You’ve been working for some time at Unique Shoes, local shoe store which specializes in unusual shoe designs and custom fitting. Presently, customers come to the store to choose their shoe designs and have their measurements taken for custom fitting. The shoes are then manufactured by the supplier in another state and shipped to store for pickup by the customer. The owner, Bill, is extremely interested in expanding his successful business. He has just bought Sassy Shoes, a shoe store in the good location across town, and has appointed a store manager. He plans to continue selling the brands of shoes that the Sassy Shoes has been selling however he wants to add his “unique shoes” to that store’s offerings. Bill’s research demonstrates that, additionally to all of the online sources for shoes, there’re many other local stores which sell shoes: outlets for major shoe store chains, mall stores which carry well-liked brands, small outlets and specialty shops, and department stores. While Bill has been keeping all his records of orders and sales on paper, the records at Sassy Shoes are situated on the manager’s PC in Excel files. Bill realizes that he should treat the two stores as a single business, with one set of accounts, one billing system, and so forth. He thinks this is also a good time to stop using paper records for his orders and sales. Bill really hopes to carry on expanding his business by buying other shoe stores however he will need good information regarding his current businesses to know when he must make his next acquisition. He has asked you to aid him develop the business strategy and IT Plan to achieve his goals. You know that there’re methodologies for examining the business environment and that there’re many ways to develop the business. You also be familiar with that IT is a significant component for accomplishing that goal.

1. Discuss Porter’s Five Forces Model and how Bill can employ it to examine his current business and his expansion. Be sure to address each of 5 forces and describe to Bill what they mean for his business.

2. Based upon your investigation in problem 1, pick one of five forces and discuss how Bill can incorporate his analysis of that force in his Strategic Business Plan (SBP).