Slide 1: What the Playing Field Looks Like Now
• Who are the competitors in this business, large and small, new and old?
• Who has what share globally, and in each market? Where do we fit in?
• What are the characteristics of this business? Is it a commodity, high value, or somewhere in
between? Is it long cycle or short? Where is it on the growth curve? What are the drivers of
profitability?
• What are the strengths and weaknesses of each competitor? How good are its products? How much
does each spend on R&D? How big is each sales force? How performance-driven is each culture?
• Who are this business’s main customers, and how do they buy?
Slide 2: What the Competition Has Been Up To
• What has each competitor done in the past year to change the playing field?
• Has anyone introduced game-changing new products, new technologies, or new distribution
channels?
• Are there any new entrants, and if so, what have they been up to in the past year?
Slide 3: What You’ve Been Up To
• What have you done in the past year to change the competitive playing field?
• Have you bought a company, introduced a new product, stolen a competitor’s key salesperson, or
licensed a new technology from a startup?
• Have you lost any competitive advantages that you once had – a great salesperson, a special
product, a proprietary technology?
Slide 4: What’s Around the Corner?
• What scares you most in the year ahead – what are one or two things a competitor could do to nail
you?
• What new products or technologies could your competitors launch that might change the game?
• What M&A deals made by a competitor would knock you off your feet?
Slide 5: What’s Your Winning Move?
• What can you do to change the playing field – is it an acquisition, a new product, globalization?
• What can you do to make customers stick with you more than ever before and be more loyal to you
than to anyone else?
• Persuasively and logically present your “winning move
