For the banking industry

For example, the first factor identified is number of competitors. This is implicit in the first bullet point of the afore-mentioned subsection, in which Porter says intensity of rivalry is greatest if competitors are numerous. So create a section titled Number of competitors, and assess this factor and only this factor in that section. You will have to quantify the number of competitors in the industry, and then make a judgement call as to whether or not the competitors are numerous. This isnt explicitly defined; you have to make a call. Dont beat around the bush; make a decision and back it up with an argument. This is the analytic part. Simply stating the number of competitors in the industry is not analysis; it is simply description (which is what I asked you to provide in the prior piece of the project). Here, in addition to providing the number of competitors, you will assess the implications. So, what is the condition of this factor in relation to this industry? Are competitors very few; is there a moderate number of competitors; are there practically countless competitors? The precise way in which you do this is up to you, but you need to make your assessment of this condition clear. Once that has been done, you can then assess the intensity that this factor exerts on the force in question: competitive rivalry. Perhaps the pressure exerted by this factor is minimal; perhaps it is moderate; perhaps it is extreme. Make that call, and make it explicitly. Dont make the reader guess.

In regards to the above factor, traditional economics has long classified industries according to a typology that explicitly integrates the number of competitors as a primary defining aspect. This typology is as follows:

Monopoly

Duopoly

Oligopoly

Monopolistic Competition

Perfect Competition

I will leave it up to you to make the connection. However, this model may help you understand the way in which the number of competitors affects the intensity of competition.

The second factor, derived from the first bullet point as well, could be titled size/power parity. Usually these two elements (size and power) are assumed to be highly correlatedgreater size equals greater power. That may not always hold, of course, but for the purposes of this analysis, we will go with that assumption. The above typology implicitly includes a further assumptionthat firms size/power declines as an industry moves from monopoly to perfect competition, but within the industry type, this condition (size and power of firms) is similar. This is not an assumption we will make; we will allow for the possibility that while two industries may contain the same number of firms, one industry may contain firms that are relatively equal in size and power (and thus more competitive), and the other may contain firms that differ significantly in terms of size and power (therefore less competitive). Thus, we will treat size/power parity as a second, separate factor that requires investigation.

To assess the intensity with which size/power parity impacts competitive rivalry, we need to know the sizes of the firms in the industry under investigation, and then find a way to determine the degree to which they exhibit parity. Are they roughly equal; do they differ significantly, or only moderately? Competitors equal in power lead to a greater intensity (or degree) of competitive rivalry. You need to make a clear, defensible argument with an explicit conclusion, and then connect that determination to the intensity with which the factor impacts competitive rivalry. This means you will need to make a determination of how to measure size, and then figure out a way to assess parity. This is, in effect, the heart of the exercise: how to go from a conceptual understanding of the theory to the concrete operationalization of the principles. That is what you have to work out.