A lot of IT developpers forget what is the main essence of a WEB site. This short paper describes how to be efficient and successful according to Porter's theory of competitive strategy.

BUT... you might have some difficulty to apply it if you haven't read the theory (competitive strategy & competitive advantage). There are a lot of examples so it's quite easy to understand, even for a beginner.

Michael E. Porter is a Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. He is a leading authority in the field of competition and strategic management. This article was published in the March 2001 issue of the Harvard Business Review.

"The key question is not whether to deploy Internet technology but how to deploy it." According to Porter companies should build on the proven principles of effective strategy since the Internet per se will rarely be a competitive advantage. "Many of the companies that succeed will be ones that use the Internet as a complement to traditional ways of competing." In order to prove his point Porter discusses a long list of subjects, such as distorted market signals ("New technologies trigger rampant experimentation ... as a result, market behavior is distorted and must be interpreted with caution."), the impact of the Internet on the five competitive forces and industry structure ("Its greatest impact has been to enable reconfiguration of exisiting industries."), and the myth of the first mover. He then switches over to the future of Internet competition ("The next stage of the Internet's revolution will involve a shift in thinking from e-business to business, from e-strategy to strategy."), discussing the impact of the Internet on competitive advantage. Porter also discusses the Internet as a complement to traditional business. He uses sidebar and figures to translate the impact of the Internet into his famous models and frameworks (five forces, strategic positioning, and value chain). "Only by integrating the Internet into overall strategy will this powerful new technology become an equally powerful force for competitive advantage."

Although this article has come too late for many Internet companies, it is essential reading for managers of organizations that are considering or need to improve their online strategy. It provides great insights into how the Internet links into traditional business and strategies. For readers unfamiliar with Porter's previous work I recommend his 1996-article 'What is Strategy?', or his book 'On Competition' which is great value-for-money. The author uses simple US-English.

Strategy is such simple concept but often overlooked by business decision makers. It doesn't matter if you are a corporate executive or a small business owner, you need to understand what strategy really is in order to make successful choices to guide your business. In this article, Porter makes a distinction between operational effectiveness and strategy, then he goes on to further expand the exercise of strategies. The article is well organized and straight forward. It doesn't take you long to read, and the value of this article is much much more than[$$]. You are doing yourself a favor to read this article. There is nothing to lose.

Michael E. Porter is a Harvard Business School professor and a leading authority on competition. He has written several important novels and articles in the field of competition and strategic management.

I see this 1996 Harvard Business Review-article as an reply to all the critics of his frameworks and models (such as Henry Mintzberg and Gary Hamel). In his reply, Michael Porter discusses operational effectiveness in relation with strategic positioning. The author does this through explaining the difference between operational effectiveness and strategy ("It is necessary but not sufficient"), strategic positioning ("Competitive strategy is about being different."), strategic trade-offs ("The essence of strategy is what NOT to do."), strategic fit ("The success of a strategy depends on doing many things well - not just a few - and integrating among them."), and rediscovering strategy ("Although external changes can be the problem, the greater threat to strategy often comes from within.") Michael Porter concludes that both operational effectiveness and strategy are essential, but that the two have different agendas. Managers need to be aware that there is a difference between the famous management tools/fads (TQM, benchmarking, BPR, etc.) and strategy formulation. Just aiming for operational effectiveness often results in lower industry profits - so everyone loses out. The final point that the author makes to his critics is that "strategic continuity does not imply a static view of competition. Strategic continuity, in fact, should make an organization's continual improvement more effective."

I did enjoy this Harvard Business Review-article a great deal since it responds to comments from various critics. It also allows a comparison with other academics and business writers in the field of strategic management. I recommend it to managers and, certainly, all MBA/Business-students. The author uses simple US-English.

THis is a great book. It's best for peolple who are interested in economics, commerece or management. It introduced the mordern theory on competitive advantages which is developed by Michael E Porter who is a professor at Harvard Business school. In my opinion, I think Porter's theory really braoden my view of various competitive strategies. It's an excellent book for experienced management operator, specially CEOs.

Michael E. Porter is Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School and a leading authority on competition and strategic management. This article was published in the November-December 1998 issue of the Harvard Business Review.

"Today's economic map of the world is dominated by what I call clusters: critical masses - in one place - of unusual competitive success in particular fields." Clusters are geographic concentrations of interconnected companies and institutions in a particular field. They encompass an array of linked industries and other entities important to competition. Clusters therefore represent a new way of thinking about location. They reveal that the immediate business environment outside companies also plays a vital role. The author introduces the California wine cluster as an example to explain the anatomy of clusters. So why are clusters so important? Porter claims that modern competition depends on productivity. Porter also claims that productivity rests on how companies compete, not on the particular fields they compete in. He explains the positive impacts of clusters on productivity, innovation, and new business formation. So how are clusters formed? The cluster's roots can often be traced back to historical circumstances. He uses my mother country's (The Netherlands, Holland) transportation cluster as an example. The author discusses the birth, evolution, and decline of clusters. So what are the implications? According to Porter, understanding clusters adds four isses to the company's strategic agenda: (1) Choosing location; (2) Engaging locally; (3) Upgrading the cluster; and (4) Working collectively. He then turns towards governments. He claims that governments, both national and local, have new roles to play, they should strive to create an environment that supports rising productivity. Finally, Porter concludes that "leaders of businesses, government, and institutions all have a stake - and a role to play - in the new economics of competition." Each party are dependent on and responsible for creating the conditions for productive competition.

This excellent article builds on Michael Porter's 1990-book 'The Competitive Advantage of Nations'. In this article he discusses the paradox in global competition, whereby enduring competitive advantages in a global economy are often heavily local. By using his traditional thorough academical research methods and clear examples, Porter again proves his points. In this case, the article is pointed at not just businesses, but also governments and institutions. The article is written in simple business US-English.

Michael E. Porter is a Harvard Business School professor and a leading authority on competition. He has written several important novels and articles in the field of competition and strategic management. This article, published in the March-April 1979 issue of Harvard Business Review, meant the start of a great string of articles by Michael E. Porter. More importantly, it was the start of the positioning school in the field of strategic management.

"The essence of strategy formulation is coping with competition. ... intense competition in an industry is neother coincidence nor bad luck." The state of competition in an industry depends on five basic forces: (1) jockeying among current competitors, (2) threat of new entrants, (3) bargaining power of suppliers, (4), bargaining power of customers, and (5) threat of substitute products or services. The author describes each force in detail and its consequence on competition. The collective strength of these forces determines the ultimate profit potential of an industry, and it is the goal to find a position in the industry where the company can best defend itself against these forces or can influence them in its favor. The company needs to identify its strengths and weaknesses, and compare these against the underlying causes of each force. Then the company can devise a plan of action that may include (1) positioning the company, and/or (2) influencing the balance of the forces through strategic moves, and/or (3) exploiting industry change before opponents recognize it.

This article was awarded with the McKinsey Award (= best article in Harvard Business Review that year) and no reader will be surprised. It is a truly great article, and I must admit one of my all-time favorites. It will be remembered most for its introduction of the five competitive forces. Some people have criticized Michael Porter's framework(s) for being too static, but he has responded to those critics in his 1996-article 'What is Strategy?'. I would recommend this article to anybody in management and certainly all MBA-students. This is the first article you should read on strategic management! And to be followed up with Michael Porter's 1980-classic 'Competitive Strategy'. The article is written in simple US-English.

I read each of the books in the trilogy as they came out years ago. Porter's ideas (in all three books) have been very helpful in the different companies I have worked for through the years. (Many of these cos. have become no. 1 in their respective industries.) A lot of things are easy to understand in hindsight. Competitive Advantage of Nations would help people in any country why their economies are in that particulat situation and why others have become so great. Tough challenge for any business or country is how to develop the muscles to become the great business or economy cited as examples in the books. But as one philosopher has said, life is easier understood backward. Unfortunately, it has to be lived forward.

A very insightful book about how countries as a whole compete in the world economy. It presents several interesting ideas about relative competitive strengths & weaknesses of nations and the source of these competitive positions.

The book falls short on readability. The authors could have conveyed the same message in half the pages. Often, I found myself skipping entire paragraphs and sections to find the ideas burried in all the verbiage.

I still rate it a 4 because of the importance of the topic covered and the insights contained in the book.

This book is a surprise. Very fun to read, very insightful and plenty of new ideas for doing business from emerging economies.

This is a complex and multidimensional book on many levels. This book is not really about what governments can do to help their countries develop. In fact, the word "development" hardly appears. It is about the unproductive relationship between government and the private sector that wastes time and other valuable resources in emerging economies. The authors hold both parties responsible for moving on.

As stated on the first page, Simon Bolivar's epitaph reads, "Whomsoever has worked for a revolution has plowed the sea." Meant by Bolivar to convey despair and the heartbreak of failure, these words are transformed by the authors who have maintained a sense of optimism and good humor throughout their own experiences in the rugged world of transformation consulting. The Introduction, the book's first substantive chapter, is a cautionary tale of the Colombian flower industry, that prospered globally for decades, but later declined and has not yet recovered. Through this "case", seven patterns of firm behavior that inhibits economic agility are identified. The first seven chapters of the book elaborate on these patterns, wonderfully illustrated with other cases (Peru's fishmeal and Bolivia's soy industry, for example). The authors describe a sort of bratty adolescence that traps companies and industries in emerging economies. Chapters 8 and 9 are a fine application of micro principles around the theme of strategy, again focused on the firm. The authors advocate the old-fashion but culture shattering step of focusing on customers, costs and competitors in order to guide and inform decisions about strategy, positioning and productivity. They offer information and learning as a way for firms to experience a "coming of age" in the competitive sense. The role of government in promoting economic transformation is not touched until Chapter 10, two-thirds of the way through the book. Chapter 10-12 are probably where readers will find the book a bit frustrating and repetitive. Not enough time is spent defining what the authors mean by "steering mechanisms". This is undoubtedly because the book assumes the reader already knows alot. Chapter 10 mostly illustrates shifts in steering mechanisms using the case of a wall-bouncing Bolivian government. Chapter 11 is almost singular for business books - there is an actual discussion of research and the presentation of data. It is a practitioners discussion, however, not an academic one, so potential readers can relax.

B-school vets and other warriors will recognize alot here as an application of Michael Porter's "diamond model" from his Competitive Advantage of Nations (1990) and indeed, Porter writes the Foreword. The authors have extended the "diamond's" scope and reach, but their own model is not apparent until the end, Chapter 13. Their model for bringing about industry level change appears in the book's final four pages.

This book's protagonists are leaders in firms, industries and government, as well as their mindsets and actions. The word "leader" might be interpreted by some readers as "government" but this is not accurate. This book does do something extraordinary, however. On one hand, it is a blood and guts how-to on diagnosing and fixing the self-defeating decision making of firms in the emerging world. On the other hand, the conceptual framework within which political economics is practiced, debated, planned and evaluated is updated to reflect the fact that competitive advantage, not absolute or comparative advantage will increasingly referee the win/loss columns in the global economy. The context of political economics is addressed entirely without reference to ideology. This might strike some as soulless or arrogant. It might strike others as about time.

The writing in this book reflects a highly integrated understanding of business and economics, as well as intimate and affectionate knowledge of Latin American business and classical culture. Also apparent are the authors very fine liberal arts backgrounds, years on the road and a sense of mirth. Finally, these authors clearly know their work and thinking is culture altering and socially revolutionary. Their obvious goal is to realize the dream of Bolivar by capturing the minds of today's business, industry and government trend setters. While I would say their hearts are definitely not bleeding nor on their sleeves, their drive and focus are more uplifting than anything I have read or seen in a long time.

Michael Porter with "The Competitive Advantage of Nations" deserves to be considered with the likes of Adam Smith and Milton Friedman in the pantheon of economists. Porter has presented with this book exactly how states like the United States, United Kingdom, and Japan have risen to the top of the heap in certain industries and remain constrained in others.

In a word, what each country that has achieved a competitive advantage in a particular industry has going for it is competition. Domestic competition is what pushed these countries to the forefront in their respective industries. What's more is that Porter makes a convincing case that the current national champion model of economic growth is doomed to failure precisely because it wipes out domestic competition. The countries that most often practice the national champion model of economic growth are the ones that have remained the most backward or have stopped growing. Porter does give one example of where this is not the case, tires. Tires are an exception where national champions work well because no country in the world has much of a domestically competitive tire market that would give them an advantage.

Furthermore, Porter describes the life-cycle of national industries. They go from nascent competition to increased competition for an expanding market to increased innovation to stagnation to consolidation, and then decline. He goes into detail with several industries in several countries. My favorite analysis that Porter undertakes is of the ceramic tile industry. Two countries have become the primary manufacturers and designers of ceramic tiles: Italy and Spain. These two countries have national cultures and economic advantages that play right into ceramic tiles. Porter expertly explains why Spain and Italy have come to dominate this industry when they have been so inept in other industries.

Porter has written the definitive book on national competitive advantage. "The Competitive Advantage of Nations" should be required reading for all government personnel around the world.

Forty to fifty years ago economists and political theorists did much armwaving about what makes nations competitive. In the past 20 years tools like analysis of patents, R&D expenditures, the numbers of scientifically educated people, have provided more quantitative insight. To these tools Porter adds realistic analyses of top industries in various countries - from shoes and couture in Italy, to Silicon Valley in the U.S. He points out that the fastest growth comes when favorable factors are concentrated in centers where diverse groups - industrial, academic, sometimes government or traditional industries come together and have intense interactions. This book glitters with insights and ideas. The author is among the leading US analysists of economic performance, heading a study discipline at Harvard and working with the National Bureau of Economic Research

Michael E. Porter is a Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School and a leading authority on competition and strategic management. Porter is the author of the legendary business and management books 'Competitive Strategy' (1980), and 'Competitive Advantage' (1985). I cannot start this review without a word of warning: This book is consists of 850 pages and is thus not a quick weekend-read.

In this book, the author aims to answer the question, "Why do some social groups, economic institutions, and nations advance and prosper? ... I titled the book 'The Competitive Advantage of Nations' to highlight the crucial distinction between my broader concept of competitive advantage as a source of wealth and the nation of comparative advantage which had long dominated thinking about international competition." In order to answer this question, Porter uses his traditional extensive research methods and tools to prove his point.

The book is split up in four parts: (i) foundations; (2) industries; (3) nations; and (4) implications. In Chapter 1 - The Need for a New Paradigm, the author discusses the reasons for his research: "The central question to be answered is why do firms based in particular nations achieve international success in distinct segments and industries? The search is for the decisive characteristics of a nation that allow its firms to create and sustain competitive advantage in particular fields, that is, the competitive advantage of nations."

In Part I - Foundations, the author presents the theoretical frameworks which form the basis for the rest of the book. In Chapters 2, 3 and 4 Porter revisits most of his previous work, such as the five competitive forces, generic strategies, the value chain, and the advantages "diamond". Porter makes an important notion before turning the second part of the book: "The theory can and must be applied at two levels, the industry and the nation."

In Part II - Industries, the frameworks of Part I are applied to explain the histories of four industries (German printing press, American patient monitoring equipment, Italian ceramic tiles, and Japanese robotics). In addition, Porter applies the frameworks to the service sector. This is a sector which Porter has discussed very little in his previous books. "... an increasingly important class of industries where international competition has not been widely studied."

In Part III - Nations, the frameworks of Part I are applied to ten nations. Porter splits these ten nations up in early post-war winners, emerging nations in the 1970s and 1980s, and the traditional business countries (Britain and USA). Thank God, the author discusses both successes and failures within the different countries, plus identifying the reasons behind them. He also advises which steps can be taken to improve national advantage.

In Part IV - Implications, Porter discusses the impact of the frameworks of Part I on company's strategies and government policies. In the final chapter Porter tries to answer the question, "What of the future?" According to Porter "the central economic concern of every nation should be the capacity of its economy to upgrade so that firms achieve more sophisticated competitive advantages and higher productivity. Only in this way can there be a rising standard of living and economic prosperity."

This book is an impressive piece of research and Porter gets assistance from over 30 research assistants from all around the world. The book is not a simple read due to the amount of information provided and the length of the book. For readers who have read Porter's previous masterpieces I would like to stress that this book is considerably different than his previous masterpieces. It focuses less on industries and companies themselves, but more on national, international, and governmental issues. This book shows the author's education and training (Harvard PhD in economics). Still, the book is an impressive piece of work, although not for the fainthearted.

I'm a great fan of Porter's works, but was disappointed that something published in 1998 wasn't updated to the impact of the internet on competition. The net is the greatest inflection point in competitive activity in business history, IMO. Not only is the impact great on nearly all aspects of Porter's 5 forces, but changes are happening blazingly fast. To be sure many of MP's concepts help one predict and understand Dell's cleaning of Compaq's clock and many other happenings, but none of this is dealt with explicitly. How tough would it have been to update, or even just add a blurb at the end of chapter's like "How Information Gives You Competitive Advantage". But no, it's the same as when it was written in mid-1985...a lifetime ago in terms of information technology. $35.95 should entitle the reader to bit of updating, but the internet doesn't appear in the index and I only saw the word once in the text of one article. Had the book and articles had a bit of an update, I would definitely give it 5 stars...and for those who haven't read Porter's articles I would highly recommend it. But for those expecting a 1998 book should carry a more recent perspective, it's a bit of a disappointment.

This book is a collection of essays and articles by Michael Porter alone or with others. Most of them are collected from his writings in the Harvard Business Review although two are new to this book. Think of this as a "Porter's Greatest Hits" kind of thing. That is a bit misleading because his HBR articles are not exactly the same thing as his Competitive Advantage books although the topics are definitely related.

The essays are grouped into three broad sections: 1) Competition and Strategy: Core Concepts, 2) The Competitiveness of Locations, and 3) Competitive Solutions to Societal Problems. Will you find each article of the same high quality? Probably not (again, like a greatest hits collection), but you will find them informative and thought provoking. It is impossible to study for an MBA nowadays without invoking "Porter's Five Forces" in your discussions of competitive and marketing strategy.

This book can help add to your thinking and understanding of how every aspect of our life is in some way part of a competitive context and the ways it improves our standard of living. It will also help you improve your thinking in how to best strategize for and participate in competitive situations.

It would be a mistake to think that Porter advocates for a Hobbesian nightmare of life being nasty, brutish and short. Rather, he is more or less helping us think through the nature of the way competition arises and how to best think about its sources and how to manage it and the traps to avoid.

While Porter's model is used by some as a hammer that sees everything as a nail, it really needn't be used that way and, in its proper context, is very helpful.

Michael E. Porter is a Harvard Business School professor and a leading authority on competition. This book consists of three parts - Competition and Strategy: Core Concepts, The Competitiveness of Locations, and Competitive Solutions to Societal Problems - and each of these parts consists of 4-to-5 Harvard Business Review articles which were published between 1979 and 1998. "The study of competition, in its full richness, has preoccupied me for two decades."

In Part I, the five HBR articles outline Porter's strategic concepts. "I have sought to capture the complexity of what actually happens in companies and industries in a way that both advances theory and brings theory to life for practitioners. My goal has been to develop both rigorous and useful frameworks for understanding competition that effectively bridge the gap between theory and practice." In the 1979-article 'How Competitive Forces Shape Strategy', Porter introduces the monumental five competitive forces (from existing competitors, new entrants, customers, suppliers, substitution). This article has had an extensive impact on the field of strategy and is still a starting point for strategic management at any MBA-course. 'What is Strategy?' was published in 1996 and is, in my opinion, a reply to all the critics of his frameworks and models. The 1985-article 'How Information Gives You Competitive Advantage', Porter and co-author Victor Millar write how information technology influences competition. The current impact of Internet and e-commerce provide excellent examples for this article. In the 1993-article 'End-Game Strategies for Declining Industries', Porter lines up with Kathryn Rudie Harrigan to discuss the last stage/final phase of a industry. This articles is largely based on Harrigan's 1980 book 'Strategies for Declining Businesses' and is a chapter in Porter's 1980-book 'Competitive Strategy'. Part I is finalised with the magnificent 'From Competitive Advantage to Corporate Strategy'. This article is truly a classic and discusses the radical rethinking of corporate strategy. "Corporate strategy is what makes the corporate whole add up to more than the sum of its business parts." This article is the basis of his book 'Competitive Advantage'.

In Part II, Porter kicks off with 'The Competitive Advantage of Nartions', which is also one of the titles of his books. In this 1990-article Porter argues that in a world of increasingly global competition, nations have become more, not less, important. In 'Clusters and Competition' (1998), Porter expands on the theme and discusses the new economics of competition - clusters. "A Cluster is a geographically proximate group of interconnected companies and associated institutions in particular fields, linked by commonalities and complementarities." Examples are the Italian fashion industry, the California Wine cluster, Silicon Valley's venture capital industry, and Massachusetts IT industry. In the next article, 'How Global Companies Win Out' (1992), Porter, Thomas Hout and Eileen Rudden discuss what a global industry is and how global companies can win out. In the next article, 'Competing Across Locations' (1995), returns on this subject and provides additional insights on global strategy, including a general framework.

Part III includes the latest works of Porter. Porter discusses environmental regulation and competition ('Green and Competitive', 1995), with a great case study of the Dutch flower industry, and the impact of these regulations on competition and industries. In the next article ('The Competitive Advantage of the Inner City', 1995), Porter introduces the economic distress of America's inner cities, whereby "the real need - and the real opportunity - is to create wealth" . In the 1990s, Porter also turned more towards government institutions. He discusses the American health care ('Making Competition in Health Care Work', 1994) and, the according to Porter, America's failing capital investment system ('Capital Disadvantage', 1992).

The advantage of this book is that it provides the a quick insight into the ideas and essential points of Porter's books 'Competitive Strategy', 'Competitive Advantage', and 'Competitive Advantage of Nations'. Part I and Part II are now essentials in the field of strategy and competition with fantastic frameworks and models. Part III are Porter's latest articles and discuss the connection between social issues and competition. A great book that is good to read (simple US-English).

Michael E. Porter is a Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School and a leading authority in the field of competition and strategic management. This article was published in the May-June 1987 of the Harvard Business Review and won the McKinsey Award for the best article that year.

"A diversified company has two levels of strategy: (1) business unit (or competitive strategy) and corporate (or companywide) strategy." Competitive strategy concerns the creation of competitive advantage in each of the businesses, corporate strategy concerns the scope and the management of the corporation. The aim of corporate strategy is 1+1=3. In this article the author reports on findings from his study into the diversification record of 35 large, U.S. companies between 1950-1986 period. The results were shocking and the author warns the reader that "any successful corporate strategy builds on a number of premises": (1) Competition occurs at the business unit level; (2) diversification inevitably adds costs and constraints to business units; and (3) shareholders can readily diversify themselves. Porter then continues by introducing three essential tests to specify the conditions under which diversification will create shareholder value: (1) The attractiveness test; (2) the cost-of-entry test; and (3) the better-off test. Each of these tests is explained and discussed in detail. Once these tests have been met, companies need a clear concept of corporate strategy to guide their diversification. According to the author, four mutually exclusive concepts of corporate strategy are put into practice. The first two concepts - portfolio management and restructuring - require no connections between business units, the other two - transferring skills and sharing activities - depend on them. "Ignoring any of the concepts is perhaps the quickest road to failure." Last but not least, Porter provides a 7-steps action program for choosing a successful corporate strategy. The author also recommends a corporate theme to ensure that the corporation creates shareholder value. The article is complemented with a summary of the data from his study and a useful table of the concepts of corporate strategy.

Great, clear article on the traps of diversification based on extensive academic evidence. The article is based upon intensive academic research. The author also provides an useful action program for those companies that aim to diversify in the near future. This article should be read by all managers and MBA-students. The author uses simple US-English.