5 Forces Of Porter Applied To The Airlines Industr

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Porter’s 5 forces applied to the Airline Industry Named after Michael E. Porter, this model identifies and analyzes 5 competitive forces that shape every industry, and helps determine and industry’s weaknesses and strengths. Porter’s model can be applied to any segment of the economy to search for profitability and attractiveness. Porter’s five forces include three forces from “horizontal” competition: threat of substitute products, the threat of established rivals and the threat of new entrants; and two forces from “vertical” competition: the bargaining power of suppliers and the bargaining power of customers. This model is applied here to the Airline industry. Intensity of competitive rivalry * Concentration: the number of firms competing in the airline industry is very high. As of 2007, there were 56 airline companies with about 50 local carriers. Lately, concentration declined as a result of the many mergers and acquisitions made during the economic crisis. * Diversity of competitors: The airline industry is divided into two types of competitors: the major carriers (such as Delta, American Airlines, Air France…) and low cost (that save on in-flight meals, entertainment and baggage handling). * Product differentiation: airlines compete with each other through offering different services, cut-fares, frequent flier membership privilege and other benefits to get more customers to be loyal but the overall product is merely the same in each company. The more similar the offerings among rival firms, the more willing customers are to substitute and the greater the incentive for firms to cut prices to increase sales. * Excess capacity and exit barriers: there is a high cost of leaving the market (contracts give rise to higher closure costs and insolvent companies can keep operating under supervision). * Cost conditions: merging

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