Basic Porter 5-forces analysis
Requirements: A large surface to place a Porter 5-forces model and the relevant cards.
Steps
- Select a market you would like to discuss and explore (e.g. the mountain bike industry in Norway). Write it on a post-it and place it in the center.
- Draw five forces around the market:
- Threat of new competition
- Threat of substitute products or services
- Bargaining power of buyers
- Bargaining power of suppliers
- Intensity of competitive rivalry
- Divide the group into smaller teams and allocate each team at least one force.
- Look at the market from your assigned force and describe the current situation on post-it notes placed in the corresponding force.
- Discuss each team’s result as a group and reach consensus on which notes are most applicable.
- You now have a complete overview of the current market situation across the five forces.
- Divide the group again and allocate each team at least one force.
- Preferably use one deck of STEEP cards per force (one deck for all forces also works).
- For each force: select cards that influence it and place them there; discuss and reach consensus on how the force is affected (use the patterns of change as a starting point); write the result on paper next to the card.
- You now have a complete overview of the Porter 5-forces situation with the relevant STEEP external forces.
- Discuss each team’s result as a group. Use the insights to develop or adjust your market strategies.