G4S Competitive Forces

According to “Management, 10th Edition” and Michael Porter’s model, when speaking in terms of competitive forces it should be viewed in five different areas; the first being the threat of new entrants. As for a company such as G4S Secure Solutions, the threat from new companies are pretty much non-existent. It being the top security firm worldwide, its threats comes from its larger competitors that are pretty much on their level and well established. Start-up security companies are challenged by the behemoths that dominate the market which are able to overshadow them by offering one stop shopping for multiple security needs. Also the smaller companies have often been taken over by the larger companies. According to Security Guard Magazine (www.securitymagazine.com), two in 10 of guarding firms say they purchased another firm in 2002, while 10 percent say they completed the purchase of another firm in the first half of last year. New companies do not appear to pose a threat to G4S Secure Solutions as they are well established and far ahead of its established competitors. The second of the competitive forces having an impact on the company is its competitive rivalries. The biggest rivalry to G4S Secure Solutions is Securitas Security Services. These two companies offer the same services and both also operate overseas which allows them to compete for business in the same markets. They often end up bidding against each other for contracts vying to provide the exact service for the least amount of dollars. Securitas Security Services entered the U.S. market in 1999 by acquiring Pinkerton and became the largest security firm in the world; they were already the leading protective service company in Europe. They have acquired numerous security firms; in one year alone they had acquired four firms. With them continuing to grow in assets and size, they continue to prove themselves as the most formidable rivalry in this market. The threat of