Substitutes and the Five Forces Model
I am interested in '
(innovative) substitutes' such as:
1. New inventions (e.g., mobile phones as communicators)
2. New applications of existing products (e.g., internet on mobile phones)
3. New technologies to gainfully use existing materials more effectively (e.g., nanotechnology)
4. New discoveries about an existing product/material (e.g., use of aspirin to treat heart ailments)
The list goes on.
Is the impact of the likes of the above covered in Porter's framework?
I think the threat from such forces which could make your product or service obsolescent / redundant is (strategically) more important today than all other forces put together, because the timeframes for various new inventions and discoveries has come down a lot. We might call it an increase in the rate of evolution of mankind...