Imagine you are working in the marketing department of Zest Bars, a fictitious, medium-size company that makes energy bars. Your manager would like you to lead the process to define the company's brand positioning strategy. When you review her proposal for how you should lead this process, there is no mention of performing a competitive analysis. 

How should I respond to the manager's suggested brand positioning strategy? The response should include:

• A rationale for why the marketing team should analyze the competition.
• The specific value a competitive analysis can bring to the energy bar company. 
• Three specific steps the marketing team could take to begin the process of completing a competitive analysis. 

You are  allowed to include specific names of energy bar competitors in my response to illustrate the argument to the manager.