Research Guides: Industry Research: Porter's 5 Forces

About Porter's 5 Forces

The Porter's Five Forces model is a standard business tool used to analyze industries. The five forces are:

Threat of New Entrants
Bargaining Power of Suppliers
Bargaining Power of Buyers
Threat of Substitute Products or Services
Rivalry Among Existing Competitors

Finding Information for 5 Forces Analysis

You can find information to conduct a 5 Forces analysis in the following databases:

Industry, company, product, and market information can be found in business periodicals and journals, business newsletters, and other news sources. Articles in these publications supplement the information found in specialized business resources.

IBIS World

IBISWorld This link opens in a new window
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Limited to 30 downloads per session.
IBISWorld Industry Market Research reports covers about 680 U.S. industries written at the 5-digit level of NAICS. Each report contains key statistics, market characteristics, segmentation, industry conditions, performance and outlook. These reports are written by industry specialists.
Each report is updated every 4 months.

Use IBIS World Research for Porter's 5 Forces Analysis (PDF)

Business Source Premier

Business Source Premier This link opens in a new window
Business Source Premier contains coverage for more than 2,300 journals covering a wide range of business topics. In addition, the databases includes access to company profiles, country reports, industry reports, market research reports and SWOT analyses.

Example: I want a report that discusses Michael Porter's Five Forces and how they relate to the cell phone industry.

Type mobile phones into the first box
Type united states into the second box
Scroll down to Publication Type and select Industry Profile
Click Search
The report titled Mobile Phones Industry: the United States from the company MarketLine will have a five forces analysis
Tip: this analysis is very brief and other resources may be necessary to complete your 5 forces analysis