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Michael Porter’s Five Forces Model is one of the famous tools for analyzing an industry’s environment. According to this model, a company can achieve its existence and success in an industry only if it can overcome and sustain the competitive forces of the market within which it operates. Ceramic industry of Bangladesh is a booming sector and the growth potential of both domestic and local market indicates it may become one of the big foreign exchange earners for the country. Therefore, analyzing the industry environment of ceramic sector is of great concern to strategist since defending against the competitive forces of the marketplace and shaping them in a company’s favor are crucial to strategy formation. To address this issue, this paper analyzes the industry environment (competitive environment) of ceramic sector of Bangladesh by using Porter’s Five forces model. The analysis of five forces indicates that the collective impact of the competitive forces is moderate to weak; hence, the ceramic industry of Bangladesh is considered to be competitively attractive in the sense that industry members can reasonably expect to earn decent profits and a nice return on investment. Keywords: Ceramic Industry; Five forces model; Competitiveness; Attractiveness. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/jbt.v5i2.9983 Journal of Technology (Dhaka) Vol. 5(2), July-December, 2010 104-121

A new late-ceramic culture in the west-central Plains is defined on the basis of recent investigations and early scattered references in the literature. This Birdwood culture, which is dated about A.D. 1600, is characterized by river-edge sites that yield thin-walled, sparsely sandtempered, incised pottery. A LTHOUGH the broad outlines of Plains prehistory since A.D. 1000 have been delineated, the literature presents scattered evidence of at least one previously undefined lateceramic culture in the area under consideration (Champe 1946). The ceramic industry of this culture, here termed the Birdwood culture, is unlike that of the Dismal River Apache, the only culture thus far defined in the west-central Plains during this period. The earliest report (Buker 1937: 79-80) is a rather indefinite description of selected sherds from the southern Black Hills, some of which may be like those described below as Birdwood ware. Probably the first positive description of this material is by Wedel (1940: 323-4), who discusses artifacts collected along the Snake River in Cherry County, Nebraska. A later paper by Wedel (1947: 157-9) provides additional descriptive data and extends the distribution into northeastern Wyoming, the Niobrara and middle Elkhorn areas in Nebraska, and possibly into the South Loup area in Nebraska. Further details came to light during preliminary surveys (Wheeler 1951: 24-7; Miller 1956: 1-2) of the Merritt Reservoir in Cherry County, Nebraska, which probably include the site described by Wedel (1940). About 100 sherds from the Birdwood site (25 LN 14) near North Platte, Nebraska, were donated to the Nebraska State Historical Society by a collector, and Marvin F. Kivett of the Nebraska State Historical Society also, collected sherds from this site on two occasions. Intensive survey and testing at this site (part of the Nebraska State Historical Society's highway salvage program) produced additional sherds and other artifacts. As this site was not on the highway right-of-way, it was not eligible for systematic excavation under the highway program. In the spring of 1963, Site 25 DS 21, a multicomponent site, was excavated by the Nebraska State Historical Society under the highway salvage program. The pottery from one of the components is similar to that from the Birdwood and other sites identified above. This paper will describe artifacts from two sites intensively worked by me. One (25 LN 14) was surveyed, and the other (25 DS 21) was excavated. Data from these sites will be compared with data from sites reported earlier, and certain conclusions will be drawn about the culture represented.

An impartial survey of the various commercial feldspars available is presented to the consumers of that product. Discussions and analyses of many of the commercial feldspars mined in the United States and Canada and analyses of actual shipments are given. The similarities and differences between feldspars of the different sections and the quality and fineness of grinding in connection with the branches of the ceramic industry using feldspar are discussed. Blending of feldspars is also considered.

(1943). Prospects for Ceramic Industry in India. Transactions of the Indian Ceramic Society: Vol. 2, No. 2, pp. 90-94.

(1966). Locational Trends in the Glass and Ceramic Industry. Transactions of the Indian Ceramic Society: Vol. 25, No. 1, pp. 52N-56N.

Silicones derive many of their most useful properties from the inorganic nature of the silicon-to-oxygen links which they possess in common with glass and mineral silicates. They derive plasticity, solubility, and water repellency from the organic radicals attached to their basic structures. The chemical nature of silicon in combination with oxygen permits the development of a variety of silicone compounds in various physical forms ranging from fluids through gels and resins to elastic materials. Because of their ease of application, their general heat stability, and chemical inertness, they are natural complements to ceramic bodies in many applications. They are already proving their usefulness with these materials in the production of new types of electrical insulation, in the surface treatment of glass and ceramic products, and as auxiliary dielectrics for use with ceramic insulating forms.

The ceramic industry is perhaps the outstanding example of an activity of man which has its origins in the early dawn of history, but which also has its own peculiar and vital place in the complex industrialized society of the present time. It is not known with any precision either when or in what manner the essential properties of clay were first noticed. They probably did not become apparent all at the same time, and the story may well have been of a gradual but growing consciousness of the fact that clay was an abundant natural material, that when mixed with enough water to make it plastic it had the capacity to take up and retain a wide variety of imposed shapes, and finally that when heated it changed its nature and became a strong rigid solid with many of the characteristics of natural stone.

戦後窯業界においても「品質の向上, 生産コストの切下げ」などのため石炭に代って重油が用いられるようになったが, これに用いるバーナーとその適正使用が重要視されるようになわた。学振第103委員会 (会長黒田泰造) は昭和28年度文部省試験研究補助金により, 窯業工場を対象にしてバーナー, 炉, 操業法の各種の項目について調査を行い, 結局80工場からの回答を得て, これに理論的考察を加えて整理したものである.すなわち, セメント焼成回転窯, 陶磁器焼成窯, 耐火物焼成窯, ガラス熔融窯の4種別に分類し, そのおのおのについて使用重油の性状, バーナーの性能, 窯炉およびその操業法について, 上記4種別について一覧表に纒めた.結論として窯業における重油燃焼は燃料費と入件費の大巾な節約が得られ, またいままで以上の高温焼成が得られ, 品質の向上に稗益するところ大であり, 一方欠点としては炉の寿命が短かくなり, 燃焼室レンガの破損, 局部過熱等の問題を惹起していることが判つた.これらは単にバーナーのみならず, 炉の構造, 操業法の改良と相俊つて解決されるべきものである.

This paper outlines the general factors considered in an air-conditioning problem. The present type of applications in the ceramic industry include (1) complete drying of ware, (2) conditioning of material and formed pieces, (3) humidifying and dehumidifying of manufacturing departments, (4) air washing, (5) cooling for comfort. Illustrations showing details of some of these cases are included. The present progress indicates the general line of future development of air conditioning in the manufacture of ceramic products.

The effects of using of bentonite in the ceramic compositions have been studied. Its utility as a suspending agent in the casting slips and as an aid in the plastic method of forming, when used as such, as well as after suitable pretreatment, was examined in detail. The bentonite from Bihar when used in the naturally occurring form, did not effect any improvement to a top settling clay or ceramic slip. On the other hand, bentonite treated with Na2CO3 showed results even better than that brought about by ‘Wyoming’ bentonite.The plasticity of a very lean porcelain composition improved considerably on incorporation of Sodium bentonite and its dry strength increased from 222 psi to 942 psi. The fired characteristics as well as the working properties also showed definite improvement.

The advancement of ceramics from an art to a science, a transition which has been in progress for the last forty odd years, parallels the development of the science of colloids. Whereas the application of the fundamentals of the physical and the chemical sciences has indicated to the ceramic engineer the methods to be used in solving his problems, it has been in the interpretation of these researches that the colloid science has contributed more than was ever anticipated. For a more practical knowledge of the basic principles involved in the fabrication of ceramic goods, the ceramist finds that a thorough understanding of the colloid-physical concept of clays and other raw materials supplies him with the answers to many of his industrial problems. The subject matter of ceramics or, more specifically, the fabrication of ceramic ware is discussed from the colloid-physical standpoint in an effort to illustrate what colloid chemistry means to the ceramic industry.

Zircon sand obtained from Kerala was studied with a view to evaluate its suitability in the manufacture of opacifiers. Mineralogical data include petrography, DTA, X-ray, and chemical analysis.Different types of opacifiers including zirconium silicate, spinel, double silicates were successfully prepared using indigenous zircon sand and their performance as opacifiers was tested with four types of base glazes. Larger batches of some of the opacifiers were also tried in ceramic factories, the results of which indicated that indigenous zircon sand is quite suitable for the manufacture of zircon base opacifiers used in ceramic industry.

A study on the fixation character of various cations adsorbed on kaolin minerals due to drying have been carried out. Kibushi clay, Gaerome clay, both are widely used in ceramic industry in Japan, and Zettlitz kaolin were selected as samples.The obtained results are summerized as follows:(1) The fresh raw undried Kibushi and Gaerome clays, fixed the exchangeable cations (Na+, K+, Ca++, Mg++) increasingly with drying temperature up to 50-500°C.(2) Various monoionic clays prepared by leaching with chloride solutions fixed the cations increasingly with drying temperature up to 200-300°C. The order of the fixation tendency was Li+>Na+>K+.(3) Polyvalent cations (Th++++, Ca++) adsorbed on Zettlitz kaolin were found to be fixed intensively on drying at the temperature up to 300-500°C.

In studying the relationships between the chemical and the physical behavior of clay slips, correlations otherwise obscured are brought out if the clay is first carefully purified. Electrodialysis seems to be an effective method of removing interfering adsorbed electrolyte from clay in preparing it for such investigations. Electrodialyzed samples of several whiteware clays in wide use in the ceramic industry were found to behave chemically as weak acids and bases. The amount of Na-OH necessary to neutralize the “acids” coincided with the smallest amount sufficient to produce the minimum viscosity in suspensions of these clays. The pH of exchange neutrality of each clay agreed closely with a maximum in its pH-viscosity curve. At this point, the addition either of HCl or NaOH reduced the viscosity, although not equally. As further amounts of NaOH were added, two effects were recognized. Some clays continued to become more fluid until complete deflocculation, while other clays passed first through a range of concentration in which NaOH caused increasing Viscosity. Changes in viscosity were observed also in suspensions with increasing concentrations of HCl. A theory for these effects is presented.

India has vast resources in, all the minerals required for the ceramic industry, sufficient to meet the country's requirements for many years to come. But they are not all of the purity required by the various industries. If the products of the Indian ceramic industries arc to maintain standards comparable to those of foreign countries, steady supply of raw materials of the required purity has to be ensured, and this can be done only by installing suitable plants for the elimination of the undesirable impurities. Washing, flotation, magnetic separation, etc., are some of the important processes that could be employed for the purpose. As such plants are too costly for the small operators, centralised plants for beneficiating raw materials are suggested. The beneficiation methods generally employed for sands, quartz, felspar, clays, kyanite, magnesite, rutile, sillimanite, chromite, zircon, and graphite are prescribed and the specifications of the above required by the important industries are also given.

Since the invention of the auger-type extrusion machine, there has developed a large business devoted to the production of extrusion machines of various types and sizes for the ceramic industry. During this time, a vast body of empirical knowledge concerning the design of augers, dies, and machines to do particular jobs has grown. As of today, no method has been proposed by which values may be assigned to the design parameters of an auger so that there may be reasonable assurance that it will extrude a material, the plastic properties of which may be known. This paper proposes a model for the operation of an auger on a material and adapts the theory of the screw conveying of solids in organic thermoplastic extrusion machines to the study of this model. The concept of the characteristic function, which describes the action of a particular extruder on a plastic material, is discussed.

The late medieval origins of the small-scale ceramic industry and its dependence upon the trade of the Bristol region are examined from archaeological and documentary evidence. This preliminary survey provides the necessary background for understanding in the post-medieval period the gradual growth of small kilns serving local markets while an examination of the port books shows that South Wales was still dependent on the Bristol Channel trade. Chester played a similar role in North Wales. The archaeological survey is concentrated on the coarse wares produced along the South Wales coast, revealed from the discovery of kilns and front the accumulation of excavated material.

Talc is a very widely distributed mineral in India. The annual output from differsnt sources has gone to about 25,000 tons. Its use in the Ceramic industry is manifold e.g. the production of low loss ceramics, cordierite bodies for sparkplugs and as an anticrase in semi-vitreous bodies specially in the cases of delayed erasing.

The ceramic industry has recently been making remarkable progress coupled with the expansion of the overseas market. According to the diffusion of the heat control techniques and also the improvement of the kilns, fuel consumption has been rationalized and increased by about 30% for the latest five years together with the increase of the ceramic ware production. As for the fuel as heat energy source in the ceramic industry, the author outlined its selection, rational utilization as well as the changing pattern of its consumption.

Four ball clays from Kerala were studied for their physical properties such as particle size distribution, plasticity, drying and firing shrinkage, green strength, colour and porosity at different temperatures, and P.C.E. value. The mineralogical composition and impurities were studied by the X-ray and D.T.A. methods. One clay fires to a comparatively whiter colour than the imported ball clay. It has been found to be satisfactory for the manufacture of electrical porcelain. These ball clays can be used in the ceramic industry either alone or after blending so as to get the desired property, thus saving valuable foreign exchange.

(1942). Development of the Ceramic Industry in South India. Transactions of the Indian Ceramic Society: Vol. 1, No. 3, pp. 203-205.

Sodium aluminate has been used as a water-softening agent, but not to any great extent in the ceramic industry. The results of this investigation show that sodium aluminate when used as a substitute for sodium carbonate in casting slips eliminates or minimizes some of the troubles usually encountered in the control of slips and in casting ware.