One of the cleverest commercials to air during the Super Bowl this year was T-Mobile's Fave Five commercial. In case you missed it:
Now Porter's Five Forces are a bit different, but pretty cool (in an academic, non-basketball sort of way) none the less. Porter's model focuses on the following five areas:
- Rivalry
- Threat of Substitutes
- Buyer Power
- Supplier Power
- Barriers to Entry
While I like the idea behind Porter's model, and believe it is a great tool to use when analyzing an industry, I have a problem with the conclusions you are supposed to make based on your analysis. After investing what feels like a herculean effort into researching and analyzing an area, it seems to take the easy way out by subjectively ranking the attractiveness of the area from Low, Medium, or High. Why not just say Ugly, Cute, or Drop Dead
Hottie? It means the same and is always in the eye of the
beholder. So ultimately the model is only as effective (and credible) as the person who is trying to
sell it.
Up next: How sexy is the Online Video Game industry?
3 comments:
Madoc
I think you need to review the video you mention here. I saw it, and Porter deems the airline industry one of the worst in terms of attractiveness, exactly where the class analysis resulted. Perhaps you misinterpreted his analysis--it merits revisiting since you posted it on your blog.
--prof K
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