Niagara Furniture Bank Case Summary

to another party to get monetary benefits. Both parties would be better-off by using this technology. Peer-to-peer technology is already prevailing in the field of transportation (Uber), car trading (AutoTrader) and house renting (Airbnb). Once the peer-to-peer platform designed for furniture trading is established, the market share of the furniture bank would be decreasing dramatically since then and it would be very hard for furniture bank to survive with the existence of specially designed peer-to-peer platform for furniture trading. Customers are attracted to the convenience and inexpensiveness of the platform. The technology of building proper evaluating criteria of used furniture is also crucial. This technology helps the company in determining

The Five Forces Analysis is a business tool used to evaluate the profitability within an industry. The five forces include rivalry among competitors, the threat of new entrants, threat of substitutes, bargaining power of customers and bargaining power of suppliers. Since Niagara Furniture Bank is a charitable organization, we use the Five Forces Analysis to understand its external environment rather than the industry’s profitability. The force of rivalry among competitors determines the intensity of competition within an industry by evaluating competitors within an industry that provide similar services or products. Rivalry among competitors is almost nonexistent in Niagara’s nonprofit furniture bank industry. According to Furniture Banks Canada, there are only seven furniture banks operating in Ontario and Niagara Furniture Bank is the only one located in St. Catharines (“Find a Furniture Bank”). It is also the only Furniture Bank in Ontario that serves the Niagara Region. Niagara Furniture Bank provides a unique service that no other not-for-profit organizations provide in the Niagara Region. Thus, rivalry or competition is extremely low within the Niagara Region’s furniture bank industry. The threat of new entrants is how likely firms will enter the industry. Given the nature of the nonprofit industry, the threat of new entrants to the furniture bank industry in Niagara is relatively limited compared to other profit-seeking industries. Additionally, government regulations make the industry less attractive to enter. For instance, a not-for-profit corporation that has over $250,000 gross annual revenues and receives more than $10,000 in income from public sources in a year is required to be audited every year under the Canada Not-for-profit Corporations Act (Canada, 2012, para.4). Capital investment cost needed to enter is low because a furniture bank