1Analyzing our firm v. our competitorsNo verbal answers to questions in green, they’re for you to think about as a team.Using the Capstone Courier (for the most recent year & two years back)• Which key statistics among those listed reach out and impress you about this round?• Who received Emergency loans – what caused their cash-flow problems?• Wage rates remain identical until the labor negotiation round (if applicable) – are they still?2Look for industry stock market and long-term debt trends.• Which teams issued or bought back stock? Is there a trend in that team’s policy?• Check dividend policies – is there a trend there?• Compare closing stock prices – what key performance indicator is the stock price consistent with?• Look at long term debt-loads – are they increasing? (as a percent of total capital?)How are they dealing with assets?• Is your competition buying new plant & equipment?• Which other teams are cash rich or poor?• How do your margins (sales - COGS) stack up against the other teams?(express as rankings, perhaps?)3Benchmark products and production abilities against competitors• Sales volume by product – in each of your segments, whose products dominate? Is there a trend?• Inventory – Who stocked out? Who has high inventory levels remaining?• R&D revisions – who is going to have a product come out next year? Is this a trend?• Investments in automation – who has invested in automation? To what extent? Is there a timing (early / late / continuous) nature to their investments?• Investments or sales of production capacity - is there a significant change in a competitor’s capacity coming?• Labor or material cost changes – which of the competitors in your (ea.) segment has a trend in lowering costs?Sales activity in each of the five market segments• Segment demand versus actual sales – What’s been the trend among your 3 most important competitors over the last 3 rounds?• Factors driving purchasing behavior – Who’s doing the best job meeting these?• Strength of distribution channels as measured by ease of access to product – who dominates here? How does this correlate with invested money and effort?• Actual sales - versus potential – How did stock-outs affect sales?4Market share data by units and dollars.• Did each segment clear (did all available units sell)?• What segments matter to your competitors?• Are your goals being met?• Are your tactics giving away too much to competitors?Perceptual Map as of December 31st• You know segments move every month. Are you accounting for segment drift in your R&D plan?• How are your competitors managing segment drift (over the last 3 rounds)?5Balance Sheet /Cash Flow• By competitor, list substantial changes in Assets (common size method for comparison)• Liabilities and Owner's Equity lists who funded the assets.– How have your most important 3 competitors changed their financial structure over the past 3 rounds?• Which of your competitors have run into Cash Flow problems?Income Statement(separate from the Capstone Courier)• Variable costs are the costs associated with each sale. Period costs are bills you must pay whether you sell anything or not. – Which competitors have the lowest variable costs?• Net margin is what each product contributed towards profitability. Which success measures best track your firms performance over time (say, this last round)?6Market Share AnalysisA quick look lets you know if demand in any segment was not met last year.• If "Our Unit Sales" is higher than "Our Demand," you benefited because competitors under-estimated their sales forecasts and thus