A. Porters Five Forces Model analyzes the competitive forces within the environment in which a company operates to assess the potential for profitability in a specific industry. Its purpose is to combat these competitive forces by identifying opportunities, competitive advantages and competitive intelligence. If the forces are strong, they increase competition; if the forces are weak, they decrease competition.

Using Buyer Power and Supplier Power as 2 of the 5 forces, provide an example of how MIS can be leveraged by organizations to decrease competition in an industry and how each of Buyer Power and Supplier Power forces can be leveraged to increase competition in an industry.

You only need to think of what you have learned in this course as well as your own personal or professional experiences. You must support your answer with specific examples or strategies. The industry does not have to be the same for each of your 4 examples, but you must identify the industry in your example for context. (9 marks)

Buyer Power

1. Decrease competition

1. Increase competition

Supplier Power

1. Decrease competition

1. Increase competition

B. Will an investment in IT provide an organization with a sustainable competitive advantage (eg. improved year over year earnings)? Why or why not? Explain your answer. (3 marks)

C. From your perspective, what is the value of information in the context of value chain analysis theory? (3 marks)

D. What is disintermediation? Should a manufacturer sell their product directly to the end customer? Why or why not? Explain your answer?