Features
- Cover Type: Hard Cover with 397 pages
- Published by: Free Press
- Edition: 1st Edition June 1, 1998
- Written in: English
- ISBN 10 Number: 0684841487
- ISBN 13 Number: 978-0684841489
-
Book Dimensions:
9.4 x 6 x 1.6 inches
- Weighs: 1.4 pounds
Product Review
FortuneThree overarching game plans that work in one industry after another explain how thousands of real-world competitors come out on top.
The New York TimesAmerican executives are grasping for a logic to global competition. Mr. Porterhas given them one.
ChoiceFew books warrant the too-common publisher's blurb "landmark." This one does. Highest recommendation.
Strategic Management JournalRepresents a quantum leapmay well be one of the most important contributions to the discipline of strategic management.
Journal of Business StrategyAny manager who studies and uses the materials in this book should be able to devise more successful strategies.
Philip KotlerS.C. Johnson & Son, Distinguished Professor of International Marketing, Northwestern UniversityPorter's books on competitive strategy are the seminal works in the field.
Product Review
Journal of Business Strategy Any manager who studies and uses the materials in this book should be able to devise more successful strategies.
Reader Reviews
Michael Porter is a Harvard Business School professor and a leading authority on competition and strategy. This book is a landmark in the field of strategy/strategic management, which later has become known as the positioning school. The book provides a great framework. The book consists of three parts - General Analytical Techniques, Generic Industry Environments, and Strategic Decisions. In addition, the two appendices - Portfolio Techniques in Competitor Analysis, and How to Conduct an Industry Analysis - should also be mentioned as they are very useful. In Part I, Porter discussess the structural analysis of industries (with the world-famous five forces), the three generic competitive strategies (overall cost leadership, focus, and differentiation), an excellent framework for competitor analysis, competitive moves, strategy toward buyers and suppliers, structural analysis within industries (strategic groups, strategic mapping, mobility barriers), and industry evolution (life cycle, evolutionary processes). In Part II, Porter discusses competitive strategy within various generic industry environments, such as fragmented industries (with no real market leader), emerging industries (e-commerce and Internet are excellent examples, although not mentioned in this book as it was written in 1980), mature industries, declining industries, and global industries. In Part III, Porter discusses strategic decisions which businesses/firms can take, such as vertical integration (forward, backward, partnerships), capacity expansion, and entry into new industries/businesses. Even after twenty years, most of this book still stands strong, although some people will argue this. Michael Porter has responded to his critics in the 1996-Harvard Business Review article 'What is Strategy?' which is available as e-book (pdf-file) at Amazon.com. It is still a MUST for MBA-students and all other people interested in strategy/strategic management. The book is simple to read with plenty of examples and thus does not become a struggle.
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