JWI 540 SU Verizon Business Playing Field Analysis & Evaluation Peer Discussion Please provide a response to the two attached peer discussion post response

JWI 540 SU Verizon Business Playing Field Analysis & Evaluation Peer Discussion Please provide a response to the two attached peer discussion post responses. Please include references and or a follow up question in which can prolong the discussion more, you can include pics and/or tables for each company that they are speaking on. Let me know if you have any questions. Amanda Response,
Hello Class,
Upon reviewing the Strategy Project Company Selection Guidelines I have decided that I will use Verizon
for my Assignments this semester. I have worked for Verizon for six years now and am always taking
advantage of opportunities to learn more about the company and leave my mark on Verizon. Knowing
that Verizon is a very large company and developing a strategy for the whole company would be
unobtainable within the scope of this course, I have selected the Wireline product set as my specific
segment to develop a winning strategy for. Verizon classifies our customers as follows: Consumer,
Enterprise, Mid-Markets, Medium Business, Mass Markets and Government.
How would you define the Playing Field for this business (the specific segment of the market where you
will choose to compete)?
To properly define my Playing Field I will not only tell you what is included, but I will tell you what I not
included (1).
What is part of the Playing Field: Wireline sales to business that are segmented as Enterprise, often
referred to as VES (Verizon Enterprise Segment). Within this segment we have many other classifications
to sub-divide these customers into specific categories such as: Healthcare, Insurance, Education, Retail,
Distribution, Media, Financial Services, and Manufacturing.
What is not part of the Playing Field: Wireless or Wireline sales to Consumer, Mass Markets, MidMarkets, Medium Business or Government.
Using the guidance from The Five Forces article, what conclusions would you draw regarding the
profitability of this Playing Field? Would it be a higher or lower profitability than average, and why?
“The five forces framework zeroes in on the competition you face and gives you the baseline for
measuring superior performance” (2).
The easiest way to break down the profitability potential in the Playing Field for Wireline Enterprise
sales at Verizon is to use review Porters Five Forces individually and then make an overall assessment
based on the findings.
Threat of Entry – Due to the enormous capital investments required to develop a Wireline service
delivery company, the threat of new entrants is low. The larger concern here is less of new entrants and
more of existing participants developing their network to overlap the Verizon network and cause a drop
in pricing. We see mergers, acquisitions and divestitures in this business frequently but despite that
Verizon has managed to maintain a 12.89% market share among the 10 other competitors in the space
(3).
Supplier Power – Verizon has several suppliers for the hardware and supplies necessary to build a
Wireline network. Supplier power would be low therefore, costs can be kept low and profitability would
presumably be higher.
Buyer Power – Customers have several options in the Wireline world, they can choose from any
competitor that is able to deliver service to their facility. However, when we look into the segment of
Enterprise and understand that customer type better, we find some unique characteristics that are not
always found in the consumer space. Enterprise customers are looking for reliable connections with
quality features and response teams to get the network back online quickly if there is a network failure.
It is no secret that Verizon is not always the cheapest solution, but our Enterprise customers (as well as
many others) are not always looking for the cheap solution but the reliable one. For this reason we have
been able to maintain our pricing due to the added “value into the product or service” (2). I would rate
buyer power as medium due to our consciousness of customers leaving based on price being a factor
that we always consider.
Threat of Substitutes – Large complex networks do not have a substitute necessarily. One might argue
that 5G has a substitute of a standard network connection, but both of those levels of access would be
offered by the same carrier in that geographical footprint. The customer’s choice would be the speed of
the network that they choose. Increasingly we are seeing that our Enterprise customers, especially in
Healthcare where we are looking to deploy 5G to performing groundbreaking medical procedures that
will elevate patient care and provider responsiveness (4). While the threat of substitutes exists, we
expect that as this technology is deployed and new devices are developed the adoption rate will
increase.
Threat of Rivalry – While price is always a factor, it is not the single largest factor as I mention above.
Therefore the major rivalry in this space between competitors is the features and network reliability. For
this reason, threat of rivalry is low meaning that profitability would be presumably higher.
Overall, I think that the opportunity for higher than normal profitability exists due to the features and
quality that Verizon has developed and maintained in order to set themselves apart from their
competitors. Verizon has assured their customers that their prices are worth it for the services that that
are delivered.
References:
JWMI540. Lecture Notes. Week 2.
https://services.hbsp.harvard.edu/lti/links/content-launch
https://csimarket.com/stocks/competitionSEG2.php?code=VZ
https://www.verizon.com/build-the-future/learn/healthcare/future-technology-5g-ultra-wideband/
Daniel Response,
Dear Professor and Classmates,
The company I intend to use for the upcoming assignments is my employer, Greif, Inc., specifically our
paper and containerboard division. While Greif is involved in several types of industrial packaging, the
diversity of the playing fields, and the global scope of the company requires me to limit my focus to one
division (1). For the upcoming assignments, I will look at Greif’s interaction on the industrial
containerboard Playing Field.
One thing I thought would be interesting about studying my business from the Five Forces perspective is
tied in with the structure of the paperboard business.
Threat of New Entrants (2): Barriers to entering the paperboard industry are quite high in the modern
era, given the high start-up costs and low profit margins (3). In fact, more companies seem to be leaving
the papermill industry (4).
Bargaining Power of Suppliers (2): Suppliers of chemicals and fiber have a shocking amount of power in
the paper industry and can easily increase costs and further reduce profit margins (3). In fact, they did
so recently, tying in with the next point.
Bargaining Power of Buyers (2): Buyers have significant sway over paper manufacturers, having recently
dictated a price decrease to coincide with a chemical price increase.
Threat of Substitute Products or Services (2): While one might think that a container is a container,
paper-based containerboard is still a growth industry thanks to the product’s versatility and relatively
low cost for the consumer (5).
Rivalry Among Existing Competitors (2): Competition in the containerboard industry is fierce but
fragmented, with a structure that likely makes it impossible for any single company to dominate the
market (5).
Given all of these factors, I believe that short-term profits for my company and the containerboard
industry in general will be below average (4), but will steadily increase over the next decade and over
the long-term to be above the average (5). I believe that the high level of competition and low margins
will hamper the industry for the present, but, as the market expands, the barriers for entry will allow the
existing companies to take increasing shares of a steadily-growing pie.
References:
1.
Greif, a Manufacturer of Industrial Packaging [Internet]. 2019 [cited 2019 Jul 8]. Available from:

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2.
Magretta J. The Five Forces Competing for Profits: Understanding Michael Porter’s Best-Known
Framework. In: Understanding Michael Porter: The Essential Guide to Competition and Strategy.
Harvard Business Review Press; 2012.
3.
Kam S. Paper Mills Are Finally Increasing Prices & Everyone Is Paying [Internet]. Barcode Blog.
2018 [cited 2019 Aug 1]. Available from: https://www.smithcorona.com/blog/paper-mills-increaseprices/
4.
Das M. Containers – Paper & Packaging Industry’s Near-Term Outlook Grim – Nasdaq.com
[Internet]. Nasdaq. 2019 [cited 2019 Jul 15]. Available from:
https://www.nasdaq.com/article/containers-paper-packaging-industry39s-near-term-outlook-grimcm1152995
5.
Wood L. Containerboard Market Growth, Trends, and Forecast Report 2019-2024 ResearchAndMarkets.com [Internet]. 2019 [cited 2020 Apr 13]. Available from:
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190725005621/en/Containerboard-Market-GrowthTrends-Forecast-Report-2019-2024

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