Describe how the industry is organized. Who are the key players in the industry (excluding competitors)?
• How are goods and services produced and delivered to customers? Where are they
produced? What is the level of integration?
• How do distributors, dealers, VARs, and systems integrators fit in?
• A good way to understand the industry is to analyze the supply chain from beginning to
end. This analysis will indicate important competitive forces.

Perform an industry analysis (this section contains information that would come from a Porter’s
Five Forces Analysis but don’t call the analysis that in the plan). Specifically, this subsection
contains information on four of the five forces (bargaining power of suppliers, bargaining power
of buyers, potential entrants, and substitutes) and additional information on other stakeholders
that influence the competitive environment (for example: government regulation or
environmental groups). The fifth force, competitive rivalry will be discussed in another
subsection. Also, note that this is an analysis section: it should provide an analysis of the
information presented in this section and should conclude with some evaluation of the strength of
the force discussed.
•Where are the sources of power in the industry?
▪ Are buyers powerful?
▪ Are suppliers powerful?
•Are governments or other stakeholders (unions, activist groups) powerful? Are there any
key threats in the industry?
Are there many substitute products or services available?
Is it easy to enter and exit this market? What makes entry or exit
easy/difficult? What barriers to entry do new companies face?