Porter's Five Forces Industry Analysis

Porter's five forces framework explains the underlying profitability of an industry through five competitive forces that together determine how much of the value an industry creates is captured by its firms rather than competed or bargained away. Introduced in Michael Porter's 1979 Harvard Business Review article and developed fully in his 1980 book Competitive Strategy, the framework identifies the threat of new entrants, the bargaining power of suppliers, the bargaining power of buyers, the threat of substitute products, and the intensity of rivalry among existing competitors as the collective forces that set an industry's profit potential. The stronger these forces, the more pressure on margins and the less attractive the industry; the weaker they are, the more room firms have to earn superior returns. Five forces analysis assesses each force to judge industry attractiveness and, crucially, to find a position where a firm can defend itself against the forces or shift them in its favor.