Michael Porter’s 5 + 1 Framework

  • Evaluates the influence of the market participants regarding who gets the profits within an industry.
  • Explains why profits vary across the industry ecosystem and between industries.

Five Forces Plus One

  • Existing Industry Competitors (in the center)
  • Potential New Entrants
  • Suppliers
  • Customers
  • Substitute Products/Services
  • Complementary Products/Services

Industry Competitors

Rivalry between existing firms.

  • Price-based drivers
    • Undifferentiated products and low switching costs.
    • High fixed-costs industries
    • Perishability — cut prices or lose
  • Intense industry conditions — slow growth, static market

New Entrants

Barriers of Entry can be a challenge to new entrants.

  • Economies of scale (e.g. Walmart)
  • Customer switching costs (e.g. aircraft manufacturer)
  • Capital requirements (e.g. manufacturing equipment)
  • Incumbency advantage (e.g. mining companies)
  • Access to distribution channels (e.g. P&G and their retailer relationships)
  • Access to suppliers
  • Government policies
  • High barriers to exit

Supplier

Supplier Bargaining Power Factors

  • Supplier concentration (e.g. airplane engines)
  • Industry switching costs (e.g. network hardware)
  • Differentiated products (e.g. QLED/OLED vs LED)
  • Few/no substitutes (e.g. patented pharmaceuticals)
  • Forward integration (e.g. Apple Stores)
  • Low dependence on single industry (e.g. steel industries)

Buyer

Buyer Bargaining Power Factors

  • Customer concentration (e.g. Costco volume buying)
  • Low customer switching costs (e.g. airline customers)
  • Undifferentiated products (e.g. grocery stores buying fresh fruit)
  • Backward integration (e.g. Netflix creating its own content)

Substitutes

  • Competes from outside the industry
  • Zoom vs travel, e-mail vs snail mail

Complements

  • The financial results of the complements can enhance the overall industry profitability.
  • Slow growing industries makes compliments more enticing.
  • e.g. Hotdogs and hotdog buns. iPhones and cars with CarPlay