Question 2 is on Porter's Five Forces that identifies and analyzes five competitive forces that shape every industry and helps determine an industry's weaknesses and strengths. Five Forces analysis is frequently used to identify an industry's structure to determine corporate strategy. Porter's model can be applied to any segment of the economy to understand the level of competition within the industry and enhance a company's long-term profitability. The Five Forces model is named after Harvard Business School professor, Michael E. Porter. Below Porters analysis is on a business that recruits students for summer jobs. Answer the questions based on this Porters analysis. Information Strategy Suppose you decide to start a business that recruits students for summer jobs. You will match available students with available jobs. You need to learn what positions are available and what students are available for filling those positions. In starting your business, you know you will be competing with local newspapers, and websites such as Craigslist (www.craigslist.org), and you own college student placement office. You will probably have other local competitors as well. Below is the structure of this industry according to Michael Porters five forces model.

Competitive Force	Strength Assessment/Force	Threat
New Entrants	Threat of new entrants: weak	Barriers to entry: Credibility with employers, access to students
Rivalry	Rivals threat: strong	Customers influenced by price/marketing/ position volume
Substitutes	Local newspapers threat: Craigslist.org threat: medium College placement office threat: medium Bulletin boards threat: weak	Local newspapers (expensive but ubiquitous, also probably online) Craigslist.org (zero switching costsfor most cities) College placement office (zero switching costs, possibly limited listings) Bulletin boards (zero switching costs, not convenient for most employers)
Supplier	Employers bargaining power: strong, due to many substitutes ISP bargaining power: weak	Employers (low switching costs) Internet Service Provider (Website many competitors including free services)
Customer	Student bargaining power: weak	Students

(a) Describe briefly your recommended competitive strategy based on the above Porters analysis?

(b) Describe the primary value chain activities as they apply to this business?

(c) Examine briefly a business process for recruiting students?

(d) Recommend information systems that could be used to support the busines process described in Q2(c)?

(e) Identify the THREE (3) competitive forces and TWO (2) bargaining forces from the above Porters analysis.

(f) Describe briefly which economic principle comes into play when discussing bargaining forces