BUSINESS
Is It Time to Reconstruct Porter’s Five Forces?
A discussion about a 40-year-old business model and two new dimensions that leaders must now consider
Before exploring Michael Porter’s five forces model, allow me to paraphrase a biography of the man himself to qualify his work.
Who is Michael Porter?
“Michael E. Porter is a professor, based at Harvard Business School. Professor Porter, the author of 17 books and over 125 articles, is a leading authority on competitive strategy and the competitiveness and economic development of nations, states, and regions. Professor Porter’s ideas on strategy are the foundation for modern strategy courses, and his work is taught at the Harvard Business School and at virtually every business school in the world” (www.worldcongress.com).
This article describes each element of porters five forces while proposing two potentially new dimensions that leaders need to consider today.
Background
To appreciate the model that Porter proposed back in 1979, let’s consider the following keywords for context.
