MICHAEL E Porter’s Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors simplifies the complexities of commercial competition, furnishing businesses of all sizes and disciplines with a methodology for optimizing competitive advantage strategies.
The work comprises three parts - General Analytical Techniques, Generic Industry Environments, and Strategic Decisions. Its brace of appendices -- Portfolio Techniques in Competitor Analysis, and How to Conduct an Industry Analysis -- will also be welcomed by its target audience.
Competitive Strategy Part I
This is a discussion of the structural analysis of industries, examining overall cost leadership, focus, and differentiation.
Competitive Strategy Part II
Here, Porter discusses competitive strategy in different sectors and under various conditions, including fragmented industries with no market leader, start-up industries, mature sectors, declining industries, and global markets.
Competitive Strategy Part III
This deals with strategic decisions facing businesses, such as vertical integration, expansion, and entry into new markets.
This book first appeared in 1980, and its publisher claims that “more than a million managers, investment analysts, consultants, students, and scholars” have applied its ideas “to assess industries, understand competitors and choose competitive positions”.
Extravagant, perhaps, but there’s little doubt this tome is required reading for anyone who wants to become a student of competitive advantage strategies.
About the Author
Michael E. Porter is Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School and the author of 14 books,
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