Week 6 Reading Reflection

Questions

1) What was the biggest surprise for you in the reading? In other words, what did you read that stood out the most as different from your expectations?

If you reflect on it, the five competitive forces are pretty intuitive.  The way Michael Porter breaks them down and then provides specific examples was something that I was not expecting and learned a lot from.  His examples were especially pertinent and made the concept come alive.

2) Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.

The difference between factors and forces is something that requires more reflection and research.  The distinction is hard to identify in some situations.

3) If you were able to ask two questions to the author, what would you ask? Why?

The exhibit on page 6 shows profitability of selected U.S. industries.  Where is the profitability of financial services companies?  I would speculate that it would be above the mean of 14.9%.

Is it not possible for some factors to be forces in specific industry situations?  For example, government or government regulation may be a competitive force in some heavily regulated industries.

4) Was there anything you think the author was wrong about? Where do you disagree with what she or he said? How?

I need to better understand the distinction between forces and factors but overall, I don’t disagree with anything the author wrote.  His competitive force framework is very powerful in analyzing business at the micro to the macro levels.