ABSTRACT KEW WORDS 1. INTRODUCTION Competition is one of the most inevitable issues in today’s business world. No matter a firm is big or small; it has competitors in the industry and the strategies of these competitors affect the process of formulating strategic plan for the com- pany. Competitors represent a major determinant of corporate success, and failure of a company to analyze its competitors’ strengths, weaknesses, strategies, and areas of vulnerability may lead to suboptimal performance in the business (Wilson, 1994). So, analyzing the competitors is crucial for firm’s strategy formulation and implementation as well as competitive preparation (Ho & Lee, 2008; Bloodgood & Bauerschmidt, 2002). As most of the managers acknowledge the importance of understanding their industry and competitors, there is a growing interest to use various competitive analysis techniques to help formulate and implement strategy (Prescott & Grant, 1988). Some of these popular techniques include: SWOT analy- 40 IJHPD VOL. 3 NO. 1 JAN - JUNE 2014 COMPETITIVE PROFILE MATRIX (CPM) AS A COMPETITORS’ANALYSIS TOOL: A THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVE -Shanewaz Mahmood Sohel 1 -Abu Mohammad Atiqur Rahman 2 -Md. Aftab Uddin 3 (Corresponding Author) This paper aims to critically appraise the importance of CPM in pro- viding information for a company’s competitive advantage and its role in for- mulating company’s strategy. In addition, this paper also pinpoints some other popular techniques for competitors’ analysis and their merits. It’s an explor- atory and conceptual analysis based on literature review emphasizing the emergence of strategic analysis tools for engendering factors of achieving competitiveness in the fierce competitive market. The study extensively reviews published materials from different sources to explain the relevant concepts on the issue. In this connection, different concepts, ideas, approaches, areas, con- temporary practices and issues either from books or journals on CPM and other competitors’ analysis tool-kits have been addressed to explain the topic. Finally, conclusions and future directions have been attached therewith. CPM, KEY SUCCESS FACTORS (KSFS), STRATEGIC TOOL, COMPETITIVENESS