The five forces model was developed by Michael Porter in 1979 to understand the competitive environment of an industry. The model is a tool which helps business strategists analyze what drives competition and how they can use this knowledge to their advantage.
The “what is porter’s 5 forces analysis example” is a marketing strategy that uses the five competitive forces to analyze an industry. Porter’s Five Forces Analysis is a framework for assessing and evaluating the competitive strength of a business.
You must understand your market dynamics in order to manage your firm effectively. For successful company management, industry analysis is essential. You’ll have a hard time keeping ahead of your competitors if you don’t understand the market dynamics at work. The idea is to get as much knowledge about your sector as possible without being paralyzed by analysis (see The Biggest Mistake Founders Make When Starting Their Business for more on paralysis by analysis). So, what’s the greatest approach to brush up on your industry knowledge? Using Porter’s Five Forces Analysis, to be exact.
Mind Tools as a Source
Porter’s Five Forces is a strong tool developed by Harvard Company School professor Michael Porter to help people evaluate how competitive a business environment is and uncover potentially lucrative possibilities. Michael Porter highlighted five factors that shape a business landscape’s competitive climate. The more profitable a company concept is, the lower these five factors are. These are the factors at work:
- New Entrants as a Threat
- Existing Competitors’ Rivalry
- Substitute Products Pose a Risk
- Supplier Influence
- Buyer Influence
Why Should I Use Porter’s Five Forces?
Michael Porter intended for companies to utilize Porter’s Five Forces to assess an industry’s profit potential and appeal when he invented it. It has developed to become one of the most widely used corporate planning tools in the world since its first publication in 1979.
Using Porter’s Five Forces, you can determine if a company concept is worth pursuing. Furthermore, if you currently own a firm, you will have a better understanding of your future competitors. In this piece, you’ll learn about Porter’s Five Forces’ five main characteristics and how you may utilize them to build or strategy for your company.
1. New Entrants as a Threat
The New Entrants as a Threat refers to the likelihood of another company being able to enter your market space. Would it be easy for another company to do what you’re doing? What are your barriers to entry? Is your sector regulated or have high start-up costs? Does it take specific certifications?
An example of a high New Entrants as a Threat business would be a dog walking business. Dog walking doesn’t take a college degree or a large sum of money. Anyone around the neighborhood could potentially start taking your clients. Boeing, the airplane manufacturer, has a shallow New Entrants as a Threat. To manufacture and sell airplanes, you need millions of dollars, multiple certifications, approvals from the FAA, and lots of time.
New Entry Barriers
The actual New Entrants as a Threat depends on the barriers to entry. These barriers include different roadblocks that can discourage potential competitors from entering your market space. Here are some of the most common New Entry Barriers:
- Brand Loyalty: Customers in the sector have a strong preference for existing firms’ goods or services.
- Cost advantages: Existing businesses can provide the same product or service at a far cheaper cost than you can.
- Supplier and distribution channel access: Existing businesses have exclusive rights to suppliers and distribution channels.
Porter’s Five Forces Analysis Tip #1: Always keep in mind the possibility of a competition joining your industry.
2. Existing Competitors’ Rivalry
Existing competitor rivalry relates to how competitive your industry is now and how many competitors you have. Who are your rivals, and how does their product compare to yours in terms of quality? Is it a regular occurrence for them to attempt to undercut your rates and offer a better deal? Is there a lot of brand loyalty when switching costs are high? Is the market big enough for you to target diverse segments, or are you all vying for the same customers?
Two examples of high Existing Competitors’ Rivalry are ride-hailing services and food delivery services. Lyft and Uber are always offering discount codes for their riders so that they can gain more customers. Food delivery services like Grubhub, Seamless, and DoorDash offer close to free meals to initial customers to get them to use them instead of their competitors. Companies that fall into this segment are often never profitable.
Organizations like non-for-profits, utility companies that work in certain areas, and government-subsidized organizations are examples of industries that have very low Existing Competitors’ Rivalry. These are much harder to come across and usually can only function if governments fund them.
Porter’s Five Forces Analysis Tip #2: Know your rivals and how their business models differ from yours.
3. Substitute Products Pose a Risk
The Substitute Products Pose a Risk refers to the products that customers can use instead of your product to accomplish the same goal. Is the solution you offer unique to your product, or are there other products that can do the same thing? Is the switching cost from one option to another high for your customers? Is the additional option of equivalent quality? Specifically, the following factors cause a higher threat of substitutes for an industry:
- Customers may effortlessly swap from one product to another.
- Customers have access to a variety of substitute items.
- Substitute items offer more features than comparable products in the same category.
- Within the area, substitute items are more trustworthy than comparable ones.
- Substitute items are less expensive than industry-standard products.
An example of a high Substitute Products Pose a Risk is breakfast food. Quaker Oats doesn’t just have to worry about the threat of other oatmeal companies, but of all companies that offer breakfast food. Instead of eating oatmeal for breakfast, someone can have eggs and bacon, cereal, a breakfast bar, or maybe some fruit and yogurt.
An iPhone is an example of a product with a low risk of being replaced. The only other thing that can make calls, send texts, utilize applications, and store data like an iPhone is a computer, which isn’t a mobile device.
Don’t get me wrong: the iPhone has competition in the form of other smartphone providers, but there are almost no other choices that can do what the iPhone does that aren’t smartphones.
Porter’s Five Forces Analysis Tip #3: Recognize the danger of competing items that consumers may use instead of yours.
4. Supplier Influence
The Supplier Influence section of Porter’s Five Forces refers to the ability of a supplier to increase their prices. How many potential suppliers are available, and how expensive would it be to switch from one supplier to another? How much does your supplier rely on your business for their revenue?
An example of a high Supplier Influence industry is cocoa supplying countries. The Ivory Coast and Ghana own 60% of the world’s cocoa, meaning they can raise cocoa prices, and companies like Hersey, Mondelez, and Nestle will have very few alternatives. Skilled trade workers like plumbers, electricians, and coders have low Supplier Influence. Many companies offer services similar to skilled trade workers, where no one would have to rely on just one company.
Porter’s Five Forces Analysis Tip #4: Recognize your industry’s suppliers’ capacity to raise their costs.
5. Buyer Influence
Buyer Influence refers to the ability of a buyer to drive down the prices of goods. How many buyers are there, and how big are their orders? How much would it cost them to switch to another supplier? What percent of their costs come from the product they purchase?
Purchasing major products such as a trip, a home, a vehicle, or anything else in that range is an illustration of having strong purchasing power. When purchasing high priced things, purchasers have numerous alternatives, and they may base their selection on anything from quality to price.
Low buying power can be seen when choosing which soft drink company you wish to purchase from. Either Coke or Pepsi owns the majority of soft drink companies. As you can see, the Supplier Influence and Buyer Influence are inverses of one another. If a company has high Buyer Influence, its supplier probably has low Supplier Influence.
Porter’s Five Forces Analysis Tip #5: Determine the number of possible purchasers for your goods and the size of their orders.
Important Points to Remember:
The following are Porter’s Five Forces:
- The New Entrants as a Threat: The likelihood of another company being able to enter your market space
- Existing Competitors Rivalry: This refers to how competitive your industry is and how many competitors you have.
- The Substitute Products Pose a Risk: Refers to the products that customers can use instead of your product to accomplish the same goal
- Supplier Influence: The ability of suppliers to increase their prices
- Buyer Influence: The ability of a buyer to drive down the price of goods
You may examine any industry and quantify its intensity, attractiveness, and profitability using Michael Porter’s Five Forces. Do you face a significant risk of entry? If that’s the case, investigate if you can add features to your product that will result in a high switching cost, preventing buyers from moving to a different product. Is there a high risk of substitutes? Check to see if you can provide additional things in your area so that clients may shop directly with you if they need to replace your other items.
You can better position your organization to take advantage of prospective possibilities by identifying your industry’s strengths and limitations and preparing appropriately. Using Porter’s Five Forces and determining what strategic adjustments you need to make to gain long-term profit is the easiest approach to accomplish this.
Have you found this article to be interesting? Then our piece on How To Go From Startup Idea To Business Model is for you. Another highly recognized business planning tool, the Business Model Canvas, is examined in depth.
The “porter’s five forces model pdf” is a tool that can be used to analyze an industry. It is based on the work of Michael Porter and can help you understand how competitive your industry is.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you analyze an industry using Porters five forces?
A: Porters 5 Forces is a model that helps business analysts identify the competitive intensity of an industry. The five forces are represented by questions, like What power does your competitor have? and How many customers do you serve?
How do you use Porters five forces examples?
A: Porters five forces is a strategy tool that uses the interaction of five competitive factors to explain why a firm or industry will attract new competitors and what are the potential effects of increased competition.
The following article on wikiHow, gives an in depth explanation on how it all works.
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