1. RIVALRY AMONG COMPETING FIRMS:

 

The rivalry among competitors is a factor very important for every company because every single company needs to have an advantage over the competition and the advantage, which is creating an added value, is going to generate benefits to the company for example a benefit could be the loyalty of the customers that prefer choose our products or services than other firms products and this loyalty would bring for us profits.

 

During our investigation we could find that there is no a formal established company that offer the service of walking a dog, there are many informal people that offered the services and that’s what we are going to use as an advantage.  the competition between these people consist in price war and posting their services as classified publication through social web pages were they try to convince customers about their professionalism and experience to gain customer´s confidence and thus get more clients.

 

Also with the investigation we find a company of dog’s care that would be our principal competitors the name of the company is doggy walker, the company is a firms with more than 3 years of experience offering the service and this is an advantage that they have over ours, but using good strategies and showing the people that our company also would give a good service and would take care of the dogs in a perfect way, we are going to gain customers confidence and loyalty.  

 

2. POTENTIAL ENTRY OF NEW COMPETITORS:

 

In this second force established by Porter’s it is critical to determine how easily a new organization can enter de industry because this will led to know how much competitive will be among firms. This industry is not jet well establish in waling dogs, so there are many persons entering the business and offering this service by an informal way. However, as the industry includes other kind of services such as dog training and caring, and these can be studied much more. Pets industry in Colombia is not just too easily to enter; there are many and different kind of competitors, with different ideas and services that customers have a lot where to choose. This makes new companies rethink the idea of entering and recognize that if they really want to enter, they must better come up with a new idea that will generate value to the service they are offering. It is also necessary to take into account that not everyone is dog-friendly, so by this side not so many people will be interested; nevertheless last year’s trends have been the care for the environment and animals, a very “eco-friendly” trend and organizations with ideas that benefit pets are growing.

 

In conclusion, for this concern, the industry might have a semi-permeable barrier, where people with a “caring animal feeling” will be disposed to come up with new ideas and additionally as there are not that much regulations for the government, there are no so many permission requirements; but as there are already many firms that offer different kind of services and some have prices that can be neither compared nor achieved, the industry can get complicated to enter, leaving to the conclusion that it competitiveness is not so strong but neither weak.

 

3. POTENTIAL DEVELOPMENT OF SUBSTITUTE PRODUCTS:

 

Porter develops these five force analysis in order to support strategic planning in a competitive environment. Porters basically want to help organizations to develop a kind of survival plan in an existing market in order to evaluate all their internal and external characteristics against competition. One of he’s force is “Potential development of substitute products” I which he evaluates:

 

• Alternative price/quality

• Markets distributions changes

• Fashion and trends

• Legislative effects

 

These are the four main factors costumers changed or substitute products in a short period of time. First because of its price if they see the same or similar product in different stores and with different prices most of the clients will take the cheapest one no matter if it has a lowest quality. This is way Doggy Buddy must try to present and sell a better and sophisticate service with a high quality standard but with a normal and average price. On the other hand organizations may do some market distribution changes like for example; greater empowerment of specialized channels, E-commerce, benchmarking, outsourcing and thinking globally.  These factors will make our organization use market distributions changes in order to advance and change favorably for reaching success and overpass the competition. Another factor that is significant in this force is fashion and trends, as fashion is a trend that is always changing in the external environment and firms must adapt to this aspect before is too late. People nowadays like to have the best and last things which it was released to the market as they don’t like to be old fashonista and they want to be modernize. This will be a problem to our industry as there are many people who wants the last and better products to be used and implemented to their dogs in our company, so fashion and trends will be a factor that we will have to be aware day to day in order to innovate and modernized.  Finally the last aspect is the legislative effect which means all the factors that has to do with rules, laws and regulations. This is also an important and determinant aspect for our business as it must be up with all this laws and with any other inconvenient that occurs. Having and advance in this feature will give us a move forward from the competition as we will be evaluating and analyzing constantly all these four aspects.

 

In conclusion the stronger each of these aspects is, the more our business is limited in its ability to raise its strengths and therefore achieve higher profits. Investing heavily in R&D, control distributions channels, react aggressively to new entrants and to competitors for example with price reductions will minimize our market threats and will give us more and more strategies every day in order to overpass competence and reach success preferably in short term period.

 

4. BARGAINING POWER OF SUPPLIERS:

 

Nowadays, it’s important for all members of a supply chain to work together and help each other for their own benefit. The relationship between suppliers and produces is not the exception. When in an industry there are big number of suppliers, when the substitute raw materials are little, and when switching the company´s raw materials have a high cost, the competition in the industry becomes greater and greater. As this level of competition increases, every company from an industry most create new strategies within there should be included how to gain the best relationship with suppliers as is needed for reducing cost, obtaining raw materials first or better than the competition, etc.   

 

Doggy Buddy belongs to the dog care industry and this industry is not the exception of the bargaining power of suppliers. This force affects our industry since the suppliers of dog care products have a high cost as the newest technology is from outside the country. Also, the Colombian suppliers that sell the products needed in the industry are limited and there´s not too much substitute raw materials, that makes the competition higher and more difficult for Doggy Buddy to enter.

 

5. BARGAINING POWER OF CONSUMERS:

 

When costumers buy in volume, their bargaining power represents a major strength that affects the intensity of competition in the industry.

 

In the case of the pet care industry the bargaining power of consumers is high because the services and products that the industry offer are standard and undifferentiated. When this happens consumers frequently negotiate the selling prices of goods and services, to provide better goods, and improved all costumers services al in this industry of pet care services costumers are particularly important to all the sellers.

 

The buyer power in the pet industry can be considered powerful because consumers an price sensitive, consumers are well educated about the pet services, and the fact that there are many pet services alternatives available in pet industry in Colombia. The 37% of Colombian people have pets in their house, and the favorite is the dog with 69%. This way consumers in Colombia use pet services for their dogs’ stability.

 

Clark, P. (2009). business and management . UK: Oxford.

 

Muñiz, R. (s.f.). Marketing XXI. Recuperado el 21 de Agosto de 2015, de Los cambios en la distribución: http://www.marketing-xxi.com/los-cambios-en-la-distribucion-66.htm

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