Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Porter's On Competition Update

On Competition, Updated and Expanded Edition


Michael E. Porter
Harvard Business School Press

October 2008


This expanded edition is organized in five parts:

 

Part I, ‘‘Competition and Strategy: Core Concepts,’’ lays out the core concepts of competitive strategy for companies, first at the level of a single industry and then for multi-business or diversified companies. 

The drivers of industry competition, the ways in which companies gain and sustain competitive advantage,

and the principles of developing a distinctive strategy are at the core of competition. 

A sophisticated understanding of how to be competitive in a particular business provides the foundation

on which other corporate choices are built; diversification, for example, cannot be approached 

sensibly without linking it directly to competition in individual businesses. Also, the principles in Part I

 are as relevant for nonprofits as for companies.

1. The Five Competitive Forces That Shape Strategy
    (January 2008 HBR Version) 
    Michael E. Porter

 

2. What Is Strategy? 
    Michael E. Porter

 

3. How Information Gives You Competitive Advantage 
    Michael E. Porter and Victor E. Millar

 

4. Strategy and the Internet
    (New to this edition)
    Michael E. Porter

 

5From Competitive Advantage to Corporate Strategy 
    Michael E. Porter

 

Part II, ‘‘The Competitiveness of Locations,’’ addresses the role of location in competition. As competition has spread and intensified, interest in the competitiveness of nations, states, and cities has exploded. As technology has allowed companies to become more global in their activities and as capital moves more freely across borders, many theorists claim that location diminishes in importance. The articles in Part II, however, challenge this notion. In them, I show how the prosperity of both companies and entire countries is dependent on the local environment in which competition takes place. Traditionally, the competitiveness of a region or a nation has been seen primarily as an issue for governments seeking to promote investment and job creation. The new model of competitiveness reveals unfamiliar roles for companies in shaping their competitive context;the need for a new type of relationship between business,

 government, and other local institutions; and entirely new ways of thinking about government policy. Understanding the influence of location on competition, together with the ideas in Part I, is also essential to setting global strategy for companies.

 

6. The Competitive Advantage of Nations 
    Michael E. Porter

 

7. Clusters and Competition: New Agendas for Companies, Governments, and Institutions 
    Michael E. Porter

 

8. Competing Across Locations: Enhancing Competitive Advantage through a Global Strategy 
    Michael E. Porter

 

Part III, ‘‘Competitive Solutions to Societal Problems,’’ draws on the frameworks in Parts I and II

 to address important societal issues. The environment, urban poverty and income inequality, and health care,

 among others, are normally seen as social problems. However, each of them is inextricably bound up 

with economics and, more specifically, with competition. I am increasingly convinced that lasting,

 self-sustaining solutions to these problems lie in our ability to apply effectively the deepest

 lessons of competition. There are huge win-win opportunities for both society and for companies 

if we approach issues such as the environment, disadvantaged communities, and health-care delivery 

in the right way. Creating positive-sum competition in these arenas will foster innovation 

that produces enormous value for society.

 

9.   Green and Competitive: Ending the Stalemate 
     Michael E. Porter and Claas Van Der Linde

 

10. The Competitive Advantage of the Inner City 
     Michael E. Porter

 

11Redefining Competition in Health Care
     
 (New to this edition)
     Michael E. Porter and Elizabeth Olmsted Teisberg

 

PartIV, ‘‘Strategy, Philanthropy, and Corporate Social Responsibility,’’ applies strategy principles to philanthropy 

and giving by both social organizations and corporations. In a world of scarce public resources and rising

 aspirations to address social needs, the need for philanthropy to deliver value is urgent. The social sector 

must justify the enormous resources being devoted to giving, many of which are tax subsidized and thus 

supported by all citizens. The act of giving can no longer be seen as beneficial for its own sake. Instead, 

giving must achieve true social impact. 
The corporate sector is being asked to participate in social issues as never before, often under 

the banner of corporate social responsibility. How and where corporations should engage social issues, 

and how they should invest their philanthropic giving, is a pressing issue for every corporate leader.

The key to doing this well is understanding that social issues and economic issues are not mutually 

exclusive but can be mutually reinforcing, as highlighted in Part III. Thus,

 social considerations can and should become part of a company’s strategy, not a separate agenda.

 

12. Philanthropy’s New Agenda: Creating Value

     (New to this edition)
     Michael E. Porter and Mark R. Kramer

 

13. The Competitive Advantage of Corporate Philanthropy
     (New to this edition)
     Michael E. Porter and Mark R. Kramer

 

14. Strategy and Society: The Link Between Competitive Advantage and Corporate Social Responsibility
     (New to this edition)
     Michael E. Porter and Mark R. Kramer

 

Part V, ‘‘Strategy and Leadership,’’ recognizes that leadership is needed to achieve superior value creation.

 For any organization, developing a strategy is an act of leadership, and strategy represents perhaps the most powerful tool available to leaders to get all the individuals in the organization aligned around a common 

purpose and direction. As crucial as leadership is, we still knowsurprisingly little about the role of leaders, especially the leaders of large complex organizations such as those that populate the Fortune 100 or Fortune 500. Such organizations are too large and complex for any leader to fully understand all of thebusinesses, manage the many 

thousands of employees, or make even a small fraction of all the decisions. In such organizations, 

the roles of leaders are subtle and indirect, and we have begun to explore these roles in recent work.

 

15. Seven Surprises for New CEOs
     
 (New to this edition)
     Michael E. Porter, Jay W. Lorsch, and Nitin Nohria



From: http://www.isc.hbs.edu/On_Competition.htm