Essay on the Porters Five Forces Model

When it comes to business, competitive strategy is defined as an organization’s long-term strategy for establishing a competitive advantage over its industry competitors. Its goal is to develop a defensive position in a given industry while also achieving a greater return on investment. It is worth noting that market share competition is not limited to other businesses. Instead, rivalry in a sector is founded on the sector’s underlying economics, and competitive dynamics extend far beyond the industry’s well-known warriors. The competitive climate of an enterprise is influenced by five fundamental forces, customers, supplies, potential entrants, and substitute products. They may be more or less visible or active than others, depending on the industry. The combined strength of these impacts defines an industry’s eventual profits. The most significant competitive force or forces must be identified and considered while establishing a business plan in order to influence an industry’s profitability. The most powerful force, on the other hand, is rarely seen. While commodities firms’ competitiveness is often intense, it is not always the most important factor in determining profitability. In the photographic film sector, for example, low returns result from introducing a superior substitute product.

New entrants bring increased capacity and a desire to expand market share to a sector, putting downward pressure on prices, costs, and the rate of investment required competing. Diversifying from other markets allows newcomers to disrupt the market by leveraging their existing capabilities and cash flows, as Pepsi did when it entered the bottled water business, Microsoft did when it entered the internet browser business, and Apple did when it entered the music distribution business, to name a few examples. The company can create a barrier to entry of other companies by creating a competitive advantage over the other by example, economies of scale, and product differentiation. For instance, Airtel automobile uses its position to manipulate the price and offers from its product since it already established in the market and uses its position to discourage others from entering the market unless they lower their prices. Its positioning gives it an indirect positive effect on competitive advantage. In a research done by Huang’s (2015) position of the company, the market may give it a temporary competitive advantage in improving incomes and technical abilities, which increase competitive advantage sustainably continuous.

Industry competitors, in order to have a competitive edge against other industry competitors, you must first learn who your competitors are and what they provide so that you can differentiate your products, services, and marketing activities, Differentiate yourself from the competition by setting competitive rates and responding to competitor marketing activities with your own initiatives. This knowledge can be applied to creating marketing strategies that capitalize on your competitors’ flaws while also enhancing your own company’s success. New competitors joining the market and existing competitors becoming more aggressive are two more dangers to consider. If you have this knowledge, you will be able to be more realistic about your prospects of success. For example, online colleges can compete against existing public universities by introducing at least three courses every year. They can be able to attract more students who may want to join their college. Online college can gain its competitive advantage by using information system since people give thoughtful consideration when choosing the education system, big university name, facilities, and services offered as a few considerations when choosing which college to attend. A good image and status give a positive appraisal as compared to other companies. According to Venkatesh et al. (2012), he found out that information system for academics has an essential effect on the image. Thus, the image has an important impact on competitive advantage. According to (Egberongbe 2011; Sharma, 2009), Scholarly communication has been significantly affected but technological development because of the likelihood of delivering goods and services to a big market regardless of geographical location. For example, by offering differentiated products can offer a competitive advantage, Heiko et al. (2010) reported that differentiation had a competitive advantage. The result confirmed the influence of complex customer needs, innovation, service differentiation, and performance on a company’s competitive edge. Differentiation in terms of infrastructure, content, and context positively impacts a company’s competitive edge like online college.

The threat of substitutes, according to Porter’s five forces of competitiveness, alters the competitive structure of a sector. Substitution has the potential to harm an industry’s competitive environment and, as a result, its firms’ ability to achieve profitability. A substitution threat impacts the profitability of an industry because consumers may choose to purchase the alternative product rather than the industry’s product in the case of a substitution threat. Greater availability of near-replacement items can boost an industry’s competitiveness while simultaneously reducing profit margins for participating businesses. However, the absence of close substitute items diminishes an industry’s competitiveness while simultaneously increasing the profit potential of industry firms, on the other hand. For example, when it comes to the beverage industry, which faces a slew of competitors, the threat of substitutes is obvious. There is competition between private and public universities. Online college, for example, can gain a competitive advantage with the information system if it put in place a quality assurance and quality control system. They can offer quality services; this will positively impact its customers view quality services as one of the most significant factors when selecting a product. Since the college uses an information system, they can provide information to their student and staff with ease, improving their performance effectively. The online college can also provide many courses that their competitors and online courses do not provide; Quality of data is determined by the quality system, which leads to improvement of organization performance; it can offer e-learning and customer focus introduction. Evolving technologies have transformed the outdated library into a computerized, electronic, virtual, and digital library (Saeed and Sheikh, 2011). The information system will have a significant outcome, and the satisfaction of the user will determine success. The use of information and communication technology effectively in the management of education in universities will be supported when reinforced by the growth of management of information systems that is effective (Hanna, 2003).

The bargaining power of the supplier refers to the pressure that suppliers may exert on businesses by raising prices, reducing product quality, or limiting the availability of their items. The existence of powerful suppliers diminishes an industry’s profit potential by threatening to raise prices or lower the quality of goods and services. As a result, they have a detrimental influence on profitability in an industry where firms are unable to recoup cost increases through price increases. For example, SPLC Company providing electricity may use their monopoly power since only a few companies can provide electricity by raising electricity charges or rationing electricity. Other small firms providing electricity may also try to increase the costs, but that will have an impact on their customer may shift.

Bargaining power of buyers is a term used to describe the pressure that customers/consumers can put on businesses in order to get better products, better customer service, and/or lower prices. The presence of influential buyers reduces the earning potential of an industry. Creating competition within an enterprise is accomplished by buyers forcing suppliers to decrease prices while bargaining for higher quality or more services and pitting competitors against one another in order to obtain a competitive advantage. As a result, the profitability of the industrial sector is lowered. Customers with a lot of buying power will always want to pay less and get more, putting your ability to make regular profits and develop your business in jeopardy. You must be mindful of the potential negative impact of powerful purchasers on your profitability and devise strategies to mitigate that damage as soon as possible, such as designing items that stand apart from the competition or incorporating proprietary components into them. This can be done by either offering after-sale services, lowering prices for current clients, and offering differentiated value. For example, wool mart supermarkets, for them to gain a competitive edge against other supermarkets, can try to lower prices for certain products, offer better packaging for their customers, and free delivery, thus they will be able to maintain their customers and attract new customers.

Conclusion

By company creating its competitive edge that is its ability to exert leverage over its competitors, by providing superior and enhanced value to clients, Product or service advertisements that advertise a lower price or excellent quality stimulate the interest of consumers; this can create brand loyalty, as well as the reason why customers will choose their product against their competitor’s product. In order to achieve a competitive advantage, understanding the value proposition is key to success. Customers may gain a competitive advantage due to the value proposition’s effectiveness, which is to say if it gives them more and more excellent value than they expect. With the right value proposition, you have the opportunity to elevate customer expectations and broaden their choices.

References

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Gebauer, H., Edvardsson, B., Gustafsson, A. and Witell, L. (2010). Match or mismatch: Strategy-structure configurations in the service business of manufacturing companies. Journal of Service Research, 13(2), 198-215.

Hanna, N. K. (2003). Why National Strategies are needed for ICT-enabled Development. World Bank Staff Paper. Washington, DC: World Bank.

Huang, S. Y., Lee, C. H., Chiu, A. A., and Yen, D. C. (2015). How business process reengineering affects information technology investment and employee performance under different performance measurements. Information Systems Frontiers, 17(5), 1133-1144.

Saeed, U.I and Sheikh, R.A. (2011). Automation of University Libraries: A Comparative Analysis of Islamabad and Khyber Pukhtoon Khwa, Pakistan. Library Philosophy and Practice. Retrieved from http://www.webpages.uidaho.edu/~mbo lin/jan-sheikh.htm on 8th September 2013.

Tomescu, S. (2009). The importance of electronic library services for academic study and research. Retrieved from htttp://www.yumpu.com/en/document/view/48068 49/The-importance-of-electronic-library-services-elearningeuropainfo on 14th September 2013.

Venkatesh, V., Thong, J. Y. and Xu, X. (2012). Consumer acceptance and use of information technology: extending the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology. MIS Quarterly, 157-178.