Competitive Analysis

---
name: competitive-analysis
description: >
  Conduct a competitive analysis. Use when the user says "competitive analysis",
  "how do competitors handle X", "market landscape", "blue ocean", "strategy canvas",
  "what does [competitor] do", "compare us to X", "positioning analysis", "value curve",
  or wants to understand how a product or feature compares to alternatives
  - even if they don't explicitly say "competitive analysis".
---

## Overview

Based on **"Blue Ocean Strategy"** by W. Chan Kim & Renee Mauborgne. Most competitive analysis maps what competitors do and tries to do it better - this is red ocean thinking. Blue Ocean Strategy asks a different question: what can we eliminate, reduce, raise, or create to make competition irrelevant?

## Workflow

### Step 1: Define the scope
- Is this for a specific feature or the whole product?
- What decision will this analysis inform?
- Who are the direct and indirect competitors?

Cap at 5-7 competitors. More dilutes the analysis.

### Step 2: Build the Strategy Canvas
Plot competitors on a graph:
- **X-axis:** Competing factors (price, speed, features, support, UX, etc.)
- **Y-axis:** Offering level (low to high) for each factor

This is the "as-is" state. Where do all competitors cluster? That cluster is the red ocean.

### Step 3: Apply the Four Actions Framework
For each competing factor, ask:

| Action | Question | Example |
|--------|----------|---------|
| **Eliminate** | What do all competitors offer that adds no real value? | Eliminate: complex onboarding wizards |
| **Reduce** | What can we offer well below industry standard? | Reduce: feature count, focus on core use case |
| **Raise** | What should we raise well above the industry standard? | Raise: response time, documentation quality |
| **Create** | What should we offer that no competitor does? | Create: role-based install, book-grounded methodology |

### Step 4: Draw the "to-be" value curve
Plot where your product sits after applying the four actions. A differentiated value curve:
- Has a different shape than competitors
- Focuses on a few factors rather than spreading thin
- Has a compelling tagline: "The only X that does Y for Z"

### Step 5: Identify non-customers
Blue Ocean insight: the biggest opportunity is often in people who don't use any competitor today. Who are the non-customers, and why aren't they buying? Three tiers:
- **Tier 1:** Soon-to-be non-customers (use reluctantly, would switch)
- **Tier 2:** Refusing non-customers (consciously chose alternatives)
- **Tier 3:** Unexplored non-customers (never considered this category)

### Step 6: State implications
"Given this analysis, we should consider..." - 2-3 concrete takeaways. No implications = just research, not strategy.

## Anti-Patterns

**1. Red ocean thinking**
Bad: "Competitor X has feature Y, so we need feature Y."
Good: Apply the four actions. Maybe feature Y should be eliminated or reduced.

**2. Competing on all dimensions**
Bad: Value curve that tries to be high on every factor.
Good: A focused curve that excels on 2-3 factors and consciously deprioritizes others.

**3. Ignoring non-customers**
Bad: Analysis only covers existing market users.
Good: Tier 1/2/3 non-customer analysis often reveals larger opportunities than competing for existing users.

**4. No strategy canvas**
Bad: Bullet list of what competitors do.
Good: Visual strategy canvas that makes the competitive landscape scannable.

## Quality Checklist

- [ ] Scope defined - feature vs. product, decision it informs
- [ ] Strategy canvas built with competing factors on X-axis
- [ ] Four Actions Framework applied: eliminate, reduce, raise, create
- [ ] "To-be" value curve drawn and differentiated from competitors
- [ ] Non-customer tiers considered
- [ ] Analysis ends with concrete implications