Porter's Five Forces

Biological Parallel

Every organism faces five pressures that shape survival: competition from existing rivals (competitive exclusion), threat of new entrants (invasive species), substitute resources (dietary niche overlap), supplier constraints (mutualistic dependencies), and consumer power (predation). A wolf pack's territory reflects this calculus—they defend against rival packs, watch for dispersers seeking to establish territories, monitor prey switching to alternative foods, depend on healthy prey populations, and adjust hunting strategies as prey evolve defenses. Porter mapped business competition onto ecology's fundamental selection pressures.