Throughout this course, you will conduct a strategy audit for a selected company. Begin this assignment by selecting an organization for your course project activities.

In this module, you will assess the product portfolio of your selected business unit by analyzing the value proposition, market position, and competitive advantage of its products and services.

Part I: Interview

To gain an understanding of your selected business unit's market position, value proposition, and competitive advantage, conduct at least one interview with a mid-level or senior manager.

Use the interview to solicit the manager's perception of his or her business unit's product portfolio. Be sure to discuss the points of analysis listed below in Part II of this assignment.

Part II: Analysis

Based on the information gathered from the interview, analyze the product portfolio of your selected business unit. In your analysis, identify the business unit of your company and the product(s) and service(s) on which you will focus.

Make sure to include the following points in your analysis:

• Describe the target customer for the product/service in terms of relevant characteristics that impact the marketing strategy, including location (how it should be reached) and buying habits.
• Identify each customer segment's specific wants and needs. Explain why they buy your company's product or service, or a competing product or service.
• Justify how well your product/service satisfies customer wants and needs. Identify any wants and needs that are not met by your product/service.
• Analyze the position of your product/service in relation to the competition. Identify the main competitors. Explain how your product differs in terms of features, function, quality, price, availability, brand image, and the like. Explain why this differentiation is important to your customers.
• Describe the source of competitive advantage for your product. Evaluate how sustainable is this source of advantage.
• Assess the long-term sustainability of the source of differentiation and competitive advantage.

Include appropriate information from the interview in support of your answer.

Part III: Matrix

In comparing your product/service to that of the competition, construct a simple matrix in the following way:

• List the key customer wants or needs on the left-hand vertical axis.
• List the competing products on the top horizontal axis, starting with your product/service on the left.
• For each customer want or need, indicate how well each competing product satisfies the need using a scale of 0-2.

0 = need not met
1 = need partially met
2 = need fully met

This is a simple but effective visual mechanism for comparing the relative position of multiple offerings from competing sources.