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Business competition now comes in many different forms and from a great variety of competitors, and the challenges are increasing. Successfully positioning the enterprise, properly deciding on the correct allocation of resources, and deciding what an acceptable level of performance might be in such a competitive environment are key tasks of senior decision makers. Consequently, skillful business and competitive analysis (BCA) is critically important in determining how an enterprise can compete and deliver value to its stakeholders.This book is designed to assist analysts to develop high value insights, to aid them in making sense of the competitive environment confronting their organizations, and to guide them in advising their decision makers. Our underlying premise throughout this book is that a good analyst, working in any environment, must have a robust and healthy repertoire of methods, tools, and techniques to help answer important questions on the enterprise’s ability to compete, not only in the present, but also the future. For the most part, the end
users of an analyst’s output are decision makers, and as such, they will be the clients or customers taking action based on those results.Uniquely, this book focuses specifically on analysis, analysis methods/techniques, and the analysis process. It is not designed to be another strategic management or strategic plan-
ning text. There are plenty of good titles of those genres available,1 although the processes and techniques described herein will certainly benefit strategic planners and managers. We have decades of experience advising, consulting, instructing, practicing, and researching how BCA is used in all types of enterprises.