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Answer: A company needs to gather information about each competitor’s strengths and weaknesses.

The following table shows the results of a company survey that asked customers to rate its three competitors, A, B and C on five attributes. Competitor A turns out to be well known and respected for producing high-quality products sold by a good sales force but is poor at providing product availability and technical assistance. Competitor B is good across the broad and excellent in product availability and sales force. Competitor C rates poor to fair on most attributes. This result suggests that the company could attack competitor A on product availability and technical assistance and competitor C on almost anything, but should not attack B, which has no glaring weaknesses.

This can be explained by the following table:

CUSTOMER AWARENESS

PRODUCT QUALITY

PRODUCT AVAILABILITY

TECHNICA L

ASSISTANC E

SELLING STAFF COMPETITOR

A E E P P G

COMPETITOR

B G G E G E

COMPETITOR

C F P G F F

NOTE: E= EXCELLENT, G= GOOD, F= FAIR, P= POOR

TATASKY SWOT ANALYSIS:

TATA Sky

Parent Company JV between the TATA Group and STAR

Category DTH and Broadcasting

Sector Media and Entertainment

Tagline/ Slogan

Iskolagadaala to life jingalala;Ab channel package wohi lo jopasandho

USP Leading Direct-to-Home (DTH) service provider in India

STP

Segment DTH Subscribed TV viewers, Broadband subscribers Target Group Top and middle section of the pyramid

Positioning

One-stop shop for all the television entertainment needs of customers

SWOT Analysis

Strength

1. Leverage on brand TATA and high brand recall 2. Partnered with SKY Brand in the space of digital technology to bring a state-of-the-art satellite television service to India

3. Leader in introducing new packages and services 4. Rural penetration through ITC E-Chaupal and Godrej Aadhar

5. Innovative product offering TATA Sky plus 6. Adopted 360 degree marketing campaign that encapsulates television, print, radio and outdoor digital platforms

7. Tie ups with Sony Pictures, Fox for content – Pay per view service for exclusive events

8. DVD Quality picture and CD Quality sound

9. 24*7 customer service support in multiple languages

Weakness

1.Not having first mover advantage as Dish TV captured market share

2. Dependency on broadcaster

3. Cannot match free service provided by DD

4. Customer service are usually busy and waiting period is usually very long

5. High initial cost of DTH equipment

Opportunity

1.Focus on segmentation and differentiated product offerings to expand its clients and spread its reach outside Tier-I cities across the country

2. Expand distribution network through exclusive stores 3. Growing demand for quality of service in the form of DTH over Cable

4. Increase in number of TVs sold

5. Penetrate market by competitively priced services, superior technologies, interactive services and customer support

6. Provide option of instalments and other promotional schemes to the new user

Threats

1.Interoperability regulations

2. Cables set top boxes provide easy switching due to negligible switching costs

3. Increasing competition

4. Dependency on broadcasters for their channel content and thus increase in cost

5. No Exclusivity in Content and Rule of ‘Must Carry’

6. Cap on foreign investment Competition

Competitors

1.Doordarshan 2. Sun Direct 3. Dish TV 4. Big TV

STARBUCKS SWOT ANALYSIS:

Strengths.

Starbucks Corporation is a very profitable organization, earning in excess of $600 million in 2004.The company generated revenue of more than $5000 million in the same year.

It is a global coffee brand built upon a reputation for fine products and services. It has almost 9000 cafes in almost 40 countries.

‘Starbucks’ mission statement is ‘Establish Starbucks as the premier purveyor of the finest coffee in the world while maintaining our uncompromising principles while we grow.’ The following six guiding principles will help us measure the appropriateness of our decisions’

Weaknesses.

Starbucks has a reputation for new product development and creativity. However, they remain vulnerable to the possibility that their innovation may falter over time.

The organization has a strong presence in the United States of America with more than three quarters of their cafes located in the home market. It is often argued that they need to look for a portfolio of countries, in order to spread business risk.

The organization is dependant on a main competitive advantage, the retail of coffee. This could make them slow to diversify into other sectors should the need arise.

Opportunities.

Starbucks are very good at taking advantage of opportunties. In 2004 the company created a CD-burning service in their Santa Monica (California USA) cafe with Hewlett Packard, where customers create their own music CD.

New products and services that can be retailed in their cafes, such as Fair Trade products.

The company has the opportunity to expand its global operations. New markets for coffee such as India and the Pacific Rim nations are beginning to emerge.

Co-branding with other manufacturers of food and drink, and brand franchising to manufacturers of other goods and services both have potential.

Threats.

Who knows if the market for coffee will grow and stay in favour with customers, or whether another type of beverage or leisure activity will replace coffee in the future?

Starbucks are exposed to rises in the cost of coffee and dairy products.

Since its conception in Pike Place Market, Seattle in 1971, Starbucks’ success has lead to the market entry of many competitors and copy cat brands that pose potential threats.