Understanding the Five Forces

Porter regarded understanding both the competitive forces and the overall industry structure as crucial for effective strategic decision-making. In Porter's model, the five forces that shape industry competition are:

Competitive rivalry. This force examines how intense the competition currently is in the marketplace, which is determined by the number of existing competitors and what each is capable of doing. Rivalry competition is high when there are just a few businesses equally selling a product or service, when the industry is growing and when consumers can easily switch to a competitors offering for little cost. When rivalry competition is high, advertising and price wars can ensue, which can hurt a business's bottom line. Rivalry is quantitatively measured by the Concentration Ratio (CR), which is the percentage of market share owned by the four largest firms in an industry.

Bargaining power of suppliers. This force analyzes how much power a business's supplier has and how much control it has over the potential to raise its prices, which, in turn, would lower a business's profitability. In addition, it looks at the number of suppliers available: The fewer there are, the more power they have. Businesses are in a better position when there are a multitude of suppliers. Sources of supplier power also include the switching costs of firms in the industry, the presence of available substitutes, and the supply purchase cost relative to substitutes.

Bargaining power of customers. This force looks at the power of the consumer to affect pricing and quality. Consumers have power when there aren't many of them, but lots of sellers, as well as when it is easy to switch from one business's products or services to another. Buying power is low when consumers purchase products in small amounts and the seller's product is very different