Title: Using retail stores of brick & mortar comprehensive department stores (currently a low profit industry) and oil sands development (currently a high profit industry), apply Porter’s Five-Forces Framework to explain why profitability is either low or high.  Does the Porter Framework adequately describe the reason for these differences, i.e. what are the problems that have been identified with Porter’s framework as they apply to these industries?  What has been happening that is potentially improving profitability for retail department stores?  What might happen that could reduce profitability in oil sands development?

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