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.

 Databases is the fourth tab in the Library's main search area. Click the letter S here.

 

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.

The Industry Survey tab is one of many directly under the top search bar.

 

2) Find a complete scrolling list of Industry Surveys organized by sector on this page and click the closest match.

Sortable table of surveys.

 

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.

A keyword box appears if you click the sort button between the Headline and Type buttons.

 

4) Click the PDF icon next to a report to see the full text.

The PDF button is in the right-most column on each survey line.

 

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.

Example of survey table of contents.


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.

Search bar with AT&T as an example. AT&T Inc and AT&T Corp are suggested.

 

2) NetAdvantage will suggest matches, which you can click on, or you can select your desired company from the results list after you search.

a short list of matching companies will appear.

 

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.

There are many facets in the left menu when you go to a company profile. Industry Surveys is near the bottom.

 

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.

Survey headlines are in the fifth column of the results table, with Telecommunications surveys appearing in this example.

 


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.

 

  • Last Updated Apr 14, 2022
  • Views 99
  • Answered By Matt Young

FAQ Actions

Was this helpful? 1 0