Samenvatting

The following research justification report uses competitive analysis as a research method to find out which USP’s (unique selling propositions) De Pooter can use to obtain a competitive advantage towards their candidates. The demand for a competitive overview was first established after De Pooter changed their services. With this change they entered a more specialised and niche market. These types of markets demand more insight to be able to compete sustainably. To answer the main question, 4 sub questions were established.

These sub questions were derived from information gaps.
1) What does De Pooters target market and competitive market look like?
2) What are the strengths and weaknesses of De Pooter and of their direct competitors?
3) What do the candidates in De Pooters target group look for in an employment/secondment agency?
4) Which USP’s can De Pooter use as competitive advantage towards their candidates?

There were 3 main research groups to be analysed namely, De Pooter (internal), The competitive market and target market (external). After having analysed and compared the information from these groups, 6 USP’s were established. These 6 USP’s were based on information such as the interests and behavior of the candidates, the services and existing USP’s of the competition and the internal strengths and weaknesses of De Pooter.
The first two questions made use of desk research and gave more information about the target market such as who the targeted candidates are, where we can find them and how they can be described.
Additionally, they also offered an overview of the competitive market on macro and micro level. These two questions served as a basis for the rest of the report since the competitors that were established in the competitive overview were used for the analysis in the last two research questions. Questions 3 and 4 were answered using field research. For this field research a combination of a Survey and an interview in the form of a focus group were used. With the information derived from these field research methods we were able to dive deeper into the buying behaviour, motivation, and perceptions about employment agencies from our current candidates and prospective candidates. The target and competitive market overviews were combined and compared with the candidate’s personal input from the field research and used to establish the USP’s that De Pooter can use to gain a competitive advantage.

The main learning points form the research were that the bigger competitors in the employment agency Branch were not immediately the biggest threat. This is because they serve a much bigger market and are therefore less specialised, while specialisation in the field is very much appreciated by the candidates. The smaller and more specialised companies were therefore a much bigger form of direct competition. They target the same customers, in the same sector and often have similar approaches or selling techniques. This made it seem like a difficult task to find points of differentiation for De Pooter. However, after analysing the psychographic and demographic variables of the competitors and the preferences of de Pooters candidates, several USP’s were established that will still allow a competitive advantage. Additionally, the field research showed us that most of the candidates saw the large offer of vacancies, the expertise of the market and the diversity in work activities that De Pooter offers as the biggest advantages in their services. These factors were also taken into consideration for the establishments of the USP’s since they really show what De Pooter can use to stand out from the competition.