Competitive Factors
Jonathan Poland
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Competitive factors are external forces that impact a business’s strategy. They can be identified in any competitive situation. SWOT and PEST analysis are two common strategic planning tools that help identify these factors, which are often referred to as opportunities, threats, political, environmental, social, and technological factors. The following are some common examples.
| Ability to Change (of competition) | Access to Capital |
| Anti-Competitive Practices | Attitudes & Values |
| Bargaining Power | Barriers to Entry |
| Barriers to Exit | Brand Image |
| Brand Recognition | Brand Reputation |
| Business Models | Business Risk |
| Capacity | Climate & Weather |
| Consumer Perceptions | Contract Terms (of competition) |
| Culture Change | Customer Experience |
| Customer Loyalty | Customer Needs |
| Customer Pain Points | Customer Satisfaction (of competition) |
| Disaster Risk | Distribution |
| Economic Conditions | Economies of Scale |
| Employee Satisfaction (of competition) | Financial Conditions (e.g. interest rates) |
| Functions & Features | Government Policy |
| Infrastructure | Intellectual Property |
| Know-how | Labor Market Conditions |
| Location | Management Efficacy (e.g. incompetence of competitors) |
| Market Share | New Entries (into a market) |
| Operating Models | Organizational Culture (how does the competition work) |
| Overhead Costs | Partnerships |
| Permits & Licenses | Political Environment |
| Political Stability | Pollution |
| Price Competition | Problems & Incidents (of the competition) |
| Product Development (i.e. future products of competition) | Product Positioning |
| Product Quality | Product Variety |
| Promotion | Regulations & Compliance |
| Relational Capital | Revenue Models |
| Service Quality | Strategic Assets |
| Strategy of Competition | Substitute Goods |
| Suppliers | Supply |
| Supply Chain | Switching Costs |
| Talent | Taxation |
| Technological Change | Trade Barriers |
| Trade Secrets | Turnaround Times (of competition) |
| Unit Costs | Usability |
