International Webinar 2022 - Business culture, how to step forward - part 6

Academics from Malaysia say that one way to move forward in modern business culture is to analyze competitors. Competitive analysis – also known as competitor analysis – is a way of evaluating how well your business and its products or services are performing compared to other companies selling similar products or services in your market. Competitor analysis focuses on identifying market participants positioned to disrupt your opportunity and isolating each participant's operational strengths, substantive weaknesses, product offerings, market dominance, and missed opportunities.


Competitor analysis helps you improve your business in the following ways:

- Identify your strengths and weaknesses. When you know where you stand ahead of the competition, you can focus your marketing messages on emphasizing that advantage. When you know where you are falling behind, you can better understand how you need to improve your product, service or after-sales to surpass your competitors.

- Understand the market in which you operate. You know who many of your competitors are, but you won't know everything right away and may not be aware of new entrants to the market. Identifying your main competitors (as well as future threats), and how they differ from your business is key to defeating them.

- Evaluate trends in your sector. What new or improved products, services or features are competitors offering to gain an advantage? Which trends have they seen that you haven't? By examining the behavior and actions of other companies in your market, you can judge whether they have taken the right path and whether you should confront them directly.

- Plan for future growth. Want to be the third largest employer in your sector instead of the fourth? Competitive analysis gives you the information you need to get there, including how much more you need to sell, demographics to market, and any skill gaps your organization has.


In the era of digital innovation, no business can stand the test of time and expect to survive. Companies can disappear overnight if they don't pay attention to new trends. A clear example of this is Blockbuster's blunder in initially rejecting Netflix's service. Today, Netflix is a giant, while Blockbuster is almost extinct.


Even if your sector is not susceptible to this type of seismic change, it is important to know what drives your client's decision-making process. By regularly monitoring your market through competitive analysis, you will also be aware of these trends:

- Changes to a competitor's product or service that make it more attractive
- New complementary products or services from your competitors that you may also offer or modify
- Threats posed by new entrants to the market or transformative products


This material was delivered by a presenter from Malaysia in an international webinar entitled "Business culture: how to step forward" which was held by STEKOM University in collaboration with Universiti Perlis Malaysia, Singapore University of social science, PTIC and various other parties. The name of the presenter from Malaysia is DR MOSD SHAHIDAN SHAARI who is a lecturer at the Faculty of Applied and Human Science Universiti Malaysia Perlis.


This international webinar activity is part of the implementation of STEKOM University's commitment to increase various international activities. This was done in order to realize the vision to become an international-class university. Various international activities carried out by STEKOM University continue from year to year. There are international activities that are sustainable and there are also some international activities that are not sustainable. All types of international activities are accommodated and regulated by the International department of STEKOM University.