Market and competition
5C analysis
Also called 5Cs, 3C model
Look at the company, customers, competitors, collaborators and context together before deciding where and how to compete.
- Time45 to 75 minutes
- People2 to 8 people
- Steps2
What it's for
The five Cs are a checklist for a market situation. Company is what you bring; customers are who you serve and why they buy; competitors are who else they could choose; collaborators are the partners and suppliers you rely on; and context is the wider world, from regulation to technology.
Use it before a launch or a move into a new market, then carry the strongest points into a SWOT or a positioning statement.
How to run it
Fill the five25 min
One fact or belief per note in each box. Mark the beliefs you haven't checked.
Join the dots15 min
Look for a strength of yours that meets a customer need competitors serve badly. That overlap is where to compete.
Tips
- Customers is usually the thinnest box. Fill it from research, not from the sales pitch.
- Collaborators are easy to forget until one of them changes its terms.
Where it comes from
Extends the three Cs (company, customers and competitors) that Kenichi Ohmae described in The Mind of the Strategist (1982). Collaborators and context were added later.
Pairs well with
SWOT analysis
List strengths and weaknesses inside the organisation and opportunities and threats outside it, to see a situation before planning.
PESTEL analysis
Scan the world around a business for political, economic, social, technological, environmental and legal changes that could help or hurt it.
Positioning statement
Who it's for, the need, what it is, the key benefit, and how it differs from the alternative, in two sentences.