Octopus Competitive Intelligence

  How to beat your competitors by creating a winning Competitive Advantage In this article, we ask how to beat your competitors by creating a winning Competitive Advantage, and we offer ten ways to be better than the competition.  1. Understand Your Core Expertise  Finding out what your business does is not as straightforward as it sounds. Yes, you may sell widgets, but is that what your customers think you sell? They are buying a solution to their problem. So start thinking about the problems you solve. Once you have found your real expertise, focus on it. Understand all that can be known about your product or service. Study the market and look at your competitors. Look at businesses in other similar market sectors. You need to understand your particular products and services better than anyone else. A word of warning, though. You may know everything you need to know about your industry. But always keep an open mind to developments and new ways of doing things. What is C...

  What is the intensity of rivalry within Porter’s five forces model? This article asks what is the intensity of rivalry within Porter’s five forces model? We explain the intensity of rivalry, how to detect and analyse it within your industry.  Porter’s five forces model Michael Porter argues that five forces influence competition and long term investments. The five forces are the:  Threat of entry Bargaining power of suppliers Bargaining power of bias  Intensity of rivalry Threat of substitution It’s important that you be strategically positioned within your industry. Firstly, to defend yourself from these forces. And then go on the attack by manipulating them to your advantage. Perhaps the main force of Porter’s five forces is what is called the intensity of rivalry.  Intensity of rivalry The final force to be aware of is how tough the competition is among existing companies within your industry. How much pressure do competitors put on one another to win more ...

  Could beating your competitors into the ground be considered a strategic move? Could beating your competitors into the ground be considered a strategic move? That isn’t the sort of question you will see answered at a business school anytime soon. It’s unlikely that your board will need to decide on buying your own corporate cricket bat. Or to hire Mike Ehrmantraut from Breaking Bad to clean your competitive environment. Although sometimes I’m sure it may be tempting.  But our website proclaims that we help create certainty and Competitive Advantage. So you can dominate markets and beat your competitors. This statement is true. But, when we say to beat your competitors, we believe it’s never about them.  Focus on what you are doing To beat them, you have to focus on what you are doing. Bad mouthing a competitor and spreading rumours is never good. And looking for their clients just to take them away from them is the wrong way to look at your situation. Some of this can b...

  Ann Kramer CEO of  Electrospinning  answers our questions This article is the second in a series where we ask industry experts how they see the competition in their industry. We also ask them what’s their understanding of Competitive Intelligence. This week we hear from Oxford based Ann Kramer CEO of Electrospinning. 1. How is Machine learning / AI affecting your business (- 1 – 10 low to high) 2. How competitive is your industry?(- 1 – 10 low to high) 3. Is your industry getting more or less competitive?(- 1 – 10 low to high) 4. Where do you see your industry in 3 years? Change from an emerging technology to one that is recognised and being adopted by larger industry players. 5. What is making your industry more/less competitive? Market growth is attracting more entrants/ cash into scale-up 6. What are the key threats to your industry? Reputational damage in case the technology does not deliver at scale 7. What are the main opportunities in your industry sector? Demogr...

  Start Competitive Analysis today with these easy steps You may feel that your market is getting more and more competitive. It’s the usual suspects. The startups and established brands thinking they can take a piece of your market. This article how to start Competitive Analysis today with these easy steps. The speed of change in your market is getting faster and faster. Now more than ever, you have to differentiate yourself from the rest. You have to understand your competitive landscape. 1. Understand you must differentiate Now more than ever, you must differentiate your value proposition. You and all your teams have to you know your competitive landscape. From who your key competitors are to how they compare with each other.  What is Competitive Analysis? Competitive Analysis determines the attractiveness, customers, competitors and the dynamics of a particular market within a specific industry sector. Develops an understanding of the relationship between supply and demand,...

Zitah McMillan, Founder of  Predictive Black  Answers Our Questions This article is the first in a series where we ask industry experts how they see the competition in their industry. We also ask them what’s their understanding of Competitive Intelligence. This week we hear from Zitah McMillan, CEO and founder of Predictive Black. 1. How is Machine learning / AI affecting your business  (0 min / 10 max) 2. How competitive is your industry?  (0 min / 10 max) 3. Is your industry getting more or less competitive?  (0 less / 10 more) 4. Where do you see your industry in 3 years? More rapid expansion, consolidation of smaller players and a fair amount of acquisition. Further developments in Open Finance will continue to encourage creativity and new product development. 5. What is making your industry more/less competitive? Ease of access to technology means more entrants are able to rapidly set up and go. Regulation means that potential bad actors are kept outside th...

  How Competitive Intelligence revealed a new market for an Oil & Gas client Week by week, you will read the true stories created from our Competitive Intelligence work. You’ll meet the clients and people using our insight to create more business and better business. What did they know, what did they want to know? What did they learn, and what would you do in a similar situation? This case study is called How Competitive Intelligence revealed a new market for an Oil & Gas client. We explain how we answered the questions so our client could initiate a targeted growth campaign. Names and numbers have been changed to protect confidentiality. You know how you  You know how you are a successful Oil & Gas specialist equipment provider with offices in Aberdeen, Dallas and Jakarta. And you work in a very niche market associated with the drilling of new reservoirs deep underground. And even deep under the sea. The business was beginning to dry up, but it could keep the busi...