1. The trading industry is a complex one that involves dealing with many different stakeholders while making strategic alliances with suppliers of raw materials, manufacturers and transporters. A porters 5 forces analysis reveals that the suppliers in this industry (including those that supply raw materials and those that manufacture) are highly fragmented and are high in number. As a result no single supplier firm commands a dominant market share in their respective product markets. Trading companies not only have more negotiation power on the bargaining table but also establish guidelines, which their suppliers must follow. As a result suppliers to this industry do not wield much bargaining power.
The buyers of the services rendered by
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Although competing in this industry is not capital intensive there exist significant economies of scale and learning which new comers will take time to take advantage of. Most importantly its only those firms that have a strong established global network that succeed in this industry, firms entering this industry will require time and significant resources in order to be able to compete or prevent being acquired by the incumbents in this industry.
With the increasing pace of globalization many firms have begun going directly to the manufacturers removing the need for generalized trading firms. Although this may seem like a significant threat to firms within the industry it is neutralized by the fact that any company going directly to the manufacturer will always be at the risk of hold up. In addition to that risk there is no way to be completely sure that they are getting the best price for their needs. Trading firms offer significant value adding activities like quality control and timely delivery, which are skills and capabilities that are acquired over years of experience in the industry.
The Porter’s 5 forces analysis reveals that this is an industry in which competition is faced by many acquisitions and mergers. There are many firms within the trading industry all with various skills specializing in various areas of the industry. Firms compete on the
Porter’s Five Forces (1980), named after Michael E. Porter, is a critical framework to access the level of risk and degree of potential profitability of each industry in which firms are competing. Specifically, five forces are shown in Figure 1, are includes competition between rivalry, potential of new entrant, threat of substitute products, and pressure on bargaining power of suppliers and customers.
Therefore this industry is a pretty good one to already be in, but would be very tough to try and break into. Since established firms do not have to worry about threat of entrants or substitution, they can focus on making their core business practices cost efficient and profitable. Although firms have to deal with high buyer and supplier power, every firm has to deal with these issues. Therefore this leaves only rivalry to compete on, which forces firms to stay sharp, observe the competition, and provide excellent service to the firm’s customers to generate profit.
The Bargaining Power of Suppliers (Moderate): Most of the industry’s products are sourced and manufactured by a network of third parties. The supplier group is diluted compared to the industry; KMD alone has over 45 suppliers. There is credible threat of suppliers adopting forward integration resulting in loss of major suppliers and emergence of new competitors for the industry. Highly effective and specialised products will pose high supplier switching costs for industry firms.
First, Porter’s Five Forces analysis method is used as an “initial step” in evaluating new markets. This method is first introduced in the book during Justin and Scott Beckett’s, VP and General Manager of Oil and Gas division at HGS, meeting in which they discussed their analysis of the men’s white dress shirt industry. Beckett goes as far as using the Five Forces model to describe how all kinds of threats are high (Rivalry, Buyer Power, Substitutes, Entry, and supplier Power). Justin quickly buys into Beckett’s argument and how the men’s white dress shirt industry is not a viable option for Plastiwear to enter. This is an example of Justin deterring from his original views and altering them to agree with the other party, which cannot be necessarily correct in the situation regarding Beckett’s view. As senior director, Ken McCombs states, the most attractive industries according to the five forces approach would have no rivalry, no close substitutes, no threats, and no powerful buyers or suppliers. This type of industry makes us go with lower risk markets, which
Bargaining power of supplier: High levels of competition among suppliers act to reduce prices to producers. This is a positive for Ford Motor Company. Standardization of parts allowed Ford to reduce dependency on fixed supplier/vendor which goes into producer’s favor.
Bargaining Power of Suppliers: A producing industry requires raw materials - labour, components, and other supplies. This requirement leads to buyer-supplier relationships between the industry and the firms that provide it the raw materials used to create products. Suppliers, if powerful, can exert an influence on the producing industry, such as selling raw materials at a high price to capture some of the industry's profits. Tesco maintains direct professional business relationships with all their suppliers of organic food and non-food product worldwide. They also conduct supplier viewpoint surveys to find out what their suppliers think of Tesco.
As we begin to strategically plan for our business, it is important for us to take a deep dive into our competitive environment to understand where we are strong competitively and where we are weak competitively. An analysis of the forces driving industry competition using M.E. Porter’s Five Forces Model will assist us in determining where the power lies in a business situation as we begin to plan. We must understand how they work in our industry and how they affect our particular situation. Whatever the collective strength of these forces is, our job as the strategists of the organization is to
Bargaining power of suppliers: The inputs to this industry are fuel, planes, vans, customs & permits etc. the companies do liaison
The bargaining power of suppliers is medium. Since corporates conditions vary, whether the power of suppliers is strong should be determined accordingly. But to survive in the online retailing industry, keeping a close relationship with the suppliers is imperative. Many of the multi-national companies in the industry is depending on limited numbers of suppliers that are concentrated in production, differentiated in products, and not heavily relied on a single industry, which give them great bargaining power and can better facilitate the corporations’ success. Small companies may not have established such strong alliance with its vendors.
In his article “The five competitive forces that shape strategy“, Michael Porter (2008) updates and extends his “five forces” framework he first introduced in 1979 and which has influenced the academic and business research for decades. He reaffirms that “THREAT OF ENTRY”, “THE POWER OF SUPPLIERS”, “THE POWER OF BUYERS”, THE THREAT OF SUBSTITUTES”, and “RIVALRY AMONG EXISTING COMPETITORS” are the forces that shape every single industry, and a thorough understanding of such forces help analyze everything from the intensity of competition to the profitability and attractiveness of any industry. The framework has two dimensions; the vertical dimension that connects
The bargaining power of buyers stands in a direct relationship with the bargaining power of suppliers. If the bargaining power of buyers is substantial it increases the opportunity cost of suppliers. The greater the buyers concentration the greater their bargaining power. This bargaining power is also increased in markets where the suppliers’ concentration is high. The bargaining power is also increased when the cost of switching from one supplier to another is low. In instances where backward vertical integration is possible i.e. buyers setting up their own chains of suppliers the bargaining power of the buyer increases in that their prices may become more competitive. In a market where the buyers are more concerned over quality than price their bargaining power decreases as they are less inclined to shop
The average general supply and average population of supplier’s gives suppliers’ substantial but finite bargaining power on companies like Ford. Plus, many of the suppliers have low forward vertical integration, meaning that they have no stake or controlling power on the dispersion and selling of their products to Ford. The suppliers bargaining ability becomes even weaker due to Fords backward vertical integration by the Ford River Rough Complex. Through the Complex, Ford makes several materials it uses to make cars and colligated completed products. This suggests that Ford needs to understand the substantial but finite outside factors connected with its supplier’s effect on the company.
-The costs which can be borne, and the investment required to compete in the industry.
Porter's Five Forces can be applied to particular companies, market segments and industries with the step-by-step analysis of market structure and competitive situation. First of all, when implementing this module in organizations, it is necessary to determine the scope of the market to be analyzed. Following, all relevant forces for this market analyzed and key forces are identified (Gerry and Kevan, P.117). Actually some organizational strategy and the longer-term goals are mainly based on or consistent with the key forces. Hence, it is not necessary to analyze all elements of all competitive forces with the same depth. Moreover, the key forces in the competitive environment will vary in different industry. Different forces take on prominence in shaping competition in each industry (Porter,
Porter’s five forces are used to determine the competitive intensity and attractiveness of a market. These are close forces that affect a company’s ability to make a profit and serve customers. If any of these forces change, a company must reassess its marketplace. The five forces include: the threat of substitute products, the threat of the entry of new competitors, the intensity of competitive rivalry, the bargaining power of customers and the bargaining power of suppliers.