Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors

Michael E. Porter is a professor at Harvard Business School and a leading authority on Strategy and Competitiveness. He did his MBA and Ph.D from Harvard. He has served as an advisor to several business and government organizations. He was also a founder of the strategy and management consulting firm, Monitor Group.Professor Porter is best known for his landmark books that defined the field of Strategy - Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors (1980) and Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance (1985). These books are must reads at the leading business schools.I read Competitive Strategy (1980) for a Strategy course. It starts with a bang. On the very second page of the first chapter you will find the figure for the famous Five Forces Driving Industry Competition. While Porter did not intend this framework to be used for case interviews, in reality, this is a very important framework to know for the case interviews conducted by leading strategy and management consultancy firms. All top MBAs and anybody who has ever been hired by the best strategy and management consultancy firms knows this framework, and has probably read this book. The first chapter immediately proceeds to explaining each of the five forces:1. Threat of new entrants2. Intensity of rivalry among existing competitors3. Pressure from substitute products4. Bargaining power of buyers5. Bargaining power of suppliersWhile the first chapter alone is worth the cost of this book, I recommend it for the wisdom contained in the rest of the book. The chapters are organized under three parts (General Analytical Techniques, Generic Industry Environments, and Strategic Decisions). There are several thought provoking discussions on concepts such as A Framework for Competitor Analysis (Future goals, Assumptions, Current strategy, Capabilities), Market Signals and a Strategic Analysis of Vertical Integration.This book is the single most important book on business strategy. It is a classic - like the management classics of Peter Drucker. As with every classic, the examples are old (not to be confused with outdated). But, the competition HP faced for electronic calculators in the 70s, it still faces for computers today. There have been several changes in the players, technology, industries, globalization, etc, but the foundation built by Porter's masterpieces are still relevant today.Porter's second book Competitive Advantage (1985) introduced another important tool - The Value Chain. This analyzes primary activities (Inbound logistics, Operations, Outbound logistics, Marketing and Sales, Services) and support activities (Procurement, Technology development, Human resource management, Firm infrastructure) that firms must analyze to create value and competitive advantage.

Porter is the best when it comes to making the right decisions at the right time. That's what strategy is all about, isn't it? Be it the bargaining power of clients, or the power of suppliers, or the threat of substitute products, or the power of government policy over your industry, Porter has come up with every angle out there to cover.There's a reason they made me study him during my MBA at BU. THERES A REASON IVE ALWAYS USED HIS MODEL. He's basically the absolute best.

I didn't want to destroy this amazing, all-time classic book's rating just for a tecnicality, but the E-book version is very problematic and the reading experience is terrible. The top and bottom of each page hide part of the letters, and many times when turning to the next page we're missing the next paragraph, which we can find if we turn back to the previous page. I don't know if this is fixable.

This book is a checklist, a great checklist for anyone doing analysis on industries or companies. Porter is a hard to miss if you work in this area, so you might as well get through this book, and you'll know what everyone is talking about, and you'll also get a good framework that ensures that your analysis doesn't skip important points.Reading Art of War and those kinds of books gives you another kind of strategy, which is very useful in combination with the things Porter gives you. Basically, I think Porter has done a great job of "summarizing" the strategy-process, and this is why the book is fo famous, and it is also why I give it 4 and not 5 stars. With sound theory and thorough work you will get the same insights as with Porters framework, and you will also be better equipped to deal with the peculiarities in every situation. Nevertheless, many peole don't have time/the interest for more than a summary, so for them this book is great. And for the rest it's great to get through it to learn the "common language" that is prevalent in the industry of strategy and anlysis today.

AwesomeThis is a very good topic worth the time invested. Poster challenges your abilities to integrate into a market place, and today the globalité of the market makes it even complexe.

As Adam Smith is to economics and capitalism, Porter is to business strategy within this market system.This is THE seminal book for defining how businesses compete.As technology fads and internet business models ("New economy") come and go, every company must still address the basics of competition as outlined within this book. The frameworks within the book outline:-How to assess the competitive structure of your industry,-Generic competitive strategies-Competitor Analysis-Effects of market signals on competitive behavior-Competitive moves in response to your strategy-Competitve strategy in a number of different market environments-Impact of strategies such as Vertical integration, growth through new products, scale, and M&A-... much moreYou will use this book as a reference, and find it is timeless. It is no wonder the Mr. Porter is widely regarded as the preeminent strategist.To put this in practice I recommend books on gaming theory.

"Competitive Strategy" is not a quick read-- it's really a business school textbook if ever I saw one-- but it's absolutely incredible in its scope, its depth, and its presentation. I went through it with a highlighter and then went back and read my highlighted sections a second time, and I think it's a book I'll be keeping for a long, long time. The game has changed for sure, but the core concepts remain the same, and if you want to understand those concepts at a deep level, look no further than this book.