Application of Porter’s Five Forces to Improve Competitiveness: Case of Featured SMEs in Medan

The role of micro, small and medium enterprises is always important to support the country’s economic growth. As the market emerge and become larger, the competition within these enterprises has also risen to a new stage. One of the key to formulate strategies to improve the enterprises’ competitiveness is through industrial analysis based on Porter’s Five Force Model. This study aimed to map the application of porter’s five forces within SMEs in Medan. A number of 300 SMEs were participated in this research. This paper conclude that most part of five forces analysis were conducted unawarely which resulted almost no strategies generated from the analysis. There should be a party that play role to help SMEs formulating their strategies based on five forces model and improve their competitiveness as whole.