84 CHAPTER 5 KNOW THE WORLD
‘While you’re negotiating for a 35-hour week, remember they have only just got 66 hours
in Taiwan, and you’re competing with Taiwan.’
VICTOR KIAM
The next steps
For the planning process itself, you need to build a good understanding of your external
environment, the extent to which you can control it, how it affects you, and where sur-
prises might come from.
Fast track external analysis
1 Gather information from your customer files, your competitors, public
sources, market research, etc.
2 Think about events in the world at large and how they have affected, do
affect and could affect your business.
3 Analyse your customer base, understand your market, and think about how
it could be expanded.
4 Identify and analyse your existing and potential competitors.
5 Write a short description about your existing market.
6 Write a short description about your competition.
7 Identify your competitive advantages.
Pause for thought – competitive advantages
In Chapter 4, you identified your core competencies. As you work through this
chapter, look for areas where you have competitive advantages over your rivals.
Remember that in the short term these can arise from areas where you do not have
special competencies – but where your competitors are weak. Alternatively, you
might not have advantages even if you are very competent in specific areas if your
competitors are as good or better.
Do not forget to continue building your list of strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities and threats.
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