Strategy
Spot the external sources of competitive advantage
When industry profitability turns murky, work out the boundaries, the players, and the five forces; see where the pressure comes from, and choose the move that shapes industry structure in your favor.
Your learning route
The program order
Complete the programs in order to finish the route. Each one brings short lessons, applied practice and a realistic business case together.
Plus and Pro members can create a verifiable Stratify certificate when the route is complete.
- Program 01
Define the industry and map the players
Foundational: you set industry boundaries from the customer's real alternatives, map the suppliers, buyers, entrants, substitutes, and complements that share the profit pool, and test the analysis against observed profitability. By the end of this program you can define an industry on Abell's three dimensions, build a six-role player map for a market you care about, and check your analysis the way the Walmart worked example checks its own.
- Start from the right question
- Map the players
Apply it: Apply and review
4 lessons · ≈3 hours
- Program 02
Decode profit pressure with the Five Forces
Intermediate: you use the Five Forces framework to explain why some industries earn several times what others earn, trace each force to the prices, costs, and willingness to pay it moves, and rank the pressures that erode profit. By the end of this program you can read an industry's profit pool, name the force that squeezes it hardest, and back a management priority with structural evidence.
- Ask the right question
- Trace the mechanism
Apply it: Apply and review
4 lessons · ≈3 hours
- Program 03
Shape industry structure
Advanced: you turn industry analysis into action. You learn to position where the forces are weakest, exploit industry change before rivals read it, and shape structure with moves that raise entry barriers and switching costs. By the end of this program you can replace a price reaction with a move that changes the cause of structural pressure, and test that move with evidence before committing.
- From verdict to move
- Work the mechanism
Apply it: Apply and review
4 lessons · ≈3 hours