Using the key success factor concept in competitor intelligence and benchmarking

A key success factor is regarded as a skill or a resource that a business can invest in, which explains a major part of the observable differences in perceived value of the offer and/or relative costs of bringing that offer to the marketplace. Key success factors are potentially useful in structuring the generation of market intelligence in competitor analysis and benchmarking. To this end, a method was developed based on a reverse laddering procedure, which elicits decision-makers' subjective causal maps regarding key success factors and their respective antecedents. When aggregated, these maps can be used as the guiding basis of competitor analysis systems. The article shows the application of the concept in an European-based company in the business of frozen seafood.