Porter’s Five Forces Analysis

If you’ve ever listened to Warren Buffett talk about investing, you’ve heard him mention the idea of a company’s moat. The moat is a simple way of describing a company's competitive advantages. Company's with a strong competitive advantage have large moats, and therefore higher profit margins. And investors should always be concerned with profit margins.

This article looks at a methodology called the Porter’s Five Forces Analysis. In his book Competitive Strategy, Harvard professor Michael Porter describes five forces affecting the profitability of companies. These are the five forces he noted:

1. Intensity of rivalry amongst existing competitors

2. Threat of entry by new competitors

3. Pressure from substitute products

4. Bargaining power of buyers (customers)

5. Bargaining power of suppliers

These five forces, taken together, give us insight into a company's competitive position, and its profitability.

Rivals

Rivals are competitors within an industry. Rivalry in the industry can be weak, with few competitors that don’t compete very aggressively. Or it can be intense, with many competitors fighting in a cut-throat environment.

Factors affecting the intensity of rivalry are:

* Number of firms – more firms will lead to increased competition.

* Fixed costs – with high fixed costs as a percentage of total cost, companies must sell more products to cover those costs, increasing market competition.

* Product differentiation – Products that are relatively the same will compete based on price. Brand identification can reduce rivalry.

New Entrants

One of the defining characteristics of competitive advantage is the industry’s barrier to entry. Industries with high barriers to entry are usually too expensive for new firms to enter. Industries with low barriers to entry, are relatively cheap for new firms to enter.

The threat of new entrants rises as the barrier to entry is reduced in a marketplace. As more firms enter a market, you will see rivalry increase, and profitability will fall (theoretically) to the point where there is no incentive for new firms to enter the industry.

Here are some common barriers to entry:

* Patents – patented technology can be a huge barrier preventing other firms from joining the market.

* High cost of entry – the more it will cost to get started in an industry, the higher the barrier to entry.

* Brand loyalty – when brand loyalty is strong within an industry, it can be difficult and expensive to enter the market with a new product.

Substitute Products

This is probably the most overlooked, and therefore most damaging, element of strategic decision making. It’s imperative that business owners (us) not only look at what the company’s direct competitors are doing, but what other types of products people could buy instead.

When switching costs (the costs a customer incurs to switch to a new product) are low the threat of substitutes is high. As is the case when dealing with new entrants, companies may aggressively price their products to keep people from switching. When the threat of substitutes is high, profit margins will tend to be low.

Buyer Power

There are two types of buyer power. The first is related to the customer’s price sensitivity. If each brand of a product is similar to all the others, then the buyer will base the purchase decision mainly on price. This will increase the competitive rivalry, resulting in lower prices, and lower profitability.

The other type of buyer power relates to negotiating power. Larger buyers tend to have more leverage with the firm, and can negotiate lower prices. When there are many small buyers of a product, all other things remaining equal, the company