How Well Do You Know Your Competition?
© Ed Yourdon

Entrepreneur.com had an excellent piece recently on the importance of knowing your competition in the business world.

Know who your competitors are. This sounds basic, but it’s a mistake many business owners and salespeople make. If you have a retail store, your competitors are obviously other retailers who sell similar merchandise (both online and brick-and-mortar). But that’s not all. You’re also competing with the businesses that are meeting the needs of your customers with products and services you don’t offer and haven’t thought about offering, and the businesses that might make your products obsolete.

The fairly lengthy article goes on to look at how to recognize and evaluate your competition, and how to use it to make your own business better…