2 Identify your competitors

The next step to select the right competitive analysis framework is to identify your competitors. Who are the main players in your market or industry? Who are the potential entrants or substitutes? Who are the indirect or niche competitors? You need to have a clear and comprehensive list of your competitors before you can apply any framework. You can use various sources to identify your competitors, such as industry reports, customer surveys, online reviews, social media, or search engines.

3 Choose your criteria

The third step to select the right competitive analysis framework is to choose your criteria. What are the key factors that influence your competitive advantage or disadvantage? What are the dimensions that you want to compare and contrast your competitors on? Your criteria will depend on your objectives, industry, and context, but some common examples are product features, pricing, customer segments, distribution channels, marketing strategies, or financial performance. You should choose criteria that are relevant, measurable, and actionable for your analysis.

4 Select your framework

The final step to select the right competitive analysis framework is to select your framework based on your objectives, competitors, and criteria. There are many frameworks available, such as Porter's Five Forces, SWOT, VRIO, Benchmarking, and Perceptual Mapping. Porter's Five Forces helps you assess the attractiveness and profitability of a market by analyzing the five forces that shape the competitive intensity. SWOT evaluates the internal and external factors that affect your competitive position by analyzing your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. VRIO identifies the sources of sustainable competitive advantage by analyzing the value, rarity, imitability, and organization of your resources and capabilities. Benchmarking compares your performance with your competitors or industry standards by using quantitative or qualitative data on various criteria. Lastly, Perceptual Mapping visualizes how customers perceive your products or services relative to your competitors by using two or more dimensions that represent important attributes or benefits.