For this week's discussion, the focus will be on examining Porter's Five Forces as a tool for looking at the pressures on profits. Specifically, you will be looking at defining Porter's Five Forces and applying this tool to the market structures and pressures on profits of a chosen group of firms.

Instructions

Review the two groups of firms below:

• Group 1: the accommodations industry (e.g., Hilton, Marriott Bonvoy, InterContintental Hotel Group).
• Group 2: the wireless telecommunications industry (e.g., Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile).

In your discussion post, address the following:

• Which of these groups operates in a monopolistic competitive industry? Which operates in an oligopoly?
• How did you determine the classification of each group? That is, what are the key characteristics of each group that indicate the type of industry it operates in?
• Chose one of the groups and use Porter's Five Forces to analyze the pressures on profits for your chosen group's firms.
• If you want to dig deeper into how one of the firms views the challenges it faces, you might want to look at the firm's investor page.