Porter's Five Forces
A Porter's Five Forces analysis looks at the forces listed below to determine the level of competition within an industry and its potential profitability:
- Competitive Rivalry within an Industry
- Threat of New Entrants
- Threat of Substitute Products
- Bargaining Power of Suppliers
- Bargaining Power of Customers
All of these elements have a significant impact on an industry's strength and potential growth.
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In the Business Source Complete database,some Industry Profiles include Five Forces Analyses. (Look for Industry Profiles in the Browse column on the right of the database home page.)
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See the Industry Research Using Porter’s Five Forces handout below for more search techniques.Links to the databases mentioned in the handout are in the "Recommended Databases" box below.
Recommended Databases
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ABI/INFORM This link opens in a new window The ABI/INFORM Collection includes three comprehensive databases: ABI/INFORM Global, ABI/INFORM Trade & Industry, and ABI/INFORM Dateline. Together, they provide access to thousands of full-text journals, dissertations, working papers, and key business and economics publications such as The Economist and MIT Sloan Management Review. The collection also features in-depth country and industry reports, as well as major news sources like The Wall Street Journal. With broad international coverage, the ABI/INFORM Collection offers researchers a global view of companies, industries, and business trends. It also delivers valuable historical context, with content that dates back to the early 1900s.
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Business Source Complete This link opens in a new window This database contains monographs, major reference works, book digests, conference proceedings, case studies, investment research reports, industry reports, market research reports, country reports, company profiles, SWOT analyses, detailed author profiles and more. Indexing and abstracts for scholarly business journals back as far as 1886 are included.
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IBISWorld This link opens in a new window IBISWorld provides in-depth reports on over 700 industries. Each report consists of 30 to 40 pages of key statistics and analysis on market characteristics, operating conditions, current and forecast performance, market size, market share of competitors, and industry growth rates. U.S. Specialized Industry Reports cover niche and emerging industries. Global Industry Reports provide world industry analysis. Subscription includes:US Industry NAICS ReportsUS Specialized Industry ReportsUS iExpert summary reportsUS Specialized iExpert summary reportsState Industry ReportsState Economic profilesGlobal Industry ReportsChina Industry ReportsPan EU Industry ReportsBusiness environment profilesBusiness environment profile - CA.Inflation Tracker toolibis
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Mergent Market Atlas This link opens in a new window Provides details on company financials, ratios, business segments, descriptions, sustainability, officers and directors and access to a multitude of company, industry, index, ESG and economic data views and reports. Mergent Market Atlas delivers the same comprehensive suite of financial information used by professionals under LSEG's Refinitiv and FTSE Russell brands. Note: Mergent Online is discontinued by the vendor. Mergent Market Atlas is the new platform for accessing content previously found in Mergent Online.
Porter's Five Forces Search Strategies
IBISWorld (see link in box above) is an excellent source of industry information. ABI/INFORM Complete (see link in box above) is another resource. When using ABI/INFORM, use a company or industry name combined with the following suggested terms:
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Customer Loyalty
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(buyer* or customer* or consumer*) AND (preference* or motivat* or behavior* or attitude* or loyalt* or psychographic* or segmentation* or demographic* or value creation)
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Product/Service Substitution
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(substitu* or alternat* or chang* or new or compar* or unique)
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Strategic Focus
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(strateg* or challeng* or risk* or succeed* or fail* or opportunit* or threat* or compet* or shift* or partner*)
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Bargaining Power
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(bargain* or negotiat*)
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Barriers
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(barrier* or regulat* or licens* or tariff* or restrict* or trade*)
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Buyer/Seller Power
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(size or concentration* or market share* or position* or dominan*)
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Rivalry
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(marketplace or compet* or market share* or market size* or dominan* or position* or segment*)
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Product/Service Differentiation
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(differentiat* or unique*)
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Price Switching
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(pric* or cost*) AND (switch* or sensitive*)
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Distribution
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(distribut* or supply chain* or logistic*)
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(distribut* or supply chain* or logistic*) and channel*
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* is a truncation symbol used in these databases which allows searching for variations of a word. For example, distribut* searches distributor(s), distribution, distributed, etc.
Source: adapted from Goizueta Business Library , Five Forces Search Strategies by Susan M. Klopper