External Perspective
Porters
Power of Buyers: Low
Power of Suppliers: Low
Threat of new entrants: Low to medium
Threat of Substitutes: Low
Competitive Rivalry: high

Conclusion (Opportunities and Threats):
• It is useful to think in term of Opportunities and Threats as this information will form the basis of the Opportunity and Threats for the company
Threats
Economies of Scale
Competitive Rivalry
Threat of new entrants

Opportunities
Marketing
Product Diversity
• Adding new service (i.e. credit lines)
Specialize in products
Technology to connect suppliers
Policy to regulate suppliers
Location & Hours of Services PEST
Political
• Trend away from Monopolies
• Tension over decrease Unionization
• More targeting of emerging markets by corporations for labour
• Tension between countries over trade issues etc. (China, US etc.)
• Government has minimum pricing points
• Lower wages in this sector is causing tension politically in the area health care and insurance in the US
• Trend toward companies using tax havens
Economic
• Ending a recession o Recession and decrease disposable income
• Restructuring of tax in US
• Trend to governments bailing out companies and countries
• Many emerging markets moving into middle class
• A word wide investment dependency
• Slow job growth rate
• High bankruptcy rate
• Stock market fluctuations
Social
• More online sales
• More consumer concern about CSR
• People want faster, sooner and more choice for less
• Backlash and protesting against big business (OCCUPY WALLSTREET ETC.)
• The is world wide tension