Below is my Assignment 1 - Competitive Analysis Report and its details and guidelines, and I find it pretty difficult to conduct the paper properly. I would like Klook and Get Your Guide as two main competitors, but I still do not know where to start and what to write. Could you please provide me a more detailed outline/structure of the paper and a sample answer for this assignment. Thank you very much!

Note: The required Length: 1,800 words

Assessment Details

Assignment Structure

1. Introduction

• Introduce the client company/business of focus (establishment, business line, key facts, etc.) and the overall view of the industry (market share, market values, level of competition, etc.)
• Introduce the aim, purpose, and components of the report

1. Benchmarking Analysis

• Competitor profiles and rationales for choosing those competitors to do the benchmarking work. (If the client recommends the two competitors, you don't need to provide rationales for choosing them).
• Benchmarking table: compare the client company/business with its two competitors (as chosen by the students or recommended by the client representative) on a holistic- strategic approach from the corporate/business level to the functional/marking level to the operational/digital level.
• Explanation of benchmarking criteria and marks given to the different competitors and the company

1. Conclusion

• Summarize the results of the benchmarking table into the critical areas to improve the client's competitiveness in the market.
• Discuss strengths that can be leveraged; weaknesses/gaps that can be improved.

1. References

• Accurate referencing in RMIT Harvard style
• Good mix of a valid and reliable source

1. Appendixes

• Include relevant information as needed
• Any supporting analysis, diagrams, pictures, etc., that add value to the main report should be included in this section. However, the most important pictures and information should be placed in the main body of your report.

 

Detailed Assessment Tasks and Guidelines

Step 1: Identify several competitors of the client company

• Research to provide some key data about these competitors for your benchmarking work. Note that you can have both direct competitors and indirect competitors.
• Direct competitors compete for the same target segment in the market, while indirect competitors compete for other segments in the same product/service category.

Step 2: Identify two top competitors for benchmarking

• From the list of direct/indirect competitors, identify two top competitors for benchmarking with the client company. You can pick the market leaders. Or you can pick the two comparable competitors that are most closely in size, performance, or other dimensions.
• You must provide justifications for your selections along with the competitors' profiles.
• Some suggestions: selecting and benchmarking it with market leaders is not highly recommended if the client company is a new player/start-up. So, keep in mind the key objectives of your client's case. If the client already provides two competitors' names for you to work on and decides to go with that, you might not need to provide rationales.

Step 3: Build a set of criteria for benchmarking

• There should be benchmarking criteria at three or four levels: from the corporate and/or business level to the functional/marketing level to the operational/digital Each criterion level includes sub-criteria.
• There are many criteria for benchmarking, such as the company's size, revenue, profit, loss performance, the number of e-commerce platforms they are currently using, etc. Your logical reasoning for all these criteria should be indicated clearly and concisely. Please note that the choice of the criteria must make sense to the client's case.
• The digital level can encompass many aspects, including but not limited to digital capabilities, resources, and digital strategy implementation. Depending on the topic of your client project, the digital strategy here could be the digitalization of distribution channels - eCommerce, digital marketing communications channel, or others. 

Step 4: Benchmark the three companies with rationales supported

• Determine the relative importance of these benchmarking criteria and give a weight to each criteria level so that the total weight will be 100%. For example, the corporate/business level is the deciding level and can allocate 30% - 40% of the weight. So, 60% - 70% will be allocated for the functional/marketing and the operational/digital level.
• For each sub-criterion within a criteria level, give a mark from 0 - 10, with 0 being the lowest and 10 being the highest level of quality/integration. Justify with supporting data for your given marks. Calculate the total weighted sum for each company and evaluate the performance of your client company compared to the two competitors.

Step 5: Evaluate the three companies' performance

From the benchmarking results, you provide some key findings:

•  
  • The client company's capabilities, strengths, and weaknesses compared with its competitors.
  • The level of competitiveness of the client business in the overall market.
  • Brief recommendations of what the client should do to improve its performance and competitive advantages.

 

Guidelines on the benchmarking table

Template of a benchmarking table (this is just an example, get the principles of this matrix-benchmarking table- and be flexible in the usage while maintaining the principles of this method).

Score range at each sub-criterion: 0-10

Total weight: 100%

 

	The focal company (The client company)	Competitor 1	Competitor 2
Criterion level 1 (Out of 100%)
Sub-criterion 1
Sub-criterion 2
etc
Criterion level 2 (Out of 100%)
Sub-criterion 1
Sub-criterion 2
etc
Criterion level 3 (Out of 100%)
Sub-criterion 1
Sub-criterion 2
etc
Criterion level 4 (Out of 100%)
Sub-criterion 1
Sub-criterion 2
etc
Total Weighted Sum	Out of 100%	Out of 100%	Out of 100%

 

Each criterion can be an index. It means you can break down one criterion, such as the digital level could consist of the company's website, Facebook page, Instagram page, or more. Or, if you choose human resources as a benchmarking criterion, you can break down human resources into HR for IT services, HR for digital marketing communications, etc.

You also can break down each sub-criterion into smaller criteria. For example, if you choose a company's website as the sub-criterion 1 at the digital level, you can break it down into some indicators such as web layout, SEO score, etc., and build the marks given.

Another option for you is to present each level of criteria in one separate table.