Michael Porters five forces analysis

An introduction

Porter's Five Forces is a framework for industry analysis and business strategy development formed by Michael E. Porter of Harvard Business School in 1979. It draws upon Industrial Organization (IO) economics to derive five forces that determine the competitive intensity and therefore attractiveness of a market. Attractiveness in this context refers to the overall industry profitability. An "unattractive" industry is one in which the combination of these five forces acts to drive down overall profitability. A very unattractive industry would be one approaching "pure competition", in which available profits for all firms are driven down to zero. Three of Porter's five forces refer to competition from external sources. The remainders are internal threats. Porter referred to these forces as the micro environment, to contrast it with the more general term macro environment. They consist of those forces close to a company that affect its ability to serve its customers and make a profit. A change in any of the forces normally, requires a business unit to re-assess the marketplace given the overall change in industry information. The overall industry attractiveness does not imply that every firm in the industry will return the same profitability. Firms are able to apply their core competencies, business model or network to achieve a profit above the industry average. A clear example of this is the airline industry. As an industry, profitability is low and yet individual

companies, by applying unique business models, have been able to make a return in excess of the industry average. Porter's five forces include - three forces from 'horizontal' competition: threat of substitute products, the threat of established rivals, and the threat of new entrants; and two forces from 'vertical' competition: the bargaining power of suppliers and the bargaining power of customers. This five forces analysis, is just one part of the complete Porter strategic models. The other elements are the value chain and the generic strategies. Porter developed his Five Forces analysis in reaction to the thenpopular SWOT analysis, which he found unrigorous and ad hoc.

The Five Forces

Defining an industry
An industry is a group of firms that market products which are close substitutes for each other (e.g. the car industry, the travel industry). Some industries are more profitable than others. Why? The answer lies in understanding the dynamics of competitive structure in an industry. The most influential analytical model for assessing the nature of competition in an industry is Michael Porter's Five Forces Model, which is described below:

The threat of the entry of new competitors

Profitable markets that yield high returns will attract new firms. This results in many new entrants, which eventually will decrease profitability for all firms in the industry. Unless the entry of new firms can be blocked by incumbents, the abnormal profit rate will tend towards zero (perfect competition).

The existence of barriers to entry (patents, rights, etc.) The most attractive segment is one in which entry barriers are high and exit barriers are low. Few new firms can enter and non-performing firms can exit easily.

Economies of product differences Brand equity Switching costs or sunk costs Capital requirements Access to distribution Customer loyalty to established brands Absolute cost Industry profitability; the more profitable the industry the more attractive it will be to new competitors.

The threat of substitute products or services

The existence of products outside of the realm of the common product boundaries increases the propensity of customers to switch to alternatives:

Buyer propensity to substitute Relative price performance of substitute Buyer switching costs Perceived level of product differentiation Number of substitute products available in the market Ease of substitution. Information-based products are more prone to substitution, as online product can easily replace material product.

Substandard product Quality depreciation

The bargaining power of customers (buyers)

The bargaining power of customers is also described as the market of outputs: the ability of customers to put the firm under pressure, which also affects the customer's sensitivity to price changes.

Buyer concentration to firm concentration ratio Degree of dependency upon existing channels of distribution Bargaining leverage, particularly in industries with high fixed costs Buyer volume Buyer switching costs relative to firm switching costs Buyer information availability Ability to backward integrate Availability of existing substitute products Buyer price sensitivity Differential advantage (uniqueness) of industry products

The bargaining power of suppliers

The bargaining power of suppliers is also described as the market of inputs. Suppliers of raw materials, components, labor, and services (such as expertise) to the firm can be a source of power over the firm, when there are few substitutes. Suppliers may refuse to work with the firm, or, e.g., charge excessively high prices for unique resources.

Supplier switching costs relative to firm switching costs Degree of differentiation of inputs Impact of inputs on cost or differentiation Presence of substitute inputs Strength of distribution channel Supplier concentration to firm concentration ratio Employee solidarity (e.g. labor unions) Supplier competition - ability to forward vertically integrate and cut out the BUYER

The intensity of competitive rivalry

For most industries, the intensity of competitive rivalry is the major determinant of the competitiveness of the industry.

Sustainable competitive advantage through innovation Competition between online and offline companies Level of advertising expense Powerful competitive strategy The visibility of proprietary items on the Web used by a company which can intensify competitive pressures on their rivals.

How will competition react to a certain behavior by another firm? Competitive rivalry is likely to be based on dimensions such as price, quality, and innovation. Technological advances protect companies from competition. This applies to products and services. Companies that are successful with introducing new technology, are able to charge higher prices and achieve higher profits, until competitors imitate them. Examples of recent technology advantage in have been mp3 players and mobile telephones. Vertical integration is a strategy to reduce a business' own cost and thereby intensify pressure on its rival.

Usage

Strategy consultants occasionally use Porter's five forces framework when making a qualitative evaluation of a firm's strategic position. However, for most consultants, the framework is only a starting point or "checklist" they might use "Value Chain" afterward. Like all general frameworks, an analysis that uses it to the exclusion of specifics about a particular situation is considered nave. According to Porter, the five forces model should be used at the line-ofbusiness industry level; it is not designed to be used at the industry group or industry sector level. An industry is defined at a lower, more basic level: a market in which similar or closely related products and/or services are sold to buyers. A firm that competes in a single industry should develop, at a minimum, one five forces analysis for its industry. Porter makes clear that for diversified companies, the first fundamental issue in corporate strategy is the selection of industries (lines of business) in which the company should compete; and each line of business should develop its own, industry-specific, five forces analysis. The average Global 1,000 company competes in approximately 52 industries (lines of business).

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Criticisms
Porter's framework has been challenged by other academics and strategists such as Stewart Neill. Similarly, the likes of Kevin P. Coyne and Somu Subramaniam have stated that three dubious assumptions underlie the five forces:

That buyers, competitors, and suppliers are unrelated and do not interact and collude.

That the source of value is structural advantage (creating barriers to entry).

That uncertainty is low, allowing participants in a market to plan for and respond to competitive behavior.

An important extension to Porter was found in the work of Adam Brandenburger and Barry Nalebuff in the mid-1990s. Using game theory, they added the concept of complementors (also called "the 6th force"), helping to explain the reasoning behind strategic alliances. The idea that complementors are the sixth force has often been credited to Andrew Grove, former CEO of Intel Corporation. According to most references, the sixth force is government or the public. Martyn Richard Jones, whilst consulting at Groupe Bull, developed an augmented 5 forces model in Scotland in 1993. It is based on Porter's model and includes Government (national and regional) as well as Pressure Groups as the notional 6th force. This model was the result of work carried out as part of Groupe Bull's Knowledge Asset Management Organisation initiative.

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Porter indirectly rebutted the assertions of other forces, by referring to innovation, government, and complementary products and services as "factors" that affect the five forces. It is also perhaps not feasible to evaluate the attractiveness of an industry independent of the resources a firm brings to that industry. It is thus argued that this theory be coupled with the Resource-Based View (RBV) in order for the firm to develop a much more sound strategy.

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References
1. Michael Porter, Nicholas Argyres, Anita M. McGahan, "An Interview with Michael Porter", The Academy of Management Executive. 2. Rainer and Turban, (2009), Information systems and the modern organisation. In Introduction to information systems ( 2nd Edition, Ch 2, pp 38-39), Wiley. 3. Kevin P. Coyne and Somu Subramaniam, The McKinsey Quarterly, 1996, Number 4, pp. 14-25. 4. Michael E. Porter. "The Five Competitive Forces that Shape Strategy", Harvard Business Review, January, 2008, p.86-104.

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