Organizational Memory
Market card, MethodKit for Memory & Reminiscence
Card 32 of 66 · MethodKit for Memory & Reminiscence
  • ThemeCustomers & Market
  • CardCard 32 of 66
  • Questions5 to explore
Customers & Market

Market

Markets, competitors & landscape

Knowing the market you operate in is not just background context; it is decision-making infrastructure.

Market knowledge tends to be distributed unevenly across the organization. Sales knows the competitive landscape. Strategy knows the macro trends. Product knows the adjacent solutions customers consider. None of that picture is usually assembled in one place.

For organizational memory purposes, what matters is capturing the view of the market that actually informs decisions: who the real competitors are, where the boundaries of the market sit, and what assumptions the organization is making about how the landscape will shift.

This does not need to be a formal market analysis. A short, honest summary of where you see the market today, who you are watching, and what you would need to be true for your strategy to work is more useful than a slide deck that gets updated once a year.

What to capture

For this part of the company brain, what is worth writing down and keeping current. The goal is not a complete archive but a living record that new people can read and returning people can trust.

Market definition

How the organization defines the market it operates in, including who is in it and what it considers adjacent or out of scope.

Competitive landscape

The main competitors or alternatives, with a brief note on how they differ and what the organization believes its own position is.

Key assumptions

The beliefs about how the market works or where it is heading that underpin current strategy, so those assumptions can be revisited if circumstances change.

What we watch

The signals, players, or trends the organization actively monitors to stay oriented in the market.

Questions to explore

Use these on your own or in a group. There are no right answers, only better conversations.

  1. How does the organization define the market it is in, and how has that definition shifted over time?

  2. Who are the main competitors or alternatives, and what do we believe sets us apart?

  3. What assumptions about the market are baked into our current strategy?

  4. Where do we think the market is heading, and what would change our view?

  5. Who inside the organization holds the most current picture of the competitive landscape?

Things to notice

  • Market knowledge goes stale fast and rarely gets updated unless something forces the issue. What was true two years ago may be quietly misleading now.
  • The competitive picture in the sales team's heads and the one in the strategy document are often different. It is worth checking which one is actually driving decisions.
  • Market definitions shape what you pay attention to. If the definition is too narrow, real threats or opportunities can sit just outside the frame.