Think you know the competition for your small business or startup? Think again: an introduction to Porter’s 5 forces

One of the reasons I started to write on Medium is to bring my knowledge of competitive analysis and strategy and share it with a) those who wouldn’t typically have access to consultants (i.e family or small businesses) to aid their business, and b) those interested in learning more about strategy and business in a straightforward way.

I’ll introduce frameworks or definitions and then aim to use real-life examples to illustrate them.

Despite working in a commercial setting I strongly dislike unnecessarily complicated business jargon and its overuse, so I’ll try to de-jargon everything but if I miss anything don’t hesitate to drop a comment.

Today we’re going to be looking at Porter’s 5 Forces, and use the example of a micro-home-based bakery, that does to door delivery in a rural area to explore the framework and forces.

This example comes from a business (Rosehill Bakes) my Mum started during the pandemic and grew from an idea into a successful operation delivering across many local homes and businesses.

First a few definitions

Competitors, most people think they know what a competitor is.