Every company must develop a competitive strategy. Your competitive strategy is your company’s organized response to the industry structure of the industry in which it operates, and, thus, how to compete within that space.

Check out a five forces model, where the structure of a given industry is determined by relative strength or weakness of the following:

•  The Customers bargaining power: Can the industry’s customers influence the industry?
•  Substitutable products: What other products do competitors have?
•  The suppliers’ bargaining power: Can suppliers influence the industry?
•  New competitors: Is it hard for a new company to get a start in the industry?
•  Existing competitors: Is there room for more competitors, and how much do competitors really compete?