When we discussed in class the company environment, specifically the microenvironment, we briefly talked about Porter's 5 Forces Model. It is a powerful tool that has been widely used (sometimes even misused) to analyze the industry environment, judge industry attractiveness, and even uncover potential sources of competitive advantage. The author, Michael Porter, has reviewed, clarified and updated his model in a recent HBR article. Even if you are not planning to use his model for your group projects, I still very strongly urge you to read the article and watch the associated video. You will find it very useful. Here's the link: http://hbr.org/2008/01/the-five-competitive-forces-that-shape-strategy/ar/1
If you want to learn more about Porter's 5 Forces and how to use the model for your project, QuickMBA has a very detailed description. Here's the link for that: http://www.quickmba.com/strategy/porter.shtml
As usual, any comments, questions, reactions are to be posted here.
Reading the HBR article on Michael Porter's Five Forces and watching the video that accompanied it gave me a better understanding for the concept. He talks about how a lot of people look at competition too narrowly and that they need to take in all kinds of aspects. This gave me a better understanding for the forces and how each industry needs to analyze them and apply them to their business.
ReplyDeleteCourtney, I'm really glad you found it useful! I am sure your group project will benefit greatly.
ReplyDelete