The Wheelchair Market Through M. Porter's The Five Forces That Shape Competitive Strategy

The power of buyers in the industry varies at different levels depending on the field. For pharmaceutical drug companies, which have thousands of patients, customers have lower price sensitivity as they are rarely able to refuse the treatments they need and they have low bargaining leverage due to commonly lack of information as well as knowledge on the drugs. For biotech firms that distribute specialized products to the government and hospitals, their customers actually have more of a bargaining power due to being the sole consumer sources

My invention is a wheelchair that has a bag attached to it. When you push the button that is on the armrest, the bag automatically goes from the back of the wheelchair to the front of the wheelchair onto the person’s lap. This is helpful because if you were in a wheelchair and you needed something from your bag instead of carrying your bag on your lap you could just push a button and the bag comes to your lap. I think this would especially help Chava Willig Levy who gets around in a electric wheelchair. If her bag was able to be in the back of her wheelchair and only on her lap when she needed it Mrs.Levy would me much more comfortable. Mrs.Levy had to get around by herself, and with this invention she could make everyday tasks, like going

Decision Making. Company S can motivate scooter dealerships as intermediaries by involving them in the decision making process. Company S is the producer, so the company should include the dealership in any decision regarding how the product is distributed to their stores, or to the customers. An advantage is the dealership feels a strong sense of ownership in the sales results or responsibility to the company. Another advantage would be that Company S would have a closer involvement with consumer preferences or needs, allowing the company to make better decisions and possibly save money. A disadvantage for Company S would be the exposure to the competition. Company S would be revealing confidential information to dealerships that have previous ties with the competition. There are documents to help protect Company S from a dealership leaking information to the competition, but that does not mean it won’t happen; and once the information is out, it cannot be undone.

Bargaining Power of Buyers: The bargaining power of buyers is high in the department store retail industry. The volume of buyers is high, and buyers are very price sensitive in this industry. The products are not highly differentiated, and there are numerous stores that offer the same, or similar, products, giving buyers the opportunity to search for the lowest prices and information. The industry has substitutes available in the form of specialty, differentiated products and stores. This increases the power of buyers,

Bargaining power of buyers is medium-high because of the low switching costs and wider spectrum of similar products selling at competitive prices due to the influence of developing countries

A manufacturer of durable medical equipment would have to do what any product manufacturer would do. His distribution channels would depend on:

1. The average return on sales (ROS) in the US wheelchair industry is between 1-2% in 1993. What are the most important structural conditions that make the industry unattractive?

While bargaining power of buyers is ranked the least important of the five factors for Mondavi’s strategy, its importance should not be understated. One of the Wine is typically sold to wholesalers who then distribute to retail outlets. With the decreasing number of wholesalers and the consolidation of retailers, buyers negotiating power is increasing. It is difficult for companies like Mondavi to make consistent profits and maintain market share if they cannot keep products on retailers’ shelves.

Bargaining power of buyers: Businesses and individuals all fall under the customer's category for this industry. Big customers do get volume discounts and can negotiate prices with sales representatives. However smaller customers have to take what is being offered to them. The only say they have is that they can switch between the players, but due to intense competition, the prices offered are generally the same across the service band.

Another obvious physical disability is an individual's confinement to a wheelchair. People who cannot walk under their own power are usually at a great disadvantage. Many times there are no special considerations made for these people. Even some typical expressions demonstrate this lack of compassion, such as "I have to run to the store", or "I'm going for a walk." People in wheelchairs are often considered weak and unable to care for themselves. However, some advances have been made in our society that encourages the independence of these people. Wheelchair ramps, handicap parking, and cuts in the curb of sidewalks are just some of the more obvious changes that have been made to better accommodate these people. But some problems may still occur for people in wheelchairs. Some hallways and doors may not be wide enough for the chair to fit through and when it is icy outside it is very easy to slide if the pavement is not sanded properly.

The wheelchair industry is currently (1992-1993) composed of three companies controlling 72% of the wheelchair market (including parts). Even though together they are a dominating force, the overall profitability of the industry is comparable to that of a not a very attractive one, with the top two players averaging a meager 5.7% Net Income and the third one (the former market leader) losing considerable money (see Exhibit A).

As the information technology is constantly developing and there are permanent changes in industrial robotics, new functional solutions and higher possibilities of the industrial robots applications are expected in the foreseeable future (Karabegovic, 2013). The extended rivalry model, developed by Porter, will be applied to the robotics industry to determine how attractive this industry is. By evaluating the strength of individual forces (potential entrants, rivals, substitutes, buyers, and suppliers), it is possible to determine the degree to which forces of globalization influence the structure of the robotic industry.

The market greatly depends on how powerful buyers are in terms of their willingness to pay certain prices. The following determines the bargaining power of buyers

The threat of new entrants refers to the threat posed by new competitors within an industry. If it is easy for new firms to enter the industry barriers to entry are low and the threat of new entrants is high. A profitable industry attracts more competitors. Economies of scale, learning curve effects and other macro factors impact the nature of an industry 's

Bargaining power of buyers -Buyers are not in concentrated groups and do not buy in large amounts. However, within the entertainment industry, customers have a lot of alternatives and have no switching cost. However the introduction of DVDs, influenced customers to purchase DVDs since the cost is almost the same cost of rentals. This makes buyer power moderate (Xie & Lin, 2008).