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Market Attractiveness/Competitive Strength Driving Factors

Market Factors that Contribute to Attractiveness:

Market Scope - An index describing the geographic/political scope of your business:
Index Market Scope
1 Local/Regional
Example: An independent local hospital or restaurant, or a regional chain of restaurants or supermarkets.
2 National
Example: A single-country, national chain of hospitals or restaurants.
3 Multinational/Global
Example: Coca Cola softdrinks, Gillette razors, etc.
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Real Market Growth - Percentage annual unit growth rate of served market over last 3 years.
Example: Market of 20 million units which grows to 21 million, 22.05 million and 23.25 million has a growth rate of 5% per annum.
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Market Differentiation - An index describing customer perceptions of how much the offerings of suppliers to the served market differ one from another:
Index Market Differentiation
1 No differentiation (Pure commodity).
Example: Home heating oil.
2 Somewhat differentiated.
Example: Frozen orange juice, paper towels.
3 Highly differentiated.
Example: Automobiles, breakfast cereals.
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Number of Immediate Customers Accounting for 50% of Sales - The number of customers purchasing directly from this business required to account for 50% of sales.
Example: Counting from the top, this business has 4 immediate customers which account for 20%, 15%, 10% and 5% of sales, giving 4 as the number which accounts for 50% of sales.
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Percent of Sales Accounted for by New Products - Percentage calculated as sales of new products as a percent of total sales. PIMS defines new products as products introduced during the 3 preceding years.
Example: For 2001, new products should include those introduced in 1999, 2000 and 2001.

New products differ from product improvements and product-line extensions. New products are characterized by one or more of the following: a long gestation period, major changes in manufacturing process, separate promotional budgets, or separate product management. An example of new product is color television added to a line of black-and-white televisions. An example of a product improvement is the annual model changes of automobiles. An example of a line extension is the addition of a plum flavor to a line of jams. In PIMS, product improvements and line extensions are not considered "new" products.
Example: New-product sales of $2 million, line-extension sales of $1 million, total sales of $10 million gives percent new-product sales of $2/$10 or 20%.
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Served Market Concentration - Percentage calculated as the combined share in the served market of its four largest players. Include this business if it is one of the four largest.
Example: The combined share in the served market of the four largest competitors (25%, 20%, 15% and 10%) give a concentration of 70%.
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Market Factors that Detract from Attractiveness:

Capital Intensity - Percentage calculated as investment as a percent of value added. Investment is defined as working capital (receivables plus inventory less payables) plus net book value of property, plant and equipment (gross book value less accumulated depreciation). Value added is defined as sales less purchase component of cost of goods sold (i.e. the cost of raw material, sub assemblies, components, containers, fuels, energy, inbound freight, etc.)
Example: Working capital (receivables plus inventory minus payables) of $5 million and net property plant & equipment (gross property less accumulated depreciation) of $5 million gives total investment of $10 million. Sales of $10 million, purchases of $5 million equals value added of $5 million. Capital Intensity (Investment Intensity) of $10/$5 = 200%.
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Competitive Factors that Contribute to Strength:

Market Share - Percentage calculated as sales billed by this business as a percent of the total sales to the served market.
Example: Sales of $10 million divided by served market sales of $100 million gives a market share of 10%.
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Market Share Rank - Market share rank (1 = largest, etc.) of this business.
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Relative Market Share - Percentage calculated as market share of this business as a percent of the combined share in the served market of its three largest competitors.
Example: This business' share of 10% divided by the combined share of its three largest competitors (25%, 20% and 15%) gives a relative share of 10%/60% or 16.7%.
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Relative Quality - An index describing customer perceptions of the total performance-in-use of the offering of this business relative to the offerings of its leading competitors. Total quality includes product-, service-, and image-related attributes that count throughout the product use cycle. Common product attributes include speed, durability, etc. Common service attributes include availability, technical service, etc. Image attributes are limited to those cases where customers want the brand image per se (e.g. Gucci label on hand bags):
Index Relative Quality
1 Much worse than the competition
2 Somewhat worse than the competition
3 Equivalent to the competition
4 Somewhat better than the competition
5 Much better than the competition
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Relative Direct Cost - An index describing this business' cost to produce and deliver its offering relative to the delivered costs of its leading competitors. In estimating relative cost, consider the type and source of raw material used, operating process and scale, the cost of distribution, etc.:
Index Relative Direct Cost
1 Much higher than the competition
2 Somewhat higher than the competition
3 Equivalent to the competition
4 Somewhat lower than the competition
5 Much lower than the competition
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Relative Percent Sales of New Products - Percentage point difference calculated as this business' percent sales of new products less the average percent sales of new products of its leading competitors.
Example: This business' sales of new products of 10%, competitors' sales of new products of 15% gives this business a relative percent new products of -5%.
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Patents/proprietary products - The business' position relative to proprietary products - No/Yes.
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Patents/proprietary processes - The business' position relative to proprietary processes - No/Yes.
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