Competitor Analysis

The ‘five forces’ analysis has examined the overall industry and is a starting point in assessing a company’s competitive position. This is likely to be a broad definition of an industry and has several companies that would not be direct competitors. Toyota’s is likely to have several natural direct competitors; Aston Martin is not likely to be one of them, although both companies are in the car industry. Toyota’s scale is global and manufacture cars across the full range; Aston Martin is a specialist, low-volume, prestige sports car manufacturer. Companies that are direct competitors in terms of products and customer profiles are in a strategic group. The car industry would be made up of several strategic groups.