effective-competitive-analysis

---
name: competitor-analysis
description: Competitive analysis skill based on Zhang Zaiwang's methodology. Provides systematic competitive analysis framework, tools and templates to help users conduct professional competitive analysis.
metadata:
  openclaw:
    emoji: "📊"
    category: "business-analysis"
    author: "Zhang Zaiwang"    capers@qq.com
    book: "Effective Competitive Analysis: Essential Methodology for Good Products"
    version: "1.0.0"
---

# Competitive Analysis Skill (Zhang Zaiwang Methodology)

Based on Zhang Zaiwang's "Effective Competitive Analysis" methodology, providing a complete competitive analysis framework, tools and templates.

## Core Principles

1. **Know yourself and know your enemy, and you can fight a hundred battles without defeat** - Competitive analysis is the foundation of product competition
2. **Co-opetition mindset** - A new perspective that combines competition and cooperation
3. **Right intention, taking advantage, clear approach, excellent techniques, united people, practice** - Complete analysis philosophy
4. **6-step competitive analysis** - Systematic operation process

## 🎯 Skill Usage Guide

### **Key Principle: Start with the end in mind, goal-driven**

**Before using this skill, you must first clarify the analysis goal.** Without a clear goal, competitive analysis will lose direction and become meaningless information stacking.

### **Interactive Startup Process**

When users request competitive analysis, if the following key information is not clear, **you must first ask the user**:

#### **6 Key Questions (Competitive Analysis Starting Point):**
1. **For which product is the competitive analysis being done?** - Clarify the analysis object
2. **Which stage is the product currently in?** - Confirm the development stage (planning/development/operation)
3. **What are the main problems and challenges facing the current product?** - Diagnose core issues
4. **What is the purpose of doing competitive analysis?** - Determine analysis intent (decision support/learning reference/market early warning)
5. **What are the specific goals of competitive analysis?** - Set measurable goals
6. **What is the output deliverable?** - Clarify expected deliverables

### **Why is goal clarity so important?**

| Goal Clarity | Analysis Effect | Resource Efficiency | Decision Value |
|-------------|----------------|---------------------|----------------|
| **Clear Goal** | Precise analysis, hitting the key points | Efficient use of resources | Sufficient decision basis |
| **Ambiguous Goal** | General analysis, unclear focus | Partial resource waste | Limited decision reference |
| **Missing Goal** | Disorganized analysis, wrong direction | Significant resource waste | Low decision value |

### **Quick Start Suggestions**

1. **For simple needs**: Directly ask the 6 key questions
2. **For complex projects**: Use `goal-clarification-template.md` for systematic sorting
3. **For team collaboration**: Organize goal alignment meetings to reach consensus

**Remember:** The time spent on goal clarification will be doubled in subsequent analysis.

## Knowledge System Architecture

```
Tao (Philosophy)
├── Know yourself and know your enemy
├── Co-opetition mindset
└── Right intention, taking advantage, clear approach, excellent techniques, united people, practice

Fa (Process)
└── 6-step competitive analysis

Shu (Methods)
├── Comparison method, matrix analysis, competitive tracking matrix
├── Function decomposition, demand exploration
├── PEST analysis, Porter's Five Forces model
├── SWOT analysis
└── Add-subtract-multiply-divide

Qi (Tools)
├── Lean Canvas
├── Competitive Canvas
└── Strategy Canvas

Li (Cases)
└── Complete case analysis

Jian (Practice)
└── Practice session
```

## 6-Step Competitive Analysis (Core Process)

### Step 1: Clarify Goals - Start with the end in mind (Most critical step)

**Core concept:** Start with the end in mind, goal-driven. Without a clear goal, competitive analysis will lose direction and become meaningless information stacking.

#### **Interactive Goal Clarification Process**

**When users request competitive analysis, if the following information is not clear, you must first ask:**

**1. Analysis Object Clarification**
- **Key question:** For which product/service/feature is the competitive analysis being done?
- **Follow-up points:** 
  - Product name and version
  - If it's a new idea, please describe the core concept
  - Who is the target user group?

**2. Development Stage Confirmation**
- **Key question:** Which stage is the product currently in?
- **Option explanations:**
  - **Planning stage:** The product is still in the concept stage, need to verify market feasibility
  - **Development stage:** The product is being developed, need design references and function借鉴
  - **Operation stage:** The product has been launched, need optimization and competitive strategy

**3. Problem Diagnosis**
- **Key question:** What are the main problems and challenges facing the current product?
- **Question directions:**
  - User growth issues? Retention issues? Payment conversion issues?
  - Market competition pressure? Technical bottlenecks? Resource constraints?
  - Brand awareness? User experience issues?

**4. Analysis Purpose Determination**
- **Key question:** What is the purpose of doing competitive analysis?
- **Purpose types:**
  - **Decision support:** Provide basis for product decisions (market entry, feature priority, investment decisions, etc.)
  - **Learning reference:** Learn from competitors' advantages, avoid pitfalls (function design, user experience, operation strategy, etc.)
  - **Market early warning:** Monitor market changes, warn of competitive threats (new competitors, policy changes, technical trends, etc.)

**5. Specific Goal Setting**
- **Key question:** What are the specific goals of competitive analysis?
- **Goal examples:**
  - "Find product differentiated positioning, increase market share by 5%"
  - "Optimize core function experience, reduce user churn rate by 10%"
  - "Evaluate market entry feasibility, develop product roadmap"
  - "Learn from competitor operation strategies, improve user activity"

**6. Output Deliverable Clarification**
- **Key question:** What is the expected output deliverable?
- **Deliverable types:**
  - Complete competitive analysis report
  - Key findings summary (1-2 pages)
  - Function comparison matrix
  - Strategic recommendation list
  - Implementation roadmap

#### **Importance of Goal Clarity**

**How goals affect subsequent analysis:**

| Analysis Goal | Competitor Selection Focus | Analysis Dimension Focus | Tool Selection |
|--------------|---------------------------|-------------------------|---------------|
| **Market entry decision** | Market leaders + potential competitors | Market size + competitive landscape + business model | Porter's Five Forces + Lean Canvas |
| **Function design reference** | Excellent products with similar functions | Function details + user experience + technical implementation | Function decomposition + user experience evaluation |
| **Competitive strategy formulation** | Direct competitors | Advantage/disadvantage comparison + user feedback | SWOT analysis + Strategy Canvas |
| **Learning reference** | Industry benchmarks + innovators | Best practices + innovation points | Case study + model analysis |

#### **Common Mistakes to Avoid**

❌ **Mistake:** Skip goal clarification, start analysis directly
✅ **Correct:** Spend 30% of time clarifying goals to ensure correct analysis direction

❌ **Mistake:** Goals are too broad (e.g., "understand the market")
✅ **Correct:** Goals are specific and measurable (e.g., "find 3 differentiated opportunity points")

❌ **Mistake:** Do not distinguish analysis purposes, use the same method
✅ **Correct:** Customize analysis methods and depth based on purpose

#### **Goal Clarity Checklist**

Before starting analysis, confirm the following issues are clear:
- [ ] Analysis