Understanding Michael Porter

Introduction

MICHAEL PORTER DIDN’T GET to be a giant in the field of competition and strategy by hunting small game. Very early in his career, he went after the single biggest and most consequential question in business: Why are some companies more profitable than others? One big question led to another. Why are some industries consistently more profitable than others, and what does this mean for the manager developing a strategy? Why are some countries or regions more successful than others, and what does this mean for companies in a global era? Since the publication of his groundbreaking classics, Competitive Strategy (1980) and Competitive Advantage (1985), Michael Porter has been steadily building answers to these fundamental questions about ...