How to link competitors to competitor categories

Sometimes you may have too many individual competitors to be able to track and analyse them all individually. You can use competitor categories to do this. But you may still want to link individual competitors to such categories, either as a complete list, or as a few examples.

Use competitor categories when you need to analyse a crowded market at a manageable level without losing sight of the named organisations within it. Categories let you compare broad types of alternative, while linked competitors provide useful examples or a complete list of the organisations in that group.

Definitions

• A competitor is an individual organisation.
  A competitor category is a group of organisations and alternatives, such as ‘OKR software’, ‘boutique consultancies’ or ‘spreadsheets’. A category can also represent a non-commercial alternative, rather than only a group of companies.

You can link competitors to competitor categories from either direction. The relationship is always created both ways: after linking them from either page, the competitor will appear on the category and the category will appear on the competitor.

To link a Competitor to a Competitor Category:

1. Click on a Competitor Category.
2. Scroll down towards the bottom and click on “Add organisations which belong to this generic group”.
3. Start typing the name of a Competitor.
4. Click on the name of an existing Competitor, if it appears, or finish typing the name and press enter in order to link the Competitor to the Competitor Category.
   1. Note: If it does not exist, a new organisation record will be created.
5. Repeat as many times as required.
6. Confirm that the Competitor now appears on the Competitor Category. The Competitor Category will also appear on the Competitor's page.

To link a Competitor Category to a Competitor

1. Click on a Competitor.
2. Scroll down towards the bottom and click on "Add groups this organisation belongs to".
3. Start typing the name of the Competitor Category.
4. Click on the name of an existing Competitor Category, if it appears, or finish typing the name and press enter in order to link the Competitor to the Competitor Category.
   1. Note: If it does not already exist, a new competitor category record will be created.
5. Repeat as many times as required.
6. Confirm that the Competitor Category now appears on the Competitor. The Competitor will also appear on the Competitor Category's page.

To remove an incorrect Competitor Category link

If you link a competitor to the wrong category, you can safely remove the relationship from either record. Removing the link does not delete the competitor or competitor category; it only removes the connection between them.

1. Open either the Competitor Category or the Competitor.
2. Scroll to the section showing the linked organisations or groups.
3. Find the incorrect linked Competitor or Competitor Category.
4. Use the remove option next to that item to remove the link (it looks like a small trash can).
5. Check that the item no longer appears in the linked list. The relationship will also be removed from the other record automatically.

If you want to delete either the competitor or competitor category themselves, rather than just the link between them, open the page for that competitor or competitor category and click the "Delete" button towards the bottom of the page. Deleting a competitor or competitor category will also delete any links it has.

What next?

Once you have organised competitors into meaningful categories, use the links to take your competitive analysis further:

• Identify the customer decision criteria using competitive factors.
• Compare competitors and categories in the Strategy Canvas.
• Link important competitor developments to strategic insights, so your competitive intelligence continues to inform strategic decisions.

See also:

• A Comprehensive Guide to Effective Competitor Analysis
• Managing Organisations in StratNav
• Introductory Video Course: Chapter 7: Competitor Analysis and Assessing Progress