Porter's Five Forces Model

Porter's Model Application to Public Sector

How can public sector organizations apply the principles of Porter's competitive forces model, as seen in the Tate & Lyle case study, to develop competitive strategies and improve service delivery through information systems?

Unlike private sector organizations, public sector organizations represent the sector of the economy that is controlled by the government. To apply principles of Porter's Competitive Forces Model these ideals need to be applied to the public sector environment. 

Public Sector organizations similar to private entity should focus on achieving a competitive advantage by identifying its strategic advantages. Initially, for a public entity this can be translated to identifying its competitors, new market entrants, substitute products and services, customers and suppliers. Because the mission of public entities is to provide needed services to the public, the approach to applying these forces may vary.  A public entity's competitors will be other Grantmakers who are competing for funding to provide the same or similar services. Therefore, information technology systems can be used to enhance and increase efficiency to provide these services.

Similar to the Tate & Lyle Study, there are opportunities to implement systems which consolidate reporting of financial and programmatic data and streamline  redundant process within public organizations to better serve the needs of its constituents.  This will allow the entity to be competitive when attempting to secure the necessary resources from funding agencies to provide these services. The principles of Porter's model can also use information systems to provide real-time information to the suppliers or business who provide goods and services to public organizations.

 Although public entities and private business have different profit motives Porter's Competitive Forces model can be applied to both.