Gap analysis includes several stages. Principles of GAP analysis

Strategic management includes many expert methods for assessing the activities of an enterprise. Especially if we are talking not only about the current state of affairs, but also about potential changes in internal and external environment. Thanks to such events, companies manage to survive crises, increase their profits and find new opportunities.

This article will discuss the GAP analysis technique. It is included in the range of techniques of a modern manager and allows you to control the situation quite effectively. However, before immediately moving on to studying what the method is strategic analysis, it is worth paying attention to where it is used. More on this later in the text.

Strategic management

If you avoid quoting verbatim from various textbooks and reveal this topic as informative as possible, then we will talk about long-term planning and management.

Strategic management is a very broad concept; it is studied in universities and used in business. It is worth noting that this is a fairly effective technique that can be intertwined with other areas of economic sciences, for example with risk management or organizational management. There can be a lot of points of convergence, which makes this discipline very relevant today.

Often, strategic management is used in large corporations that can afford to make long-term plans for the release of any specific product, prepare for expansion and develop new markets.

To implement such planning, not only human and financial resources are required, but also the possession of a sufficient amount of information. Because of this, long-term forecasts are often called ineffective due to variability environment. Next, one of the techniques that is used in strategic management will be described.

What is GAP analysis?

It is often called the "strategic analysis method." If we translate foreign name, then you get a word denoting a gap. And the essence of GAP analysis is precisely to study the gap between the planned result and the current one. In other words, it studies the gap between the actual and the desired. The technique is used quite widely and allows you to analyze completely different parameters, such as sales for a given time period or the achievement of any goal, for example implementation new system quality at the enterprise. There are a lot of possible applications, and the only limitation can be the specifications of the analyzed structure.

The GAP analysis process itself

The registration process itself can be displayed in free form and will depend on the current activities of the company and the situation. It is possible to use graphical methods or tables.

These situations are just examples and can be replaced by any others.

The specified matrix only reflects the essence and stages of GAP analysis, which include various formulations.

First of all, the enterprise must determine the fulcrum, that is, it is necessary to determine the state where the company is at current moment time. The same applies to its resources in a specific period of time.

The next step will be the selection of criteria for your GAP analysis, this can be classified as a full-fledged work structural unit, as well as any competitive product or service, in our case, for example, one of the gap criteria is the situation when “Subscribers are dissatisfied with too high tariffs”, taken from the above table.

And of course, the last stage is the selection of an idea or initiative for a solution this issue, in our case, a gap.

Applications

The GAP analysis technique is very mobile. It can be used almost anywhere there is a time period, current and planned situations. Perhaps there are experts who use the principles of GAP analysis, diluting them with complex expert methods, mathematical calculations and much more.

However, management is a fairly flexible science. This means that the essence and stages of GAP analysis will not change from the addition of economic and mathematical modeling methods.

This analysis can be carried out both by working with product sales plans and by comparing your company with competitors. It all depends on the imagination of the manager or leader, because the gap technique is so simple that it can be used to compare the work of two similar departments in the same organization.

Since the technique is relatively simple, it will also be an excellent solution for new companies that are just entering the market. They are able to evaluate many factors, which will allow them to take root in the market.

Competitive Analysis

When working with a competitive environment, there are other equally effective mechanisms, for example, the Porter matrix or SWOT analysis. Their use will depend on factors such as the type of activity of the enterprise, the number of employees and the number of other organizations in the market.

However, we should return to the concept of “competitive GAP analysis”. This technique will require studying your own current advantages and the extent to which competitors lag behind them. In other words, the capabilities of competitors and real situation affairs in our company. It is very important to remember that you should choose criteria and gaps in accordance with your type of activity, and the GAP analysis method itself is only a template for making decisions.

Very often, graphical techniques are used to compare the current situation, display the gap itself, and also show potential opportunities.

With this approach, there are no uniform rules and principles; the main thing is to display on the graph the very essence of the problem and the gap itself.

The GAP analysis technique is so universal that it can be used in everyday life. It allows you to point out those factors that were not enough to achieve the goal.

So, the basic principles of conducting GAP analysis are an understanding of what factors the gap is being sought between. For example, if we are talking about sales, then let this be the current number of sales and specific goal in the future.

If we are talking about introducing new equipment, then again you need to outline the current situation and the desired one.

In general, almost any information can be taken as the abscissa (x) and ordinate (y) axes when conducting GAP analysis. The main thing is that it correlates with each other and carries meaning.

Sometimes, conducting a GAP analysis can show that there is no gap between competitors or strategic plans. If all the criteria were correct, and the analysis itself also included calculations and other factors, then this means that the enterprise is managed extremely efficiently and there is no need to take any steps to fill the gap.

If a gap has been found, then it is necessary to determine the degree of lag from the strategic plan, carry out internal audit the company may have to shift the deadline somewhere. The most important thing is not to harm the company.

Pros

One of the positive features of this technique can be said that it is quite universal. In general, the GAP analysis technique is simple and common sense, which can be displayed on paper.

The techniques described in it are suitable for both very small companies and large giant firms.

GAP analysis of a company, coupled with other methods, will help to find the correct vector of the company’s behavior, as well as to carry out competitive activities in its market.

Cons

However, such methods have disadvantages. Even if gap analysis is used in conjunction with other, more cumbersome statistical and mathematical methods, there will be no guarantee that the correct vector has been specified and the area of ​​potential problems has been correctly identified.

This is due to periods long-term planning which are usually more than two years. The situation in any market can change so quickly that any data quickly loses its relevance.

Other similar techniques

It is not necessary to specifically conduct a GAP analysis, especially in flexible management situations. In management there are a sufficient number of ways to find and solve a problem, as well as increase the efficiency of the managed system.

Obviously, SWOT analysis allows you to assess the internal environment of the company (weak and strengths), as well as the external environment (opportunities and threats).

PEST

Another interesting technique; it will not replace GAP analysis, but it can correct your results when conducting it. The essence, as it happens, is hidden in the very name of this method.

It allows you to assess the external environment of a company by analyzing four different parameters.

The political component lies in the first letter of the name of the method; here the manager must describe all the factors that can in one way or another affect his product, organization or consumer as a whole.

The following describes economic condition external environment, i.e. various crises or potential large-scale projects. If this environment does not in any way affect the situation with our company, then some point is simply skipped.

Social component. Well, in this case, everything is quite simple, the state of society as a whole is described, for example, mass holidays are sometimes included in this paragraph or left blank.

Results

The GAP analysis technique is another effective way to assess the state of affairs in your organization. In addition, along with other methods, it allows us to give a competent assessment of what is happening both in the internal and external environment.

This method of strategic analysis can not only show problem areas strategic planning, but also to propose a number of initiatives to solve the specifically stated problems both in the current period and in the future. In other words, it can also be used in operational management.

Besides, foreign experience application of GAP analysis shows that the technique is quite effective. On the Internet you can find frequent references to the use of this technique by large consulting firms and IT corporations.

However, you should not make decisions based only on a “bare” GAP analysis, especially given the availability of tools such as the Porter matrix, SWOT analysis and other equally useful techniques. However, each method has its own goals and objectives that help organizations develop.

RDD analysis gap- gap) is a comprehensive analytical study that studies the inconsistencies and gaps between the current state of the company and the desired one. This analysis also allows us to identify problem areas (“bottlenecks”) that impede development and assess the degree of readiness of the company to make the transition from the current state to the desired one. This method is one of the fundamental ones when conducting a marketing audit, in which the objects of study are the audited company and the external market.

As a rule, SDS analysis is understood as a set of measures that allows us to draw conclusions about non-compliance internal environment marketing to the external environment or about internal inconsistencies. These may be, for example, inconsistencies between management plans and their understanding by the performers, inconsistency between the assortment and the structure of demand, products - similar to competitors' products, perception of products and their quality in comparison with the perception of competitors' products. This method can also assess the differences between brand identity and brand perception.

The purpose of the CD/’ analysis is to identify those market opportunities and the audited company that can become effective for it market advantages. In other words, this analysis allows you to maximize the hidden internal potential of the company, making maximum use of external opportunities.

First, an improvement scheme is outlined, then the desired state is developed (from the point of view of external and internal consumers). At the next stage, a detailed program for the company’s development in the desired direction is formed. IN simple cases it is enough to describe the sequence of actions, in more difficult situations it is necessary to use additional organizational forms - project teams, testing solutions, creating various options, layouts, etc. If the forecasts are ambiguous and allow for multiple options for the development of events, then a separate scenario must be prepared for each option.

• market;
• quality of products, service;
• organizational aspects;
• business management;
• business processes;
• information Technology.

Possible types of ruptures are given in table. 6.2.

Types of ruptures duringGAP-analysis in marketing audit

Table 6.2

The gap analysis itself during a marketing audit includes the following steps.

• 1. Determining the current value. Gap analysis begins with a forecast of the company's condition for the planned period using the method of expert assessments or using mathematical forecasting methods. This stage allows you to assess what position the audited company could occupy and calculate everything possible benefits that she would receive as a result of making certain decisions.
• 2. Determining the maximum available value. In the process of assessing the existing gap, it is necessary to determine whether it is surmountable. If the gap is too large to overcome using your own resources, it is advisable to either reconsider the desired future or split its achievement into several transitional stages, or extend the process over a longer period of time.
• 3. Selecting the criterion by which the review will take place.

Within this stage it is necessary to break the overall gap into components for each significant functional, sectoral, territorial and other areas in which planning will subsequently be carried out. As a result of this breakdown, gaps are identified and grouped into main categories. Thus, each section of planning represents a group of needs that influence bridging the gap between the present and the future. Groups of possible needs may include information, communication, financial, marketing, administrative, technical, etc.

4. Set of plans (initiatives). Sources may be employees of various services, distribution channels, competitors, government agencies. Market-oriented sources create opportunities based on consumer wants and needs; sources focused on scientific developments form the possibility of creating new products based on the results basic research. Idea generation methods may include brainstorming, surveys, questionnaires, etc.

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Concept, essence, goals and objectives of GAP analysis in marketing

Definition 1

GAP analysis is a technique for analyzing primary information based on the study of strategic differences between desired goals and actually achieved results.

IN Russian practice GAP analysis is also called GAP or GAP analysis. It is also called gap analysis. The essence this method consists in studying the problem, which manifests itself in the form of a certain gap that arises in the process of implementing the plan, between the results and indicators planned to be achieved and those that were actually achieved.

The GAP analysis technique was developed in the USA. Today it has gained high popularity and has found its application in various fields, including marketing. In marketing, GAP analysis is often used to find ways to increase sales and sales of products, goods and services, as well as to analyze competitive advantages.

Note 1

The basic condition for using the GAP analysis technique in marketing is the presence of differences between target indicators and achieved results. The main task of conducting GAP analysis is the preventive forecasting of situations that give rise to possible gaps.

The results of the GAP analysis make it possible to determine the magnitude of deviations between plan and actual, as well as to correct strategic goal. In addition, GAP analysis serves as a basis for developing specific interventions to reduce gaps. Its correct use makes it possible to provide search additional sources efficiency in order to ensure the achievement of specified goals. In addition, it allows you to determine the trajectory that the company should follow in order to make the transition from actually results achieved to the target ones.

GAP analysis itself is divided into several varieties. The main ones are:

• implementation analysis;
• communications assessment;
• customer perception of product quality;
• performance evaluation;
• image GAP analysis.

Each of them has its own characteristics. Let's look at them in more detail.

Implementation analysis assumes the need to assess the inconsistencies between the described maintenance regulations and the actually existing principles implemented in practice, as well as to analyze the difference between the actually existing consumer characteristics and the opinion that customers have about the company or any product.

The basis of communication GAP analysis is the identification of inconsistencies between products sold (services provided) and communication regarding their quality. In the course of analyzing customer perceptions of product quality, the organization's expectations based on marketing research or personal experience, and the existing level of positive perception by customers of products (services) purchased from the company.

Performance assessment is carried out in order to determine the gaps between the actually achieved indicators and their directive value established by the company management. Image GAP analysis allows you to determine the difference between a company's image and its customer perception.

General methodology for conducting GAP analysis in marketing

GAP analysis is carried out sequentially. The main stages of its implementation in general view are presented in Figure 1. Let's consider them in more detail.

Figure 1. Main stages of GAP analysis. Avtor24 - online exchange of student works

First of all, it is necessary to determine the specific situation being analyzed (for example, sales of a company). Next, you need to study and describe the current situation in the company, and then the planned development of events. Based on a comparison of plans and factors, gaps and the reasons for their occurrence are determined. Next, recommendations are developed to overcome them.

Carrying out a GAP analysis requires the need to predict the state in the area under study at the end of the planning period. For this they can be used mathematical methods forecasting or experts are involved. Another integral element of GAP analysis is the calculation of the deviation of the fact from the plan, based on the results of which gaps are determined. In some cases, the maximum permissible gaps are determined. The selection of criteria for conducting GAP analysis is important. To do this, gaps are divided into separate components, each of which is responsible for its own area of ​​activity. Groups can be combined into several types - financial, marketing, information, communication, etc. Finally, a plan or set of initiatives is formed aimed at achieving the desired indicators and reducing or completely eliminating gaps.

An example of GAP analysis in marketing

Let's consider the procedure for conducting GAP analysis using the example of a mini-bakery aimed at increasing market share in the short term.

First of all, it is necessary to predict the market potential and its condition. Let's assume that the market capacity is 5 billion rubles, and the company plans to occupy 15% of the market. Next, it is necessary to determine deviations from the forecast value and the circumstances that form this deviation. Factors may include consumer dissatisfaction with product quality, low level purchasing power, lobbying, etc. Finally, you should select the components to work with. First of all, these include technological re-equipment, optimization of ingredients, development of new flavors, distribution, and change of suppliers.

The results of GAP analysis are structured (Figure 2).

So everything is quite simple.

Advantages and disadvantages of using GAP analysis techniques in marketing

GAP analysis as a method marketing analysis has its advantages and disadvantages. The main advantages of its use are:

• simple and clear logic;
• the ability to assess the reality (attainability) of the goals set;
• universality of the approach.

At the same time, GAP analysis has a number of disadvantages that limit the possibilities of its use. First of all, we are talking about the lack of a unified methodological basis for developing ways to reduce gaps. Besides, most deviations (discontinuities) do not have sufficient accuracy. Finally, the complex multifactor structure that serves as the object of research is not always easy to identify.