1.
Name:​ Group 1
Leonard Boord, Robert Bruner, Maria Jose Dassum Nariño, Andrew DeFrancesca,
Andrew Fai, Lorin Fields, Henry Arima, Eric Hazard, Anil Patel, Shubbankar Singh,
Nikhil Venugopal, Ajinth Sreedharan

2.
THIS IS A BACKUP COPY … ALL EDITS SHOULD BE MADE ON THE DOCUMENT
BELOW
https://docs.google.com/document/d/17qOYjy54Z_ec84Gy7qt5EbCLYnnEBmYggrEE7hHf21
4/edit

3.
Here is the assignment:
This group activity submission requires you to develop a competitive analysis in the form of a
visual framework and an accompanying rationale. It is recommended that you use the same
venture whose business model you analyzed in Module 3.
Your group’s submission should illustrate and explain the market position of the fintech
venture in relation to its competitors. The illustration should take the form of a competitive
framework, which can be based on any of the visual representations covered in the Unit 1
Notes that depicts the venture’s relative competitive position in a way that is logical, relevant,
and clear.
Then, write a ​250–300 word​ rationale behind your group’s visual framework, which should
briefly address:
● Whether you have classified your chosen fintech venture’s competitive strategy as
closer­in or further­out, and how this has influenced your choice of a visual
framework;
● What market or market segment your chosen fintech venture operates in;
● Where your chosen fintech venture stands in relation to its nearest competitors; and
● How it will establish or maintain its competitive advantage.
Unit 1’s notes covered different tools and approaches to competitive analysis, which you
were encouraged to test in an experimental activity and discuss in your group discussion
forum. Revisit the notes as you develop both parts of the submission with your group.
­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­
Proposed submission starts below the double­dashed line­­Bob Bruner, first draft, 7/4/2016
======================================================
TASK 1:​ ​Create a competitive framework that depicts the competitive position
of a fintech venture.

4.
Venmo serves in the payment transfer field, specifically in the segment of mobile peer to
peer payments. This field is crowded with competitors, though, for the purposes of this
analysis, we focus on the players who are most consequential for Venmo: Google Wallet,
SquareCash, and Venmo’s own parent, PayPal.
The above illustration presents the strategic competitive position of Venmo based on growth
in year­over­year dollar transaction volume (X­axis), share of market (Y­axis), and total size
of annual dollar transaction volume (diameter of bubble). The field is segmented into
quadrants, divided at estimates for growth rate for the field in 2015 and market share
intended to segment the respective firms. Also, arrows suggest the trending performance of
the players as analysts look forward to performance in the future. Our research indicates that
high profitability and competitive advantage tend to be associated with players in the
northeast quadrant and the opposite for players in the southwest quadrant.
The figure suggests that Venmo is presently well­positioned strategically, headed into the
northeast quadrant. Venmo’s position reflects a “closer­in strategy,” with a tight focus on
mobile payments. Its huge installed customer base is the result of an early­mover
advantage, successful viral marketing, and pricing between Google Wallet and PayPal on
the high side and SquareCash on the low side. Its customers are consumers, who pay a 3%
fee on transactions that employ credit cards.
Will Venmo survive? The arrows in the figure suggest that competitors are trending toward
the northeast quadrant. It is unlikely that all players can co­occupy that space over the long

5. term without significant differentiating factors. The deep resources of some competitors
(such as Google) presage a potentially costly share­of­market battle. Future competitive
advantage for Venmo depends on it social and viral engine, superior service, attractive
pricing, and continued innovation.
=========================================================
What follows below are team notes­­do not submit these as part of the assignment.
Learning outcomes:
LO1: ​Outline the target market and product offerings of a fintech innovation in relation to
its potential competitors.
LO5:​ ​Develop a visual framework that represents the market position of a fintech venture
in relation to its competitors.
Paste your framework (in jpeg or png format) here, according to the instructions in the
draw.io support documentation.
M4 Competitive Analysis Team Contribution Table Location:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1e9YXUmg0iCybF5YQjzqQnl244CbwEf_ZAFcG6mVp
G5I/edit
Graph Data Spread Sheet Location:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1qBkZFyxrKjj2Cy5wq51FFCve8qC0D3uX5_1j837c
ug8/edit#gid=0
● We chose not to have Facebook Messenger, SnapCash, DWOLLA and
ClearXChange P2P transfer because we weren’t able to find enough data.
● Abra, Western Union, and Xoom are mainly used for sending remittances and also it
is out of the US
● Apple Pay is not P2P.

6. ● Chase Quickpay, Well Fargo Mobile Banking, and American Express Serve is built
on the ClearXChange platform.
● Some useful links:
https://www.paypal.com/webapps/mpp/about
http://www.statista.com/statistics/277819/paypals­annual­mobile­payment­volume/
http://peer­to­peer­payments.credio.com/
● There are hyperlinks within data grid of the Google SpreadSheet
Now, write a rationale to accompany your competitive framework.
Your rationale should briefly address:
1. Whether you have classified your chosen fintech venture’s competitive
strategy as closer­in or further­out, and how this has influenced your choice of
a visual framework and the questions that follow​;
● Closer­in ­­ should be addressed in the writeup based on the competitive analysis
grid
● 2x2 Matrix (x=Growth, y= Market Share, size = transaction volume)
2. What market or market segment your chosen fintech venture operates in;
● P2P mobile payments (US) ­ Title from the visual .
3. Where your chosen fintech venture stands in relation to its nearest
competitors; and
● PayPal, Google Wallet, Square Cash ­ P2P services. Apply Pay and other C2Bs are
competitors in another sector. Where Venmo stands can be taken from the
Competitive Analysis grid
4. How it will establish or maintain its competitive advantage.
○ This should be addressed in the write up.. With reference to the ​3.4 The
innovativeness scale tool
○ T​hese criteria are outlined as follows:
1. Complexity: This refers to how many components in a business model
are innovated. A simple innovation would entail a change in one component
with the level of complexity increasing as more components are changed.
2. Radicality: Is your innovation a drastic departure from the company’s
current processes and offerings, or does it concern minor changes, extensions,
or improvements? Every component in a business model can be innovated
radically or incrementally. Rate whether your proposed innovations in the
relevant components are of high, medium, or low radicality.
3. Reach: How new is your innovation? Is it new to the company, the
market, the industry, or the world?

7. [250­300 Words Total (~70 words per question)]
Total marks [30]
Anil
Andy