Entry

According to Post and Courier , South Carolina has 3 of the top 20 fastest growing cities in the country. The state has seen a constant influx of new residents that is not predicted to slow in the next 10 years. Charleston, Myrtle Beach and Hilton head have added over 150,000 new residents in since 2010 collectively, with over half being in Charleston. South Carolina represents one of our primary markets and an established base of operations for our company. In the Atlanta market, growth is expected

Economies of Scale As a company grows, not all costs increase with it, and some may even go down. Incumbent companies who have economies of scale can hence have a significant cost advantage over new entrants and smaller competitors. Economies of scale can be demand-side or supply-side and may be found in the cost of: • Original research • Raw materials • Manufacturing and production • Marketing to larger audiences • Shipments and logistics • Service and support • Attracting talented personnel Overcoming

forces that affect competition. This includes factors affecting the strength of buyer bargaining power, factors affecting competition from substitute parts, factors affecting the strength of supplier bargaining power, factors affecting the threat of entry, and finally factors affecting the strength of competitive rivalry. In terms of factors affecting the strength of buyer bargaining power, the buyer bargaining power is weak. Buyers purchase the toys infrequently and in small quantities. The average

FIVE FORCES ANALYSIS WORKSHEET Exhibit III-1 Five Forces Affecting Industry Structure ENTRY BARRIERS Economies of scale Proprietary product differences Brand identity Switching costs Capital requirements Access to distribution Absolute cost advantages Proprietary learning curve Access to necessary inputs Proprietary low-cost product design Government policy and international treaties Expected retaliation RIVALRY DETERMINANTS Industry Growth Fixed (or storage) costs/value-added Intermittent overcapacity

Porters 5 forces “Understanding the Tool Five Forces Analysis assumes that there are five important forces that determine competitive power in a business situation”. (http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMC_08.htm) Supplier Power: the fewer suppliers’ choices you have and the more help from suppliers you require will help to determine how powerful your suppliers are. Suppliers of key parts and supplier with unique products and services can drive up the price of your materials or services

Porter 's Five Forces A MODEL FOR INDUSTRY ANALYSIS The model of pure competition implies that risk-adjusted rates of return should be constant across firms and industries. However, numerous economic studies have affirmed that different industries can sustain different levels of profitability; part of this difference is explained by industry structure. Michael Porter provided a framework that models an industry as being influenced by five forces. The strategic business manager seeking to

forces. The five forces are the entry of new entrants, the threat of substitutes, the bargaining power of buyers, the bargaining power of suppliers, the rivalry among the existing players Threat of new entrants The force refer to what level of easiness or difficultness is for new entrants to compete and also which barriers do exist. The force also refers to the barriers of entry that are already exist such as rights, patents. It also shows the high and low of entry barriers and exit barriers. The

A. Overview of Starwoods Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. is one of the largest hotel companies in the world. It was originally formed by a real estate investment firm Starwood Capital under the name of Starwood Lodging and was run by the ambitious Barry Sternlicht. Later on Starwood Lodging came to be known as Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc after Barry Sternlicht stepped down as CEO. The company owns and operates hotels leading brands such as Sheraton

SUMMARY  In general, manager’s look at competition has been too narrow. There is a broad set of competitors that need to be looked at, which are described in “The Five Competitive Forces That Shape Strategy” by Michael E. Porter. The model explains that there are several other forces in the competition for profits that the strategist should be aware of when forming a stagey. Those forces determine the profitability of the industry and are the most important to look at when you are forming a strategy

Natural entry barriers include ownership of a key scarce resources, high set-up and R&D and also economies of large scale production. While artificial barriers refer to predatory pricing, limit pricing, a strong brands, advertising and etc. (Economics Online, nd) High barriers of entry will also causes the firms to be allocative and productively inefficient. This is because once the firms become