 Real estate is one of our favorite markets to analyze, specifically local residential real estate. There are generally multiple sources of data available and very interesting localized trends and competitive forces to be found. While we usually tailor our analysis to each client's situation, we have just released our first general market profile for the Brevard County, Florida area. It is designed for realtors, mortgage lenders and others, providing latest insights into market size, growth, profitability, competition and their strategic implications. The report is dated September 2017 and is available immediately. Please contact us at [email protected] for more information and pricing.
 Are you attending to all five competitive forces? One of the most widely used frameworks in business strategy development comes from Michael Porter at the Harvard Business School in the form of Five Forces Analysis. The approach identifies five sources of competitive pressure that companies must analyze and address to be successful in the marketplace. These forces are:
1. Rival Sellers – Those who offer the same product or service as you. 2. Potential New Entrants – Often overlooked and sometimes disruptive. 3. Substitute Products – If you are in the airline business, trains are your competition too. 4. Suppliers – Affect your cost structure, quality, volume, etc. 5. Buyers – Hold bargaining power over you. A thorough competitive analysis examines all five forces surrounding your business to determine if your strategy and your offering are positioned optimally for success. If you are feeling increasing competitive pressure, take a look at the five forces and make sure you are attending to all of them.  Some companies confuse strategic goals with strategy. "We plan to achieve $5M in sales this year" is a great goal, but how will you do it? Strategy addresses the how. In fact, good strategy has three parts: an objective, a guiding principle and an action to be taken. Examples:
We will achieve $5M in sales (objective) by leveraging our R&D strength (principle) to provide the most fully featured product on the market (action). Opening new offices (action) focused on the growing north part of the county (principle) will allow us to double our revenue (objective). Of these three elements, the guiding principle is usually what makes a strategy great. The principle should be compelling, such as leveraging some unique capability of the company or exploiting a new market trend. It is the guiding principle that is the core of the strategy and provides confidence that the actions taken will achieve the goals. |