How to identify a competitor's future goals?

The following diagnostic questions help determine a competitor's present and future goals. The questions start by considering the business unit or division, which in some cases will comprise the competitor's entire corporate entity. Then follows questions to examine the impact of the corporate parent on the future goals of the business unit in the diversified company.

Business Unit Goals

1.       What are the stated and unstated financial goals of the competitor?

2.       What is the competitor's attitude toward risks?

3.       Does the competitor have economic or noneconomic organizational values or beliefs, either widely shared or held by senior management, which importantly affect its goals?

4.       What is the organizational structure of the competitor (functional structure, presence or absence of product managers, separate R&D laboratory, etc.)?

5.       What control and incentive systems are in place?

6.       What accounting system and conventions are in place?

7.       What kind of managers comprise he leadership of the competitor, particularly the CEO?

8.       How much apparent unanimity is there among management about future direction?

9.       What is the composition of the board?

10.   What contractual commitments may limit alternatives?

11.   Are there any regulatory, antitrust, or other governmental or social constraints on the behavior of the firm that will affect such things as its reaction to moves of a smaller competitor or the probability that it will try to gain a larger market share?

The Corporate Parent and Business Unit Goals

If the competitor is a unit of a larger company, its corporate parent is likely to impose constraints or requirements in the business unit that will be crucial to predicting its behavior. The following questions need to be asked in addition to those just discussed:

1.       What are the current results (sales growth, rate of return, etc.) of the parent company?

2.       What are the overall goals of the parent?

3.       What strategic importance does the parent attach to the particular business unit in terms of its overall corporate strategy?

4.       Why did the parent get into this business (because of excess capacity, need for vertical integration to exploit distribution channels, for marketing strength)?

5.       What is the economic relationship between the business and others in the parent company's portfolio (vertical integration, complementary to other businesses, shared R&D)?

6.       What are the corporate-wide values or beliefs of top management? Do they seek technological leadership in all their businesses? Do they desire level production and the avoidance of layoffs to carry out a corporate policy against unions?

7.       Is there a generic strategy that the parent has applied in a number of businesses and may attempt in this one?

8.       Given the performance and needs of other units in the corporation and the overall strategy, what sort of sales targets, hurdles for return on investment, and constraints on capital might be placed on the competitor unit?

9.       What are the parent company's diversification plans?

10.    What clues does the organizational structure of the competitor's corporate parent provide about the relative status, position, and goals of the unit in the eyes of the corporate parent?

11.    How is divisional management controlled and compensated in the overall corporate scheme?

12.    What kinds of executives seem to be rewarded by the corporate parent, as an indication of the types of strategic behavior reinforced by corporate senior management and thereby of divisional management's goals?

13.    Where does the corporate parent recruit from?

14.    Does the corporation as a whole have any antitrust, regulatory, or social sensitivities which may spill over to affect the business unit?

Does the corporate parent or particular top managers in the organization have an emotional attachment to the unit?

This is a very difficult task, but it is always needed in order to set a local strategy for the organization while dealing with business in the market.

The future goals of the competitors can be predicted through some means, they are:

1. To check the latest recruitment made by the competitors. The type of recruited people will reflect the expected trend of the competitor.

2. To check the pricing level during the competitions in the tenders. The pricing level is an indication of the target trend and policy of the competitor.

3. To review the near past records of the competitor from some point of views: market share, subcontracting and outsourcing, success in projects completion, financial statements if announced. All these data can help to predict the future directions.

4- To make some data intelligence. This has to be collected from the market, web sites, subcontractors, relationships, conferences, campaigns, sister companies of competitors, etc.

In addtion to the answer of Mr. Ahmed Elkady, it is very important as well to determine and discover the followings. 1- The needs of the customers and the segment that the competitor is serving. 2- The Strength, Weakness, opportunities and threats of the competitor. Once the needs of the customers are determined, the goal of the competitor will be known and once the SWOT of the competitors will be discovered you will be able to discover as well the strategy that the competitor will follow to achieve his goals.