Associated Capstone in Management

  

Competitive Advantage

 

You are a marketing consultant to

Tim’s Coffee Shoppe

. A way for Tim’s Coffee Shoppe to determine the advantages (or weaknesses) Tim’s has as compared to their competitors is through doing a Competitive Profile Matrix (CPM). When you identify Tim’s key success factors, you can weigh them according to the strength/weakness as compared to the competitors. You can set any weight you wish, but a simple one is:

 

1 – Major weakness

 

2 – Minor weakness

 

3 – Minor strength

 

4 – Major strength

 

Key success factors can be identified for the business. They can include things such as the quality, location, brand recognition, profitability, product, the staff, etc. In the matrix, you will list these factors and rate the strength of each one in Tim’s business as well as his primary competitors. See the example below. Each coffee shop was ranked first, second or third in each of the factors that may or may not affect their competitive advantage.

 

 Tim’s Coffee Shoppe

  

ScoreCommentsScoreComments

 1 2 3 

 2 1 3 

 3 1 2 

 2 3 1 

 1 2 3 

 1 3 2 

       

Factor	Competitor 1 (Enter Name)	Competitor 2 (Enter Name)
		Score			Comments
Quality
Location
Brand Recognition
Profitability
Product
Staff
Total

   

Now using competitors researched on the Internet or in your local area, create a CPM for Tim.

 

Other factors you may wish to consider include:

 

Price

 

Selection

 

Service

 

Reliability

 

Expertise

 

Company Reputation

 

Social Responsibility

 

Appearance

 

Credit Policies

 

Advertising

   

You can examine the above data in several ways. While the total score for Tim’s business maybe is higher than his major competitors, Tim’s may have a lower score in another area which means they are not as competitive in those areas. Some of these areas might allow their competitors to create advantages and their customers or potential customers may choose their competitor over Tim’s business. For example, if their products are closely rated but their competitor has a higher score on staff friendliness, might their customers start frequenting their competitor’s business? What would you recommend to increase Tim’s score in this area?

 

For this Assignment, spend some time looking around Tim’s Coffee Shoppe. Look either online or visit two competitors in your area that Tim may compete against and familiarize yourself with their business. You may even be a frequent customer of a coffee shop and already be aware of how you might rate their strengths against Tim’s.

 

Copy and paste the matrix above to your own document. Fill in the matrix with your results from your research. Feel free to change or add any of the other factors listed.

 

Once you have completed your matrix, submit a minimum of four pages which includes the CPM, your recommendations for Tim, as well as a title page and a reference page to the Dropbox area of the course.

Assignment is due by tomorrow, October 15th, by 9:00 pm New York time.

Thanks,

Bakiliyam

 

Additional Resource: The U.S. Small Business Administration website