When using Porters five forces model, how do managers’ cognitive perceptions and emotions interact with each other to shape their judgements?
Besides applying new ideas to the teaching and practical application of Porter’s five forces, this also offers a most promising area for future research, especially to explore how managers respond to using more advanced and detailed approaches to Porter’s model as contained here. Future research could, for example, focus on questions such as:
� When using Porter’s five forces model, how do managers’ cognitive perceptions and emotions interact with each other to shape their judgements?
� To what extent does introducing managers to Porter’s five forces subsequently influ- ence their thinking, discussions, decisions and actions, and how if at all?
� What are the barriers, as perceived by managers, to using their model effectively and why do these exist?
� Where managers have not been made aware of Porter’s model, to what extent do they conceptualize their competitive environ- ment in similar ways or not?
� How might managers perceive the rele- vance of Porter’s five forces to the more micro project and individual role level?
Hopefully this paper will excite strategy academics to revisit its power and potential.
Biographical note
Tony Grundy is a Senior Lecturer in Strategic Management at Cranfield University School of Management and an active independent man- agement consultant. Tony is the author of 17 books, including Be Your Own Strategy Con- sultant published by Thomson Learning. Before joining Cranfield, his previous career spanned Ernst and Young, BP, ICI and KPMG.
Tony is on the editorial board of Strategic Change.
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