Day 1: Understanding the Competitive Arena and Value Sources

Industry Structure and Market Forces

• Identify price and margin pressure sources
• Analyze customer, supplier, and substitute power
• Distinguish structural change from cyclical fluctuation
• Build market-force map for selected sector

Customer Segments and Demand

• Segment customers by needs and economics
• Identify selection factors driving purchase decisions
• Estimate demand sensitivity to price/service
• Analyze an underserved customer segment

Analyzing Value Economics

• Identify revenue cost and retention sources
• Connect customer value to service costs
• Expose activities consuming margin
• Apply profitability tree to business model

Day 2: Positioning and Competitive Advantage

Differentiated Value Proposition

• Frame promise solving important customer problem
• Distinguish core benefit from product features
• Test proposition credibility and provability
• Rewrite several overly similar value propositions

Choosing Strategic Positioning

• Define target customers needs and channels
• Clarify deliberate areas of noncompetition
• Balance differentiation with cost requirements
• Build a strategic positioning statement

Capabilities Supporting Advantage

• Identify resources and capabilities to imitate
• Connect each capability with value proposition
• Expose gaps undermining selected positioning
• Create a competitive capability map

Day 3: Business Model and Competitive Move Testing

Business Model Coherence

• Connect proposition, channels, resources, and economics
• Test consistency among key activities
• Expose contradictions weakening profitability or experience
• Review business model in competitive case

Competitive Moves and Responses

• Anticipate responses to pricing or expansion
• Identify signals revealing competitor intent early
• Choose moves difficult to counter quickly
• Simulate competition among three companies

Business Strategy Laboratory

• Summarize market customer and selected position
• Present the advantage and enabling capabilities
• Stress-test economics under an adverse scenario
• Present strategy choice before investment panel

• Sector and market analysis using competitive evidence
• Value proposition and positioning exercises across contrasting cases
• Competitive game simulating market responses
• Business strategy project presented to a review panel