and write a quick profile for each competitor.

  22. How to Perform a Competitor Analysis (Examples & Templates)

    Jul 16, 2022 Thorough competitor analysis is a crucial aspect of any marketing plan. It helps you understand how challenging it could be to crack a market, what strategies could work, and how you can best position your brand. It can also tell you what strategies won't work, what the customer's expectations are and how much they're willing to pay.

  23. How To Win A Business Plan Contest

    May 6, 2021 0 A well-developed business plan creates the foundation on which a successful startup will be able to establish itself, and is especially necessary when considering participation in a business plan contest or pitch event.

  24. How Fast Should Your Company Really Grow?

    Gary P. Pisano is the Harry E. Figgie Jr. Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School and the author of Creative Construction: The DNA of Sustained Innovation (PublicAffairs ...

  25. How to start a business in 2024

    Step 1: Define (and refine) your business idea. All businesses start with a strong idea. It's this idea that lays the foundation for what your business will become. Start simple: You don't ...

  26. How to Create a Growth Plan for Your Business in 6 Simple Steps

    How to Create a Growth Plan for Your Business in 6 Simple Steps. Story by Entrepreneur Staff • 6mo. The new book, "Grow Your Business," offers an easy-to-follow guide to expanding your business ...

  27. 6 work and workplace trends to watch in 2024

    Here are some of the key work and workplace trends to look out for in 2024, according to experts at Davos. The world of work is changing fast. By 2027, businesses predict that almost half (44%) of workers' core skills will be disrupted. Technology is moving faster than companies can design and scale up their training programmes, found the ...