Fundamental Structuring Element in Business

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Porter’s five forces model is quite useful and it provides a number of benefits , its most contribution is that perhaps for the first time there is a relevant tool to help entrepreneurs find the fundamental structuring elements of their given business operation. It is the map showing where the company is and where they hope to be (Flesicher, 2007).further more Schmidt (p.82, 2010) adds that “The five forces help to identify where the power lies in the current business situation, This is useful both in considering the strength of an organization’s current competitive position and the strength of a position that the organization wants to move into.”By understanding where the power lies, the model can be used to identify the areas of strength, to improve weaknesses and to avoid mistakes; also strategic analysts often use the theory to understand whether new products and services are potentially profitable (Roy, 2011).
The five forces is an analytical tool for assessing the competitive environment as Henry (p.70, 2008) states that “It enables an organization to determine the attractiveness or profit potential of a particular industry by examining the interaction of five competitive forces.” it’s the combined power of these five forces that eventually determines an organization’s return on investment or the profit potential within a given industry. Porter (2008) adds that by examining all the five forces an organization is able to assess its potential to compete effectively in an industry. The five forces also enables the organization to improve its competitive position in relation to industry trends for instance awareness trend towards an alliance among suppliers (leading to high supplier power) might lead an organization...

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...table institutions may be not true . Also the issues of corporate social responsibility and business ethics are not mentioned (Hollensen, 2008).Using the five forces model in complicated industries requires for too much time and resources to be practical.
The five forces model is being questioned on numerous occasions as without any regular updates, any knowledge or information gained from using the model will quickly be outdated as its only crafted to provide a snapshot of any given market. In 1997, Adam Brandenburger and Barry Nalebuff went on to propose what they termed as “sixth force”(impact of complementors) with complementors described as the companies outside the industry that sell goods and services that complement industry competitors(Roy,2011) but despite its limitations the five forces model is quite relevant today is still used by many organizations.

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