Competitive Response Playbook

Competitive Response Playbook

Primary Category: Strategy & Market Governance

Secondary Focus: Competitive Intelligence, Pricing Discipline, and Execution Alignment

Artifact Profile

The Competitive Response Playbook is a governance artifact for structuring how an organization detects, evaluates, and responds to competitor actions. It reduces reaction time while preventing ad hoc decisions that erode margins, create internal confusion, or weaken long-term positioning.

Using competitive scenarios, threat categories, strategic positioning, and operational constraints, the artifact defines response types (ignore, defend, match, counter, escalate), assigns decision rights, and pre-aligns tactical actions. Rather than reacting to every move, it ensures responses are consistent, intentional, and aligned to strategy.

This artifact is built for leadership teams, strategy functions, pricing and commercial operations, and governance bodies who must compete in fast-moving markets without sacrificing coherence, value, or execution discipline.

Three Key Questions This Artifact Helps You Answer

• Which competitor actions require a response—and which should be monitored or ignored?

• Who has the authority to act, escalate, or approve responses at different threat levels?

• What pre-approved actions should be executed to defend position without eroding long-term value?

What This Framework Supports

This artifact supports organizations seeking:

• Rapid, disciplined response to competitor moves without margin erosion or strategic drift

• Clear distinction between threats that require action and those that should be monitored or ignored

• Explicit decision rights and escalation paths for competitive actions

• Pre-aligned tactical responses that preserve long-term positioning while enabling speed

How It Is Used

The artifact provides a structured competitive governance framework that guides executives, strategy teams, pricing and commercial leaders, and operations through:

• Detecting and categorizing competitor actions by threat level and strategic relevance

• Determining response types such as ignore, defend, match, counter, or escalate

• Assigning decision authority and approval thresholds for each response category

• Executing pre-approved actions across pricing, marketing, sales, and operations in a coordinated manner

This enables organizations to treat competitive response as a governed decision system, ensuring that speed, coherence, and strategic intent are preserved under market pressure.

What This Produces

• Defined response categories and triggers

• Explicit decision rights and escalation paths

• Pre-approved tactical actions by response type

• Alignment of pricing, communication, operations, and sales execution

Common Use Cases

• Responding to competitor price cuts, promotions, or discounts

• Reacting to new product launches or feature parity threats

• Managing market share defense in core segments

• Reducing inconsistent or margin-eroding field responses

• Aligning sales, marketing, operations, and leadership around response protocols

How This Artifact Is Different

Unlike reactive pricing or ad hoc competitive moves, this artifact treats competitive response as a governed decision system. It embeds strategic filtering, authority design, and operational alignment so organizations can act fast without sacrificing coherence or long-term value.

Related Framework Areas

This artifact is commonly used alongside other SolveBoard frameworks focused on:

• Pricing governance, revenue management, and margin protection

• Market intelligence, threat assessment, and strategic positioning

• Portfolio governance, investment prioritization, and growth strategy

• Execution oversight, decision rights design, and organizational alignment

Related Terms

Competitive strategy, market response, pricing governance, threat assessment, strategic positioning, commercial operations, escalation frameworks, competitive intelligence.

Framework Classification

This artifact is part of the SolveBoard library of structured decision and governance frameworks. It is designed as a repeatable competitive governance framework rather than an ad hoc pricing response, marketing tactic, or reactive field playbook.

Competitive Response Playbook: Respond to Market Moves

Structuring how an organization detects, evaluates, and responds to competitor actions

Definition

A Competitive Response Playbook defines how an organization identifies competitor actions, evaluates strategic impact, and executes timely, coordinated responses. It establishes response categories, decision rights, escalation paths, and pre-approved actions for common competitive scenarios. Within SolveBoard, this artifact is used to reduce reaction time, avoid ad hoc decision-making, and ensure that competitive moves are met with disciplined, aligned responses.

When to Use

• When operating in fast-moving, highly competitive markets

• When price moves, product launches, or promotions require rapid response

• When inconsistent reactions to competitors have weakened positioning

• When leadership wants predefined options for common competitive threats

When Not to Use

• When competition is limited or stable

• When strategic intent prioritizes market creation over rivalry

• When regulatory or contractual constraints prohibit rapid change

Common Mistakes

• Reacting to every competitor move without strategic filtering

• Failing to define decision authority, causing slow or fragmented responses

• Overusing price responses that erode margins

Purpose of a Competitive Response Playbook

The purpose of a Competitive Response Playbook is to enable fast, consistent, and strategically aligned reactions to competitor actions. By predefining response types, escalation paths, and execution mechanisms, organizations can respond decisively without sacrificing coherence, margins, or long-term positioning.

How to Apply

• Identify the most common and most damaging competitor actions

• Define response categories (ignore, defend, match, counter, escalate)

• Assign decision rights and approval thresholds for each category

• Predefine tactical actions and resource levers for each response type

• Align communications, pricing, operations, and sales execution

• Test scenarios and refine based on outcomes

Example Scenario

A consumer goods firm faces frequent competitor price cuts. Its playbook defines three responses: ignore (if localized and short-term), defend (temporary promotions for key accounts), and counter (bundle offerings to reinforce value). Decision rights are tiered by impact, enabling field teams to act quickly within guardrails while major moves escalate to leadership.

Boundaries

A Competitive Response Playbook does not replace long-term strategy or market innovation. It governs how to react within existing competitive dynamics and must be aligned with overall strategic positioning.

What This Artifact Does

Structures how the organization detects, evaluates, and responds to competitor actions.

You Provide

(You may provide some, all, or none of the items below. Partial inputs are valid.)

• Competitive landscape and key rivals

• Common competitor actions and threat scenarios

• Strategic positioning and margin constraints

• Decision authorities, escalation rules, and approval limits

• Written descriptions or pasted text

• Links to pricing policies, promotional guidelines, or market intelligence

• Files, PDFs, spreadsheets, images, and other uploads (always acceptable)

• Context notes

Core Question

How should we respond when competitors make moves that threaten our position?

Decision Logic

• If the move is low-impact → Monitor or ignore

• If core segments are threatened → Defend or match

• If strategic position is at risk → Counter or escalate

What the Output Means

• Defined response categories and triggers

• Clear decision rights and escalation paths

• Pre-aligned tactical response options

Do Not Use When

• The market is non-competitive or highly regulated

• Strategic focus is on creating new markets rather than defending share

You do not need to complete every section below. Provide only the information you have available or wish to provide. The AI will generate output using only the inputs you supply and will not assume or infer missing information.

Section 1 — Competitive Landscape and Key Rivals

What This Input Represents

Who your primary competitors are and how the market is structured.

If You Have Materials, You May Provide (List file names here in your input document):

• Market analyses

• Competitor profiles

• Industry reports

Guiding Questions:

• Who are your main competitors?

• What segments or markets do they compete in?

• Where is competition most intense?

Section 2 — Common Competitor Actions and Threat Scenarios

What This Input Represents

The types of moves competitors typically make and which are most damaging.

If You Have Materials, You May Provide (List file names here in your input document):

• Pricing policies

• Promotion calendars

• Product launch histories

Guiding Questions:

• What competitive actions occur most often (price cuts, launches, promotions)?

• Which actions pose the greatest strategic or margin risk?

• Which moves can be ignored versus require response?

Section 3 — Strategic Positioning and Constraints

What This Input Represents

Your strategic posture, margin rules, and boundaries on response.

If You Have Materials, You May Provide (List file names here in your input document):

• Strategy documents

• Pricing rules

• Margin or cost constraints

Guiding Questions:

• What is your strategic positioning (cost, differentiation, niche)?

• What pricing or margin constraints must not be violated?

• What responses are explicitly off-limits?

Section 4 — Decision Rights, Escalation, and Execution

What This Input Represents

Who can act, when escalation is required, and how responses are executed.

If You Have Materials, You May Provide (List file names here in your input document):

• Approval matrices

• Delegation of authority

• Operational playbooks

Guiding Questions:

• Who can approve low-, medium-, and high-impact responses?

• When must actions be escalated to leadership?

• How will responses be coordinated across functions?

Section 5 — Supporting Context, Files, and References

What This Input Represents

Any additional information that would help the AI interpret market dynamics, pricing rules, or execution constraints accurately.

You May Include (List file names here in your input document):

• Market intelligence or competitor monitoring outputs

• Pricing or promotional guidelines

• Sales or channel execution plans

• Links to dashboards or competitive tracking tools

• Pasted text or excerpts

Additional Instructions (Optional)

You may add extra instructions to further shape the output, including:

Requesting PDF or other output formats
Limiting page length or response size
Layout preferences (section order, headings, structure, templates)
Specifying tone, style, or format (executive, concise, detailed, formal, etc.)
Output consistency preferences (fixed structure, standardized phrasing, strict formatting)
Prioritization or scoring preferences (how gaps, risks, or actions should be ranked)
Desired mode behavior as outlined in the section below
Any other constraints, rules, or priorities relevant to your use case

If included, the AI will follow these instructions when they do not conflict with the bridge’s execution rules. More specific instructions generally produce more consistent, repeatable, and targeted outputs.

Desired Mode Behavior

Strict Mode

• Maximize determinism and repeatability
• Minimize wording variation, structure changes, and interpretive flexibility
• Do not extend beyond explicit user inputs

Balanced Mode (Default)

• Maintain structure and discipline
• Allow limited analytical judgment where inputs are incomplete
• Do not introduce external assumptions

Exploratory Mode

• Expand hypothesis space and analytical angles
• Surface alternative interpretations and scenario paths
• Still grounded only in user-provided inputs

If no mode is specified, default to Balanced Mode.

What This Enables

Based on your prepared inputs, this artifact will define response categories and triggers, assign decision rights and escalation thresholds, and map pre-approved tactical actions so competitive moves can be addressed quickly without sacrificing strategic coherence or margins.

Canonical Input Rule (For All SolveBoard Artifacts)

Documents are optional. Sections may be partially completed or left blank. Structured answers to any subset of guiding questions constitute valid input. The AI will evaluate only provided information and will not infer missing content.

AI Execution Instructions

You are operating in Bridge Execution Mode. Follow these rules exactly. Do not reinterpret, summarize, optimize, or override them. Do not introduce external knowledge, assumptions, or inferred content. Evaluate only user-provided inputs. If required information is missing or ambiguous, flag it rather than guessing. Output must follow the defined Output section exactly.

Users may provide some, all, or none of the input sections. Process only what is explicitly provided. Treat empty sections as intentionally omitted.

Purpose

Generate a structured Competitive Response Playbook that defines how to detect, evaluate, and respond to competitor actions.

What This Bridge Answers

How should we respond when competitors make moves that threaten our position?

Inputs (All Optional)

• Competitive landscape and major rivals

• Common threat scenarios and competitor moves

• Strategic positioning, pricing rules, and margin constraints

• Decision rights, escalation paths, and operational constraints

• Files, PDFs, spreadsheets, images, links, or other uploaded material

• Context notes

Note: Output Quality and specificity scale with input completeness. The user has been informed of this via the input sheet.

Processing Rules

A valid Competitive Response Playbook output must satisfy all of the following:

• Response categories and triggers are clearly defined

• Decision rights and escalation thresholds are explicit

• Recommended actions align with strategic positioning and margin constraints

When inputs are sparse:

• Produce the most complete output possible with available data

• Explicitly flag what's missing and how additional inputs would enhance the analysis

• Do not infer or assume missing information

Execution Steps

• Review competitor scenarios and internal constraints

• Define response categories and triggers

• Assign decision authority and escalation rules

• Map tactical actions to each response type

Output

• Competitive response framework

• Decision rights and escalation model

• Predefined tactical response options

Failure Conditions / Misuse

• Responding to every move without strategic prioritization

• Price-led reactions that erode long-term value

Mode Behavior (From Input Sheet)

Strict Mode

• Maximize determinism and repeatability
• Minimize wording variation, structure changes, and interpretive flexibility
• Do not extend beyond explicit user inputs

Balanced Mode (Default)

• Maintain structure and discipline
• Allow limited analytical judgment where inputs are incomplete
• Do not introduce external assumptions

Exploratory Mode

• Expand hypothesis space and analytical angles
• Surface alternative interpretations and scenario paths
• Still grounded only in user-provided inputs

If no mode is specified, default to Balanced Mode.

Additional Instruction Governance

User-provided additional instructions must be followed exactly unless they conflict with core Bridge Execution Rules. If a conflict exists, Bridge Execution Rules take priority.

Additional instructions may control format, tone, structure, length, or ordering, but must not introduce inferred content, external knowledge, or speculative assumptions.

If instructions are ambiguous, flag ambiguity rather than guessing.

Additional Instructions Execution Rule

If the user provides instructions in the Additional Instructions field, they are binding execution constraints.

Failure to follow them constitutes a Bridge Execution Failure.

Reminder to AI: If a format is requested (e.g., PDF, DOCX), the final output MUST be delivered in that format.

Artifact Instructions

This guide explains what information the Competitive Response Playbook artifact requires and how to prepare your inputs.

How to Prepare Your Input Document (Required Format)

Create a new Word (or similar) document.
Copy all text from the Input Sheet tab into the document.
Save it — this is now your Input Document.
Answer the guiding questions directly in the Input Document and reference any supporting files there.
Save the completed Input Document (Word, PDF, etc.).
Copy all text from the Bridge AI Prompt tab and paste it into the prompt field.
Attach the completed Input Document and any referenced files when submitting the prompt.

No Supporting Files? No Problem.

You can proceed without uploading any supporting documents, spreadsheets, dashboards, reports, or other attachments.

The Input Document is still required, but it may contain only plain-text answers to the guiding questions.

Written responses alone are sufficient for the AI to generate output.

Supporting files, links, and pasted materials are always optional.

Missing Inputs Are OK

You do not need to complete every section.
You do not need supporting files.

The AI will still run. It will:

Use only the inputs you provide
Skip or flag missing sections
Never fail due to incomplete information

Output quality scales with input depth — but execution never breaks.

Submitting Files

If you upload files, list each file name under the relevant “If You Have Materials” section in your Input Document. This ensures each file is clearly tied to its intended use.

What to Expect From This AI Bridge

This bridge generates a structured, high-value starting point, not a guaranteed final deliverable. Output quality improves as inputs become clearer, deeper, and more complete.

This artifact supports iteration. Users are encouraged to refine inputs, test variations, and rerun the bridge to improve results.

The AI organizes complexity and accelerates insight — but final judgment and decisions remain with the user.

In Short

Stronger inputs → stronger outputs
Iteration improves results
Cross-artifact testing can reveal new perspectives
This artifact enables progress, not perfection