Sunday, February 14, 2016

Week 6 Reading Reflection

The biggest surprise for me in the reading was the chart on page six. This chart showed a graph of the profitability of selected U.S. Industries using Return on invested capitol (ROIC) as the appropriate measure. What was surprising to me about this was that oil and as Machinery are below the national average in terms of ROIC.

One part of the reading that was confusing to me was the differences between the threat of a substitute and the threat of an entry. Threat of a new entry puts pressure on prices, costs, and the rate of investment. Doesn’t the threat of the substitute do the same? I was confused as to what the differences are between the threat of substitute vs. threat of entry.

Should an organization that operates in the field of household appliances be more concerned about a threat of a new entry or the threat of a substitute?
The Profitability of Selected U.S. Industries graph on page six, where do you see that changing in the next ten years? Do Security Brokers, Soft Drinks and Prepackaged Software stay at the top? Or is there a change in trend?


I disagree that the five competitive forces reveal whether an industry is truly attractive in terms of investing. Also, I disagree that an investor can make solid economic predictions based on the five forces. The five forces of competition can help us identify strong and weak industries but should not be the guide for which companies to invest.

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