Competition has become the biggest growth driver in the present millennium. Firms are becoming conscious to gather information about their competitors and make an all-out effort to predict their behavior. The knowledge of the competitors' strategy, performance, strengths, weaknesses and reactions are becoming crucial. This article, with the help of 7-S framework and Porter's Model, throws light on competitor's analysis and helps frame the offensive or defensive moves in an attempt to consolidate one's stand in the industry.

Competition has been the buzzword worldwide and the race for survival of the fittest is becoming more dynamic and complex in the emerging scenario. Competition is the driving force of the present millennium. It can be compared to the analogy of a war situation. The use of war techniques or tactics is always present and the attack on the rival is designed to be fatal. The counterpart is equally alert with countermoves. The market situation looks like a warzone, with instances of Guerrilla warfare, Flanking warfare, Offensive and Defensive warfare by firms.The competitor has been accepted as one of the most important factor to be observed, as its action and counter actions influence the existence of a firm. However, it is assumed that the firms are rational and they behave rationally for optimum utilization of the resources and maximize profit. The multifarious forms of competition, compels individual firms to observe, watch, analyze the activities, functioning, and figures of the opponents and then make their own move keeping in view the macro and micro environment. Though in highly fragmented commodity industries, the move of any single competitor may be less important, the same is of vital importance in concentrated industry competitor analysis. There is sine qua non for the very existence of the firm of the opponents. Hence, casual knowledge of the competitor may not be sufficient to take strategic decisions. The competitors are to be studied and analyzed systematically on a continual basis with organized competitor intelligence.

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