MRKT 4501 Week 3 Competitor Review Example

Answer One Move, Leave the Rest: A Competitor Review That Frames the Garden Tool Industry With Porter's Five Forces and Picks the Single Rival Action Worth Paying to Answer

Student Name

Walden University

MRKT 4501: Marketing Management

Instructor Name

Month Day, Year

Answer One Move, Leave the Rest: A Competitor Review That Frames the Garden Tool Industry With Porter's Five Forces and Picks the Single Rival Action Worth Paying to Answer

Purpose

This review looks at the garden tool industry and at one larger rival, Brannock Outdoor, whose recent moves have alarmed Tillman Forge & Garden's sales team. Its purpose is narrow: to decide which of Brannock's moves, if any, deserves a funded response this year. Porter (1980) argued that a firm's competitive strategy must rest on an understanding of the forces shaping its industry, not only on watching its nearest rival. The review therefore begins with the industry before turning to Brannock.

The Five Forces in Hand Garden Tools

Rivalry among existing makers is moderate. Four national brands and a dozen regional makers compete, mostly on quality and brand in the premium tier and on price in the mass tier. Tillman sits in the premium tier, where rivalry is less intense.

The threat of new entrants is moderate and rising. Direct-to-consumer brands selling online, often with tools made under contract overseas, can enter without factories or retail relationships. They have not yet won much share in forged tools, where buyers value proven durability, but they are active in pruners.

The threat of substitutes is low for forged tools and moderate for pruners. There is no real substitute for a spade, but electric hedge trimmers and pruning services can replace some pruner use.

The bargaining power of buyers is high in two of Tillman's three channels. The regional farm-and-home chain buys about a third of Tillman's output and is developing its own private label. Independent garden centers have less power individually but can drop a brand easily.

The bargaining power of suppliers is moderate. Steel cost Tillman roughly a tenth more last year, though buying from two mills limits its exposure.

The industry reading suggests that buyer power and online entrants are the forces that matter most for Tillman. Any response to Brannock should be judged against those two forces.

Brannock's Recent Moves

Table 1

Brannock Outdoor's Recent Actions Against Tillman's Position

Composite rival and firm. Actions taken from trade press and sales team reports in the case.

The Move Worth Answering

Only the last move threatens a position Tillman needs. The situation analysis identified Southeast independent garden centers as Tillman's best growth opportunity for its pruners. Brannock's ergonomic pruner is now entering the same stores, with a similar claim. If Brannock gets there first, it takes the shelf space and the retailers' attention that Tillman would need.

A response does not mean a price cut. Tillman's pruners have won two independent product reviews and carry a lifetime sharpening service; the response is to enter the Southeast this year rather than next, with in-store demonstrations that let gardeners feel the difference. The estimated cost of accelerating entry is about $180,000 this year for a regional sales representative, demonstration units and retailer training. Chen (1996) argued that competitive responses are most likely when a rival's move overlaps strongly with the firm's own markets and resources; this move overlaps on both counts.

Moves Deliberately Left Alone

The warehouse club pruner and the color range are left alone. Answering them would mean entering a channel or a style contest that does not fit Tillman's premium, durability-based position, and the money spent would come from the Southeast entry. The website price cut on forged spades is left alone but watched: if Tillman's own website sales of spades fall by more than 10 percent over two quarters, the issue returns to the budget.

Kotler and Keller (2016) note that firms can harm themselves by reacting to every competitor move instead of focusing on customers. Naming the moves left alone is part of the decision, because it tells the sales team what the company will not be doing and why. The sales team's instinct, reasonably, is to answer the price cut and the warehouse club pruner, since those are the moves customers mention. The review asks them to hold back and put their effort into the Southeast, where the company's growth depends on arriving before a rival claims the shelf.

References

Chen, M.-J. (1996). Competitor analysis and interfirm rivalry: Toward a theoretical integration. Academy of Management Review, 21(1), 100-134. https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.1996.9602161567

Kotler, P., & Keller, K. L. (2016). Marketing management (15th ed.). Pearson.

Porter, M. E. (1980). Competitive strategy: Techniques for analyzing industries and competitors. Free Press.