Week 6 Reading Reflection

This week’s reading assignment was a Harvard business article. Not one of my favorites as it was not that interesting in my opinion and it was pure economics. This article mostly focuses on the five factors that shape completion. I think all these forces are relevant and the article goes really in depth in all of them. By far my favorite one was the power of buyers. This factor along could easily have its own chapter in a textbook. If expanded this topic can really hit on the unfairness or the market place. Yes producers might produce their products and merchandisers might distribute them but who’s going to buy all these thing? I am one to think that the buyers really do have most of the power. But think of the buying power some companies have, companies like Walmart for example? The have the capital and the space to buy huge amount of product so in turn they are buying them much cheaper and the also have the capital and the space to buy whatever consumers desire. Whether it’s the hot new video game or some trendy new item. How do expect small business to compete with that? If I where the author I would have just expanded a tad bit more on this topic. The only other thing I found interesting was how they try very hard to distinguish the factors from forces. I thought this was a very good point to bring up. When I think of the factors I think or things that can be controlled. These are all market characterizes where if you play your cards right you take advantage of. The important thin about the forces it that they seem completely out of consumers, distributors and producers control. These are think that doesn’t matter what you do, they can be helped. For example the government, it’s neither bad nor good but no one in the market can control its effect. The most you can do about the government is understand how it affects the 5 forces. Another example is technology, no one can see the future, no one’s knows what the next break threw is going to be. Unless you are the one creating the technology who’s to say how it’s going to affect the market. Again technology is neither bad of good, one day a new piece of equipment is fixing a current problem and helping us prosper as a society, the next its tacking peoples jobs and running local owners out of business. I wish the author would actually implement his research and document it I think that would be a great idea. so if i where to the author anything i would ask if that was a possibility. I would also ask, considering this was publishes 2008, if there could be any new factors or forces that he could add to his list, as well as if he would fix some of them.