Where can I find industry information to build a 5 Forces analysis?
Answer
What are the 5 Forces?
Michael Porter's 5 Competitive Forces is a framework for assessing the competitive environment within a given industry. The strength of these factors - the threat of new entrants; the bargaining power of customers; the threat of substitute products or services; the bargaining power of suppliers; and the battle of industry players for position among current competitors - determine profitability and inform strategic planning.
How do I find this information?
Analysis like the 5 forces can be found in Industry Surveys in a database called Standard & Poor’s NetAdvantage. To navigate:
1) Go to the Library's homepage, and click the green Databases tab.
2) Click the letter "S," then click the link to Standard & Poor’s NetAdvantage.
Method 1 - Locating Industry Surveys by browsing
Skip ahead to Method 2 if you prefer to search by keyword or specific companies.
1) At the top of the page, click the tab for Industry Surveys.
2) Find a complete scrolling list of Industry Surveys organized by sector on this page and click the closest match.
3) By default, Industry Surveys are listed in date order with the newest reports first. Any listing factor can be used as a filter by clicking the funnel icon next to that column heading. For example: Click the funnel-shaped icon by headline to search by keyword.
4) Click the PDF icon next to a report to see the full text.
5) The Industry Report summary page should open. 5 Factors information is presented in various areas of the report. Hover over the beige tabs to see what each page contains.
Porter’s Five Forces will usually be listed on the table of contents for the report.
Method 2 - Locating Industry Surveys related to a specific company
1) Industry Surveys and analysis are also attached to company profiles in Standard & Poor’s. You can begin by searching for a company name or ticker symbol in the search bar at the top of the page.
2) NetAdvantage will suggest matches, which you can click on, or you can select your desired company from the results list after you search.
3) The company profile contains extensive information about the company and provides links to related information sources along the left hand side of the page. You should see a link to Industry Surveys under the Research facet.
4) This link will take you to the Industry Surveys menu, with content filtered to only the surveys for the industry(ies) in which the target company operates.
See How do I find a complete 5 Forces industry analysis? to learn how to use Business Source Complete to locate the industry profile reports that contain complete 5 Forces analyses.