Five Forces
Stage 1 · Market understanding
Five Forces
Five Forces assesses how attractive and profitable a market is likely to stay, by looking at rivalry, buyer power, supplier power, the threat of substitutes and the threat of new entrants. It explains why some markets earn better margins than others.
Questions it answers
1Will this market stay profitable?
2Where does power sit: with buyers, suppliers or competitors?
3What could undercut us: substitutes or new entrants?
How it works
The steps teams follow in our programs and projects.
Step 1
Rate each force
Rivalry, buyers, suppliers, substitutes and new entrants.
Step 2
Find the drivers
Why each force is strong or weak today.
Step 3
Look ahead
How each force is likely to change.
Step 4
Draw implications
Where to compete and how to protect margin.
What you get
The output
A rated view of the five forces with the implications for strategy and pricing.
Where AI helps
Where judgment decides
Gathers competitor, supplier and buyer information.
Rates the forces and decides what they mean for the business.
From our client work
How clients apply it
Paraphrased and anonymized from recent programs and engagements.
Application 1
Clients use it with PEST to replace intuition with a structured view of market attractiveness.
Application 2
Pricing teams use it to understand why price pressure is coming from buyers or substitutes.
Point of view
Seen in the market
All points of view →Recent Market Edge points of view that apply this tool.
Linked tools
The output of one tool becomes the input to the next.
Questions about Five Forces
Is Five Forces still relevant?
Yes. It remains a fast way to see where margin pressure comes from, especially as specialty markets mature.
Which force matters most in specialty chemicals?
Often buyer power and substitutes, as technical gaps close and specifications converge.
Other tools in stage 1: Market Map · TAM / SAM / SOM · PEST analysis · Five Forces · Value Chain · Risk Analysis and VUCA
Want to use Five Forces on a live plan?
Book a 20–30 minute sounding board conversation with a senior consultant who has sat in your seat. No cost, no commitment.