Placeholder Image

字幕表 動画を再生する

  • We're used to competitions with clear winners and losers: baseball games, math olympiads,

  • pie-eating contests, and games involving thrones.

  • We crown a victor and everyone else goes home empty-handed [-- or when you play the game

  • of thrones, you win or you die.]

  • In business, though, there isn't just one winner.

  • In today's world, there are very few actual monopolies, or markets with a single seller.

  • Participation trophies actually mean something!

  • So as entrepreneurs, we have to take stock in the middle of the competition, and ask

  • the question: “how competitive am I?”

  • Our competitors are more than happy to answer this for us -- maybe not with words, but with

  • what they do.

  • So get ready, it's time to study up on the competition.

  • Are YOU up to the challenge?!

  • I'm Anna Akana and this is Crash Course Business: Entrepreneurship.

  • [Theme Music]

  • I know what you're thinking: time to break out the cat burglar ensemble and do some light

  • corporate espionage!

  • Finally!

  • Well, let's hold off for a second.

  • Movies like to show a cutthroat business world with lots of men glaring out windows, surveying

  • their vast empires, and scheming to infiltrate and destroy their competition.

  • But in real life, there's way more to learn from the competition than trade secrets.

  • I know.

  • I'm disappointed too.

  • I have a really piercing businessy glare.

  • Instead of spies or emperors, entrepreneurs are more like scientists.

  • We come up with a hypothesis -- our business idea -- and observe our environment to help

  • us make informed decisions.

  • A crucial part of our environment is our competition -- the businesses or products that customers

  • might buy instead of ours.

  • Competitors and customers are both important players in our market -- any structure that

  • allows buyers and sellers to exchange goods, services, or information.

  • Not the same kind of market where you get kale and frozen pizzas.

  • From competitors, we can learn standards for doing business in our market, who our potential

  • customers are, and possible gaps in what's currently being offered where we could provide

  • more value.

  • But wait.

  • I thought you said this wasn't cutthroat.

  • This sounds a lot like using the competition to get ahead…?

  • I mean, it sort of is.

  • But we're not being shady or unethical about it.

  • We're NOT trying to destroy everyone who dares to make a product or service similar

  • to ours.

  • We want to learn all we can so we have the best chance of being profitable -- that's

  • the ultimate goal, right?

  • To make money doing something we love while making the world a better place?

  • And to do that, our business must be competitive, and we have to do this research.

  • Plus, nemeses are having their cultural moment -- or at least a Twitter moment.

  • Comparing ourselves to other people can definitely make us feel insecure, but these days, people

  • are using their foes as fuel for more innovation.

  • This special kind of competitor can push us to work harder on our ideas, even if they

  • have no idea who we are.

  • Not to mention, our competitors are just as curious about us.

  • I might be someone's nemesis and not know it!

  • So let's start with the first thing we can learn from our competitors: market standards.

  • We have to work smart, not just hard, so take note of what they're doing.

  • They've set price points, created marketing campaigns, contracted with suppliers, and

  • already have customers.

  • Straight-up copying is illegal, and sure, not everything will work for your specific

  • business.

  • But gathering this information can give you an idea of industry standards.

  • Pricing is especially tricky.

  • It's common to underprice products when you're starting out, but hey, you need to

  • make enough to keep doing business.

  • And you don't want to go to market with a $100 pizza when everyone else is charging

  • $10.

  • Unless you've replaced cheese with gold.

  • But what monster would do that?

  • Or if you notice that someone is wildly overcharging for their service, your calculations may show

  • that you could charge less and still make a tidy profit.

  • Down the road, paying attention to your competition can also tip you off to the winds of economic

  • change.

  • Have they slashed prices or rolled out several new products?

  • Have they rebranded?

  • Have they merged with a related company?

  • All of this information reflects what customers currently want from your market.

  • Besides what customers want, our competition can also tell us who potential customers are.

  • We know how important it is to talk to our potential customers.

  • So if you're at a loss for who might buy your product or where to find them, start

  • with your competition.

  • You might find key demographics from public data, like marketing on their social media

  • channels and website.

  • Or look at reviews on Amazon or Yelp -- customers are telling us all the time who they are and

  • what they like!

  • They're laying out what gains they want and what pains are still frustrating.

  • If you still can't find what you're looking for, try going straight to the source -- which

  • is about as close to corporate espionage as we'll get.

  • Call a non-competitive, similar business in another state or city so you can ask them

  • slightly deeper questions likeWhy did you price your product this way?” andWhat

  • is your biggest target market?”

  • Or go visit a physical establishment and pay attention to the other customers and the overall

  • atmosphere.

  • Is the place full of angry old ladies, or mild-mannered Wall Street brokers?

  • What time is it busiest?

  • What is their customer service like?

  • Once we have a sense of what our competitors are doing, it's just as important to consider

  • what they ARE NOT doing or what problems they're having.

  • Those are the gaps in the market.

  • There might be 100 burger restaurants in your town, but none of them offer vegetarian options

  • and gluten-free buns.

  • Hello, that's a gap! I need it!

  • There might be 3 electric scooter rental companies operating downtown, but none on the university

  • campus.

  • That's a gap!

  • There might be dozens of dog-walker fliers in the community center, but none of them

  • send pictures and walk reports.

  • Gap! Huge one! Pet owner here, believe me!

  • When we talk to customers to understand their jobs, pains, and gains, we need to understand

  • what they're currently buying to make sure our business isn't more of the same.

  • We want to offer something valuable and unique that meets customer needs.

  • In other words, we want to differentiate our product.

  • Now to really help our business stand out, we need to understand the two key forms of

  • competition: direct and indirect.

  • Direct competition is when different businesses offer similar products or services to a wide

  • variety of customers.

  • Your local bookstore,

  • Barnes and Noble, and Amazon are all in direct competition to sell you the latest fiction

  • gem. Like Hank Green's "An Absolutely Remarkable Thing."

  • Which will someday star me...

  • Customers consider lots of factors, such as price, location, service, and products when

  • deciding where to buy their books.

  • But people have different preferences,

  • so everyone will probably choose different combinations of those factors.

  • That's why competition exists, and what lets you find gaps!

  • The college kid down the block who shops local may choose the independent bookstore, while

  • the errand-running parent goes to Barnes and Noble, and the price-conscious retiree uses

  • Amazon.

  • In the end, they all get the same book.

  • On the other hand, indirect competition is when a variety of products and services are

  • offered to the same customer base.

  • Bookstores aren't just selling books, they're also selling enrichment and entertainment.

  • So indirect competitors of bookstores would be other things people do to enrich their

  • lives or be entertained, like films, television, video games, or board games.

  • Movies as a medium can be considered indirect competition -- it doesn't have to be a particular

  • business like a theater chain or streaming service.

  • So competition is sort of a multi-dimensional tug-of-war between businesses, and it's

  • not easy to be competitive.

  • In 1979, business academic and author Michael Porter wrote about competition in the Harvard

  • Business Review, and his insights are still referenced today.

  • Porter's 5 Forces is no Pride and Prejudice, but it's considered a business classic.

  • So it is a truth universally acknowledged that there are five key factors you have to

  • balance to be a competitive business.The lower these are, the better.

  • Like 5-hole mini golf.

  • Number one is supplier power.

  • How easy is it for your suppliers -- the people who get you the stuff you need to run your

  • business -- to demand higher prices?

  • Supplier power is high if there aren't very many suppliers in the market, the product

  • you need is rare, the supplier is large and you're one of thousands of clients, or switching

  • suppliers is too expensive.

  • In all these cases, you're sort of at the mercy of their whims.

  • Number two is buyer power.

  • Can you choose your price, or are you constantly trying to lure in buyers with sweet deals?

  • Buyer power is high if there aren't very many buyers in the market, each buyer is very

  • important to your business, or there's a low cost for the buyer to hop between you

  • and your competition.

  • Number three is threat of substitution.

  • Is anyone doing exactly what you're doing?

  • When there are lots of close alternatives, customers are more tempted to switch what

  • business they support if your prices increase.

  • So threat of substitution is high if changing loyalties appeals to your customers' wallets.

  • Number four is threat of new entrants.

  • Money attracts competition, so who else could try to do similar things?

  • More competition means fewer profits for any businesses currently in the market.

  • Barriers like patented technology or other Intellectual Property, governmental red tape,

  • lack of access to distribution channels, or expensive startup costs can prevent this.

  • But the threat of new entrants is high if such barriers don't exist.

  • And number five is competitive rivalry.

  • How many competitors do you have?

  • Rivalry is high if growth is slow across an industry, getting out is hard, there are high

  • fixed costs (like rent, utilities, or insurance) that drive price cutting, or if you have competitors

  • that don't seem to sleep -- or literally don't need to, like A.I.

  • More competitors often means lower prices across a market.

  • To see how Porter's 5 Forces can measure how competitive a business is, let's go

  • to the Thought Bubble.

  • An enterprising young man named Tom was roughly the size of an average, 13-year-old boy.

  • So he created a business called Rent-A-Swag to rent his luxury clothes and accessories

  • -- like truly dope pocket squares -- to actual 13-year-olds.

  • But just how competitive is he?

  • Tom owns all of the merchandise he rents, so he's his own supplier and doesn't have

  • to negotiate deals and relationships with other distributors.

  • So Supplier Power is low.

  • There are lots of kids interested in cool outfits and there are no direct competitors

  • to Rent-A-Swag in his community.

  • Indirectly, Tom competes with department stores who sell luxury clothes and accessories, but

  • there's a huge cost for buyers to switch: a low rental fee is much more affordable than

  • the complete cost of these items.

  • So Buyer Power is low.

  • And as long as Tom keeps his rental prices below the retail price of his indirect competitors,

  • customers probably won't change loyalties.

  • So the Threat of Substitution is low.

  • Tom's entrepreneurial success was because his initial financial risk was relatively

  • low -- he owned all his merchandise and found cheap real estate to rent -- and there were

  • few barriers to entry.

  • But that means there's not much to stop other people either, so the Threat of New

  • Entry is high.

  • And if a rival entrepreneur, like an OBGYN-slash-business tycoon, starts the same type of business across

  • the street, customers would have no incentive to stay loyal to Tom.

  • So Competitive Rivalry could be high.

  • So even though his business is competitive, Tom isn't sweeping the 5 Forces.

  • He needs to be aware of his weaknesses and develop a plan to balance competitive rivalry

  • and threat of new entry if he wants to succeed.

  • Thanks Thought Bubble!

  • So basically, with more information, entrepreneurs can make better decisions.

  • Learn everything you can from the competition, and remember, in business there can be more

  • than one winner.

  • Next time, we'll talk about the ins and outs of making your business legal.

  • Thanks for watching Crash Course Business which is sponsored by Google.

  • And thank you to Thought Cafe for the graphics you saw.

  • If you want to help keep Crash Course free for everybody, forever, you can join our community

  • on Patreon.

  • And if you want to learn more about competition in market economies, check out this Crash

  • Course Economics video

We're used to competitions with clear winners and losers: baseball games, math olympiads,

字幕と単語

ワンタップで英和辞典検索 単語をクリックすると、意味が表示されます

B1 中級

What Can You Learn from Your Competition?: Crash Course Business Entrepreneurship #4

  • 9 0
    香蕉先生 に公開 2022 年 06 月 06 日
動画の中の単語