Monitoring Competitive Threats: A Holistic Approach
Susan Penta, MIDIOR Consulting
kHUB post date: January 18, 2024
Originally presented: January 11, 2024
Watch time: 60 minutes
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Session Description:
This session is designed for product managers, researchers, and business professionals who need to have their fingers on the pulse of their market landscapes and competition, beyond simply monitoring the feature lists of competitors’ products. This workshop uses MIDIOR’s Competition Cube as a practical approach and framework for identifying and tracking competitive threats.
In today's competitive business environment, it's more important than ever to stay ahead of the curve. That means understanding your competitor's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. It's more than just monitoring the feature lists of competitors' products. It's about understanding your competitors' business models, strategies, and goals. In this session, attendees will be guided through the various elements of robust competitive analysis, common approaches and frameworks and where and when to apply them for timely and accurate monitoring of competitive threats.
Learning Objectives
- This interactive session will demonstrate an approach to rapidly assessing competitive threats from multiple angles.
- The session will give attendees the opportunity to use the Competition Cube in real time to assess a product or service of their choice and will offer a case example as well as one or two live examples based on products or services selected at random from session attendees.
- Attendees will walk away with a template and process that they can use at their own firms.
About the Presenter
Susan Penta is an engineer, entrepreneur, educator, and consultant with a passion for products, fascination with technology, and commitment to community that has underscored her 37-year career. As Co-Founder and Managing Partner at MIDIOR, Susan oversees the delivery of professional services and MIDIOR’s operations. For her clients, Susan crosses organizational and cultural boundaries to facilitate a common product and technology perspective, inspire innovative thinking, optimize team output, and improve financial performance. Susan is also the Co-Founder and President of Modern Administration Systems where she provides leadership, strategic direction and financial oversight. As an educator, Susan served for 20 years as an Executive Professor on the adjunct faculty at Northeastern University’s D’Amore-McKim School of Business, as well as in Northeastern’s Corporate Education programs where she taught graduate courses in entrepreneurship and innovation. Susan is also a frequent guest lecturer and public speaker on the topics of innovation, entrepreneurship, and product organizations.
Susan is active with many non-profits, most often at the intersection of education, entrepreneurship, and marginalized populations. Susan currently serves as the Chair of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce Women’s Network Advisory Board and director on the GBCC board, as Director Emeritus and past Board Chair for the Center for Women and Enterprise (CWE), as Trustee and past Board Chair for Schools for Children, as a trustee with the Children’s Trust of Massachusetts, as a Leadership Advisory Board member for EforAll Cape Cod, as a Board Member for The Possible Zone, and as a member of the Susan F. Smith Center for Women’s Cancers Executive Council. Susan puts considerable energy into advancing the domains within which she works, lifting up women in business and STEM, supporting small businesses and investing her time to nurture and support the disciplines aligned with her work. Susan currently serves as Chair of the Product Development & Management Association’s (PDMA) Board of Directors, is a founding member of WPI’s Women’s Impact Network (WIN) and an advisor and mentor to many entrepreneurs and former students.
Susan holds a BSEE degree from Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) and an MBA from Bayes Business School (formerly Cass) in London, England.