| bargaining power of buyers | Ability of buyers to bargain down prices charged by firms in the industry or to raise the costs of firms in the industry by demanding better product quality and service.
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| bargaining power of suppliers | Ability of suppliers to bargain up prices charged by firms in the industry or to raise the costs of firms in the industry by supplying lower-quality products and service.
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| barriers to entry | Factors that make it costly for potential competitors to enter an industry and compete with firms already in the industry.
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| barriers to exit | Factors that stop firms from reducing capacity even when demand is weak and excess capacity exists.
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| brand loyalty | The preference of consumers for the products of established companies.
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| commodity product | A product that is difficult to differentiate from those produced by rivals.
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| competitive structure | The number and size distribution of incumbent firms in an industry.
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| complementors | Firms providing goods or services that are complementary to the product produced by enterprises in the industry.
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| consolidated industry | An industry dominated by a few large companies.
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| demographic forces | Outcomes of changes in the characteristics of a population, such as age, gender, ethnic origin, race, sexual orientation, and social class.
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| discontinuous change | Change that fundamentally transforms the nature of competition in the task environment.
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| economies of scale | Cost advantages derived from a large volume of sales or production.
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| external environment | Everything outside a firm that might affect the ability of the enterprise to attain its goals.
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| five-forces model | Model of competitive forces that determine the intensity of competition in an industry.
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| fixed costs | The costs that must be borne before the firm makes a single sale.
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| fragmented industry | An industry with many small or medium sized companies.
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| general environment | Political and legal forces, macroeconomic forces, demographic forces, sociocultural forces, technological forces, and international forces.
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| human capital | The knowledge, skills, and capabilities embedded in individuals.
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| incremental change | Changes that do not alter the basic nature of competition in the task environment.
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| industry-specific regulators | Government agencies with responsibility for formulating, interpreting, and implementing rules specific to a particular industry.
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| intangible resources | Nonphysical assets that are the creation of managers and other employees, such as brand names, the reputation of the company, processes within the firm for performing work and making decisions, and the intellectual property of the company, including that protected through patents, copyrights, and trademarks.
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| internal environment | Everything inside a firm that affects managers' ability to pursue actions or strategies.
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| macroeconomic forces | Forces that affect the general health and well-being of a national or the regional economy, which in turn affect the profitability of firms within that economy.
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| organizational culture | The values and assumptions shared within an organization.
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| political and legal forces | Industry changes resulting from changes in laws and regulations.
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| punctuated equilibrium | A view of industry evolution asserting that long periods of equilibrium are punctuated by periods of rapid change when industry structure is revolutionized by innovation.
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| resource-based view | A view that resources of an enterprise can be a source of sustainable competitive advantage.
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| resources | Assets that managers have to work with in their quest to improve the performance of an enterprise.
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| sociocultural forces | The way in which changing social mores and values affect an industry.
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| substitute products | The goods or services of different businesses or industries that can satisfy similar customer needs.
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| switching costs | The time, energy, and money required to switch from the products offered by one enterprise to those offered by another.
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| SWOT | Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
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| tangible resources | Physical assets, such as land, buildings, equipment, inventory, and money.
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| task environment | Actual and potential competitors, suppliers, and buyers (customers or distributors); firms that provide substitute products to those sold in the industry; and firms that provide complements.
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| uncertainty | An inability to predict with accuracy the nature, magnitude, timing, and direction of change in the environment.
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