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Awareness of the five forces can help a company understand the structure of itsindustry and stake out a position that is more profi table and less vulnerable to attack.
78 Harvard Business Review | January 2008 | hbr.org
Peter Crowther
Editor’s Note: In 1979, Harvard Business Review
代写留学生论文published “How Competitive Forces Shape strategy”by a young economist and associate professor,
Michael E. Porter. It was his fi rst HBR article, and itstarted a revolution in the strategy fi eld. In subsequentdecades, Porter has brought his signature economicrigor to the study of competitive strategy for corporations,regions, nations, and, more recently, health care
and philanthropy. “Porter’s fi ve forces” have shaped ageneration of academic research and business practice.With prodding and assistance from Harvard BusinessSchool Professor Jan Rivkin and longtime colleague
Joan Magretta, Porter here reaffi rms, updates, andextends the classic work. He also addresses commonmisunderstandings, provides practical guidance forusers of the framework, and offers a deeper view ofits implications for strategy today.
THE FIVE
COMPETITIVE
FORCES THAT
by Michael E. Porter
hbr.org | January 2008 | Harvard Business Review 79
SHAPE
IN ESSENCE, the job of the strategist is to under-
SSTTRRAATTEEGY
stand and cope with competition. Often, however,managers defi ne competition too narrowly, as ifit occurred only among today’s direct competitors.Yet competition for profi ts goes beyond established
industry rivals to include four othercompetitive forces as well: customers, suppliers,potential entrants, and substitute products. The
extended rivalry that results from all fi ve forcesdefi nes an industry’s structure and shapes thenature of competitive interaction within anindustry.
As different from one another as industriesmight appear on the surface, the underlying driversof profi tability are the same. The global auto
industry, for instance, appears to have nothingin common with the worldwide market for artmasterpieces or the heavily regulated health-care
LEADERSHIP AND STRATEGY | The Five Competitive Forces That Shape Strategy
80 Harvard Business Review | January 2008 | hbr.org
delivery industry in Europe. But to understandindustry competition and profi tability
in each of those three cases, one must
analyze the industry’s underlying structure
in terms of the fi ve forces. (See the exhibit
“The Five Forces That Shape Industry
Competition.”)
If the forces are intense, as they are in
such industries as airlines, textiles, and hotels,
almost no company earns attractive returnson investment. If the forces are benign,as they are in industries such as software,soft drinks, and toiletries, many companiesare profi table. Industry structure drivescompetition and profi tability, not whetheran industry produces a product or service, isemerging or mature, high tech or low tech,
regulated or unregulated. While a myriadof factors can affect industry profi tabilityin the short run – including the weather
and the business cycle – industry structure,manifested in the competitive forces, setsindustry profi tability in the medium and
long run. (See the exhibit “Differences inIndustry Profi tability.”)
Understanding the competitive forces, and their underlyingcauses, reveals the roots of an industry’s current profi tabilitywhile providing a framework for anticipating andinfl uencing competiti