ACCA P3考試：Five Forces Model

1 Threats from New Entrants

There are three threats posed by potential new entrants to an industry:

They bring with them new capacity which may directly affect the pricing structures of the industry.

They threaten market share in a very direct way, because they enter the industry determined to achieve "critical mass" as quickly as possible. This will allow them to exploit any scale economies.

The firms within the industry will face increased costs, as they collectively erect and maintain barriers to entry in order to deter new entrants.

A barrier to entry is any mechanism that deters entrants.

2 Threats from Substitutes

A substitute creates a threat to market volume for a product or service when customers might switch to the substitute.

Defences against substitutes are:

To produce and control them;

To buy them;

To differentiate the product to such an extent that customers perceive that there is "no substitute".

3 Bargaining Power of Buyers

Porter suggests that buyers are most powerful when:

They are relatively large in comparison to the seller;

The goods or services sold represent a significant part of a buyer's product cost;

Goods/services are undifferentiated/standard, so alternative suppliers are on hand;

There are few switching costs to prevent them from buying elsewhere;

They threaten backward integration;

They are not quality-sensitive; and

They have full information about the seller's cost structure and margins.

4 Bargaining Power of Suppliers

Suppliers are powerful when:

There are relatively few suppliers of the product or service;

Few or no substitutes exist;

They perceive the customer to be small or unimportant;

Their product is an important component of the customer's product or service;

They provide a differentiated or unique product; and

They threaten forward integration.

5 Rivalry

Porter suggests that rivalry is more powerful where:

Firms are equally balanced;

Industry growth is slow;

Storage costs are high;

There is little product differentiation and therefore little brand loyalty;

Large capacity increments exist due to high stepped fixed costs or large batch sizes;

High strategic stakes (such as investment in factory or retail premises) exist; and

There are high exit barriers (e.g. redundancy costs).