porter-five-forces

name	porter-five-forces
description	Use when assessing industry attractiveness, competitive pressure, pricing power, or strategic positioning. Use when applying the Porter Five Forces consulting method and when a user asks for Porter Five Forces, method execution, structured diagnosis, or action planning.
license	Apache-2.0

Porter Five Forces

Use this skill to run Porter Five Forces as a practical consulting method, not as a generic framework explanation.

Method Notes

• Analyze the industry or market structure, not one company in isolation.
• Cover rivalry, entrants, substitutes, buyer power, and supplier power.

Required Inputs

Collect or infer these inputs before execution:

• industry or market
• competitors
• customers
• suppliers
• substitutes

If an input is missing, do not block automatically. Mark it as missing, state the assumption used, and add a validation action.

When Not To Use

Do not use when the industry boundary is unclear or when the task is to compare individual competitors and features. Five Forces examines industry economics and bargaining structure, not company execution.

Adjacent Methods

• pestel-analysis: macro external forces.
• competitive-positioning: buyer-facing differentiation and proof.

Step-by-Step Execution

Step	Required input	How to execute	Output
Define industry boundary	Industry, geography, segment, value chain position.	State the market level being analyzed and exclude unrelated markets.	Industry boundary.
Analyze five forces	Competitors, buyers, suppliers, entrants, substitutes.	Assess rivalry, buyer power, supplier power, new entrants, and substitutes.	Five-forces evidence table.
Rate force strength	Evidence table.	Rate each force high/medium/low with evidence and trend direction.	Force strength profile.
Identify profit pressure	Force profile, economics, margins, switching costs.	Explain which forces capture value away from the business.	Industry attractiveness diagnosis.
Choose strategic response	Diagnosis and company constraints.	Recommend positioning, differentiation, partnership, pricing, channel, or moat actions.	Competitive strategy implications.

Output Template

### 1. Industry Boundary
Market:
Geography:
Customer:
Time horizon:

### 2. Five Forces
| Force | Strength | Evidence | Profit mechanism | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|  |  |  |  |  |

### 3. Structural Pressure
Most important pressure:
Attractive niche / position:
Uncertainty:

### 4. Strategic Responses
| Response | Force addressed | Feasibility | Risk | Validation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|  |  |  |  |  |

### Evidence And Next Decision
- Confirmed facts:
- Assumptions:
- Missing evidence:
- Next action, owner, and timing:
- Expected signal and decision threshold:

Quality Gate

• Produce the method-specific outputs for Industry Boundary, Five Forces, Structural Pressure; do not substitute a generic framework summary.
• Tie every material score, causal claim, or stakeholder judgment to evidence or label it as an assumption.
• Include at least one disconfirming check, sensitivity, alternative explanation, or failure condition appropriate to the method.
• Convert the result into a named action or decision with an owner or stakeholder, timing, and observable signal.
• State missing inputs and the smallest validation action instead of inventing precision.
• Keep wording professional and plain enough that a smart non-specialist can use the output directly.