Five Forces Industry Scorer
Score Porter's five forces in five minutes and find the one force to defend against first.
Example scenario—not a forecast or verified benchmark. Enable JavaScript to edit inputs, view charts, save locally and export your analysis.
Example inputs
- Industry or market you are scoring
- Commercial HVAC services in our metro
- There are only a few serious competitors in our market.
- 2
- Competitors regularly cut prices to win jobs.
- 4
- The market is growing fast enough that everyone can win new business.
- 3
- Starting a competing business would require major capital, licenses, or expertise.
- 4
- Established brands and relationships make it hard for newcomers to win customers.
- 4
- Customers can easily find and trust a brand-new provider online.
- 3
- Our customers are many and small; no single buyer has much leverage.
- 3
- Switching to another provider would be costly or painful for our customers.
- 2
- Customers buy on outcome and trust more than on lowest price.
- 4
- We can buy our key inputs (materials, labor, software) from many suppliers.
- 3
- We could switch our main supplier within a month without major cost.
- 2
- Our suppliers rarely raise prices faster than we can pass them on.
- 3
- There is no cheaper or DIY alternative that solves the same customer problem.
- 4
- New technology is unlikely to make our service unnecessary in the next 5 years.
- 4
- Customers rarely choose to just live with the problem instead of paying us.
- 3
Example results
Commercial HVAC services in our metro: industry attractiveness 52/100 (Moderately attractive). Defend first against competitive rivalry (intensity 67/100).
- Industry attractiveness
- 52/100
- Rating
- Moderately attractive
- Force to defend first
- Competitive rivalry
- Competitive rivalry intensity
- 67/100
- Threat of new entrants intensity
- 33/100
- Buyer power intensity
- 50/100
- Supplier power intensity
- 58/100
- Threat of substitutes intensity
- 33/100
What stands out
Competitive rivalry: intensity 67/100
This force is a meaningful drag on pricing power. Differentiate on a dimension rivals ignore (speed, guarantee, niche specialization) so you stop competing on price.
Supplier power: intensity 58/100
This force is a meaningful drag on pricing power. Qualify a second source for your top 3 inputs and negotiate volume or term agreements to cap price increases.
Buyer power: intensity 50/100
This force is a meaningful drag on pricing power. Reduce customer concentration, bundle services, and move key accounts onto multi-year agreements with value-based pricing.
Threat of substitutes is weak (intensity 33/100)
This is a structural advantage. Lean on it in pricing and positioning.
1 of 5 forces are intense (60+)
Industry structure leaves room for above-average margins if you execute well.
Next actions
- Priority 1, competitive rivalry: Differentiate on a dimension rivals ignore (speed, guarantee, niche specialization) so you stop competing on price.
- Priority 2, supplier power: Qualify a second source for your top 3 inputs and negotiate volume or term agreements to cap price increases.
- Validate the two highest-intensity scores with 5 customer and 3 supplier conversations before setting strategy.
Model assumptions & limitations
- Each force is scored from three self-assessed statements; intensity = 100 - favorability.
- All five forces are weighted equally; in practice one force often dominates a specific industry.
- Rating bands (under 35 unattractive, 35-50 challenging, 50-65 moderate, 65+ attractive) are ACG rules of thumb.