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Porter's Five Forces

Audience: CEO, Strategy Manager
Page Type: How-To Guide
Duration: 30-45 minutes

What This Module Does​

Porter in COS is an analysis workspace where you create:

  • A Porter analysis per planning period and org unit
  • Porter entries under the five force categories
  • The KPIs the analysis uses (from the KPI register, with weights)

Important: this module does not run an automatic weighted industry score in the current product flow. You record and manage entries directly.

Entry Model (Actual)​

Each Porter entry uses this structure:

  • Category: COMPETITIVE_RIVALRY, SUPPLIER_POWER, BUYER_POWER, THREAT_OF_SUBSTITUTION, THREAT_OF_NEW_ENTRY
  • Summary: required short statement
  • Detail: optional explanation
  • Risk fields (optional):
    • isRisk
    • riskPrimaryCategory (single)
    • riskSecondaryTags (multi)
    • riskLevel (0..1)
    • riskProbability (0..1)
    • on-the-fly score: riskLevel * riskProbability

Step-by-Step​

Step 1: Create Porter Analysis​

  1. Go to Situation Analysis → Analysis Tools → Porter's Five Forces
  2. Click Start Analysis
  3. Fill:
    • Name
    • Planning period (from global cycle filter)
    • Org unit
    • Description (optional)
  4. Create

Step 2: Add Porter Entries​

  1. Open analysis detail page
  2. Select a force category
  3. Add record:
    • Summary (required)
    • Detail (optional)
    • Optional risk fields (mark as risk, category/tags, level, probability)
  4. Save

Step 3: Add KPIs​

KPIs are not copied into the Porter analysis; the analysis uses KPIs from the KPI register. In the KPIs section of the detail page, Add KPI offers 4 tabs:

  1. From library (new KPI): creates a new KPI from a library item and adds it (with the duplicate warning).
  2. From KPI register: adds an existing KPI from your scope.
  3. From another report: picks from another report's KPIs (e.g. Status Report); the same KPI is added and measurements are shared.
  4. From previous cycle: adds the KPIs of the same unit's Porter analysis in a previous closed cycle, with their weights.

Use Weights to set each KPI's weight for this analysis. When the analysis's planning period is closed, the KPI list is locked. See KPI Tracking › Adding KPIs to reports.

Step 4: Track Measurements​

Measurements belong to the KPI, and every report that uses the KPI shows the same series. Enter measurements from the KPI detail (the KPI drawer of an active report or Goals & Tracking → KPI Tracking). Measurements can be entered by the KPI's responsible, the leaders of the owner unit and its parent units, and administrator roles. Edit permission on the analysis alone does not grant measurement authority.

Workflow Status​

Porter analysis lifecycle:

  • DRAFT
  • PUBLISHED
  • ARCHIVED

Notes:

  • PUBLISHED / ARCHIVED does not lock the KPI list; the KPI lock depends only on the planning period being closed.
  • Same-state publish/archive is blocked.
  • Archived analysis cannot be re-published directly.

Tips​

  • Keep summary text decision-focused; use detail for evidence
  • Use risk level/probability consistently across entries
  • Do not overload the analysis with low-signal entries