Getting Started
- Select an appropriate industry for your venture.
- Determining your industry designation or classification code can be helpful to get a sense of your industry.
- The two most common industry classification systems are NAICS and SIC. Both are hierarchical, organized by broad industry categories, each divided into more specific industries.
- NAICS (North American Industry Classification System) Developed in 1997, by Canada, the United States and Mexico. Industry codes are from 2-6 digits long.
- SIC (Standard Industrial Classification) An older industry classification system. NAICS was intended to replace SIC, however, some resources still use SIC codes to classify information
- Note: If you are researching a very specific or new industry, it may not be included in these industry classification systems.
Finding Five Forces Analysis - Industry databases
- Use the following tools to conduct Five Forces analysis on your selected industry:
- Database: Marketline (run a search for industry reports - type the industry name in the search box. Consult the video tutorial "International industry research: Marketline" for assistance finding Five Forces analysis)
- Database: Thomson One (look in analyst reports – see video tutorial “Analyst reports: Thomson One”)
Tip
There is not a ready-made Five Forces analysis available for every industry. If you can't find one, consider searching for a related industry or a larger industry and evaluate whether or not the same factors apply to the industry you are researching.
Finding Five Forces Analysis - Journal databases
- Consider running a search in trade journal databases: ABI/Inform Complete, Business Source Complete, Factiva, LexisNexis Academic. Search for articles using a well-formed search strategy (see below).
Tip when constructing your search
Use a company or industry name combined with the following suggested sample search terms in any of the above trade journal databases.
Five Forces Search Strategies
- Bargaining Power of Buyers
- (bargain* OR negotiat* OR influenc* OR power) AND (enter actual buyers of product or venture)
- (pric* OR cost*) AND (switch* OR sensitive*)
- Bargaining Power of Suppliers
- (bargain* OR negotiat* OR influenc* OR power) AND (enter actual suppliers of product or venture)
- (pric* OR cost*) AND (switch* OR sensitive*)
- Industry Rivalry (Rivalry among Existing firms)
- (marketplace OR compet* OR "market share" OR "market size" OR dominan* OR position* OR segment*)
- Threat of Substitutes
- (differentiat* OR unique* OR new OR improv*)
- (substitu* OR alternat* OR chang* OR new OR compar* OR unique)
- Barriers to Entry (Threat of New entrants)
- (barrier* OR regulat* OR licens* OR tariff* OR restrict* OR trade*)
Tips when searching for articles
- "*" is a truncation symbol for variation word endings
- Boolean operators, AND, OR & NOT are used to connect search terms
- For searching help, click the "?", "Help", or "Tips" buttons on any of the trade journal databases.
- Consult these video tutorials for additional tips: Finding Articles on a Topic, Finding Newspaper Articles, Better Searching Using AND, OR, NOT, Using Keywords Effectively