Using an industry with which you are familiar apply each element of Porter’s Five Forces model
Railroad industry in North America:Generate a response to each peer discussion. Each response may include information from the text, handouts (attached), personal experiences and opinion to demonstrate critical thinking and application. At least one source must be cited and referenced in each initial post.
BOOK I’M USING: Dyer, J., Godfrey, P., Jensen, R., & Bryce, D. (2016). Strategic management: Concepts and tools for creating real world strategy. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Here is what the discussion is about:
Using an industry with which you are familiar, apply each element of Porter’s Five Forces model (Porter, 2008) to the industry by briefly explaining how each element affects the industry. Selecting one company from within that industry, select 2-3 of the 8 general environment trends (Dyer et al, 2016, pp. 34-38) that are having or could have the most impact on the company. Justify your selection of trends using sources.
Here are the discussions that need responses:
PEER 1 DISCUSSION:
Railroad industry in North America.
Threat of new entrants: Low
Finite availability of tracks.
Capital intensive to develop new tracks.
Capital intensive to purchase and maintain equipment.
Threat of substitutes: Moderate – High
Freight shipping could occur through other means such as trucks, sea, and air.
Passenger travel could occur via automobile and planes.
Rivalry among existing firms: Moderate
Only a small number of freight and passenger railways exist.
Limited substitution options.
Differentiation limited to service and on-time records and capacity to serve.
Exit barriers high considering asset depreciation, workforce contracts.
Bargaining power of buyers: Low
Limited freight & passenger options.
Varying switching costs.
Bargaining power of suppliers: High
Unionized workforce.
Limited bulk fuel options.
Limited car and locomotive manufacturers.
Environmental factors affecting railroad company CSX:
Within the railroad industry, economic conditions and political, legal, and regulatory factors have and will continue to impact CSX. In recent years, earnings and volumes have been down significantly, and can be traced to the reduced demand for coal and the bottoming out of commodity prices (Bryan, 2016). However, a silver lining can be found in the fact that the transportation of petroleum products is up appreciably; with CSX carrying almost “50,000 car loads by rail in 2013” (Lacey, 2014, para 6). The uptick in oil transport can be directly linked to political, legal, and regulatory factors.
“When new laws are passed, they may alter the shape of an industry and influence the strategic actions that firms might take” (Dyer, Godfrey, Jensen, & Bryce, 2016, p 38). Currently, the keystone XL pipeline is being held up because of delays in environmental impact reports as well as in the courts to decide if landowner rights have been violated; which places doubts that the pipeline will completed in the near term (Lacey, 2014). In the meantime the unintended benefactors are company’s like CSX that transport the oil in the absence of the pipeline, and also find themselves laying new track just to keep up with demand (Lacey, 2014).
The shuttering of coal mines may have impacted CSX and other railroads negatively, but the keystone troubles may very well be what lifts volumes and earnings for years to come.
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PEER 2 DISCUSSION:
The healthcare industry is a complex industry and has its many challenges. With Porter’s Five Forces the threat of new entrants to the market is not likely, because of the cost of capital to enter the market is of significant value and only serious players would consider it. Bargaining is a win for the hospital industry, because patients have very little bargaining power. The cost will remain high and the patient can’t do much about it. Bargaining for the supplier of medical suppliers is high and can drive up the costs. There is little the hospital can do and the supplier has some leverage with providing high quality and safe products. Rivalry in most cases is not a big deal and most patients are brought to the nearest hospital. Threat of substitution is minimal with some homecare and natural remedies. Over all the costs of healthcare is the primary concern for the industry. Another bargaining obstacle is the costs of the doctors which drives up the enormous prices use consumers receive (Porter, 1996).
Geisinger is a large provider of healthcare facilities in the Pennsylvania. Operating roughly a dozen in-resident patient facilities and providing a large portion of the healthcare needs for an expansive region. The two general environmental trends that s feel has a future impact on the company are technological change and political, legal, and regulatory forces. With the change in technological advances comes the ease of practicing medicine. Devices are being modernized and can create an area where competition can move in and take a portion of the market. Especially in the preventive care market of having specialized smaller facilities. The political environment of the last administration has also put a hindrance on the industry with increased regulations and new laws. For example, the federal Affordable Health Care Act, enacted in 2009, mandates that health insurers cover everyone, including those with preexisting conditions. This may change the cost structure of the industry, potentially resulting in consolidation and less rivalry, as inefficient firms either go out of business or are acquired by more viable firms (Dyer, Godfrey, Jensen, & Bryce, 2016, p 38).
Overall, I think this industry has many challenges and they will not be resolved too soon. The cost associated with the training needed by all employees, equipment, facilities, insurance companies and regulations is a huge obstacle.
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PEER 3 DISCUSSION:
For this assignment we will look at Porter’s five forces of: rivalry, buyer power, supplier power, threat of new entrants and threat of substitute products for as they apply to the retail industry (Dyer, Godfrey, Jensen, & Bryce, 2016, p 25). Rivalry in the retail industry is extremely competitive and requires the company to keep prices at a minimum. Key to this rivalry is the differentiation that firms must place on their products and then convey those differences to the public (Delaney, 2017). Buyers carry all the power in the retail industry because they have many options when it comes to where they make their purchases. Getting the best price is extremely important to buyers and easy thanks to new advances in technology that allow for searching both brick and mortar as well as internet based stores. Suppliers have very little power in the retail industry because department stores are now able to buy their products from across the entire globe or even produce their own name brands. While competing with large national retailers is nearly impossible, small retail stores are constantly opening to serve niche markets that are underserved by the national retailers. Substitute products are available online and in-store in most cases where there are few differences in the features of the product itself.
JC Penney operates within the retail industry and they have faced several challenges in recent years. Technological changes have severely changed the retail industry recently. Online companies like Amazon have technologies that allow shoppers to instantly compare prices between the store that they are standing in and the online prices. Additionally this technology allows the user to read reviews from other users that have purchased the same product. The economic growth of our country has a huge impact on the success of JCPenney. Without any growth of the economy the company must look to other geographic regions to experience any growth. In tough economic times the consumer will reduce their purchasing habits in order to save money. JC Penney must keep their focus on value proposition in order to identify the customers they wish to serve, the needs of those customers, how they will satisfy those needs and the benefits to the customer (Horwath, 2014, p42).
Answer preview to using an industry with which you are familiar apply each element of Porter’s Five Forces model
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