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Summary: Great book !
Review: I read this book when I was working...and my boss gave me a great challenge that was to figure out how that company would do to create values, reduce cost and as a consequence achieve 10% of the tourism market. Porter has shown many important considerations for those who are chasing strategies to employ for their organizations.
I recommend you this book, because I am sure that it can improve your knowledge.
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Summary: Excellent
Review: I used this book in preparation for job interviews in Management Consulting and it was essential. I also read the Vault Reports Guide to Management Consulting and Vault Reports Case Interview Guide and found both extremely helpful.
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Summary: Hard work as a book but worth the effort.
Review: Many managers have a copy of this book on their book shelf - most have read the first 40-50 pages but no more. This is a shame (there is great value in the second half) but understandable as there are few examples and the text build on itself so working through the copy requires continual focus.There are almost zero recorded applications of the entire value chain approach in the literature - either the results are too valuable or it is too difficult - I am not sure which one is the case. My PhD is on the use of value chains which are realigned to how the customer values the results (in FMCG supermarkets) then how each precursive step can be then optimised to suit the customer value equation. It is almost a line of best fit as optimising one step always impacts on the other steps - just as Heisenberg said for managing both location and velocity of things. Great book - read it from end to end or you will not get the true benefits. What it needs is a second book that brings the cases to life with real world examples - you will have to wait for my book for that bonus.
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Summary: Framework for activities within a business
Review: Michael Porter is a Harvard Business School professor and a leading authority on competition and strategy. This book builds on his initial 1980-book 'Competitive Strategy', which focuses on the industries surrounding businesses (summary of 'Competitive Strategy' is Chapter 1!). In this book, 'Competitive Advantage', Porter focuses on the business itself. The book is based on the activity-based theory of the firm. Activities are what generate cost and create value for buyers/customers, and are the basic units for competitive advantage. 'Competitive Advantage' consists of four parts - Principles of Competitive Advantage, Competitive Scope within an Industry, Corporate Strategy and Competitive Advantage, and Implications for Offensive and Defensive Competitive Strategy. Part I introduces the concept of the value, which is a general framework for thinking about the activities involved in any business and assessing their relative costs and role in differentiation. Then Porter explains the impact of the value chain on cost advantage, differentiation, technology and competitors. Part II discusses industry segmentation and substitution. Part III explains the interrelationships among business units and their impact on horizontal strategy, achievement of interrelationships, and complementary products. Part IV discusses industry scenarios under uncertainty, defensive strategy, and attacks on industry leaders. Although some parts of the book are somewhat outdated, I would say that many modern management books are based on this book. It is a very useful introduction into activities within businesses and is written in simple US-English.
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Summary: Strategy book of the 1980s - still a key reference guide
Review: Michael Porter is the founding father for strategies in a competitive context. This pioneering book represents some of his best thoughts on business and corporate strategy.
Chapter 1 is a summary of his first landmark book - "Competitive Strategy". So if you just want to buy one of his bestsellers, then buy "Competitive Advantage".
The book's most important contribution is the concept of the VALUE CHAIN. Today, you won't find an MBA who doesn't know this idea. This book gives you all the details on the value chain. And it even tells you exactly how the value chain is translated into his two generic strategies: Cost Leadership and Differentiation. Most strategy books devote a separate chapter to this idea. If you want to get a more than a superficial understanding of the value chain, you simply have to read Porter's book.
This book also gets to the core of how synergies are created and when diversification might work. Curiously, Porter chooses the term interrelationships for synergies (you know, a term for a nice idea that rarely occurred in practice...).
Being a business development manager, I have strategic thinking as part of my key areas. This book is still a reference guide for me. Obviously though, Porter's views cannot stand-alone.
If you're looking for critical views on Porter's ideas, then consider buying Hamel & Prahalad's "Competing for the Future" (1994) or Kim & Mauborgne's "Blue Ocean Strategy" (2005).
Beware: You have to read Porter's Harvard Business review article "What is Strategy" from 1996, if you want his own response to the critics.
Warning: You cannot work seriously with strategy without having understood Michael Porter's core concepts. And the superficial introduction by most - even advanced - strategy books won't make you competent enough to apply his ideas skilfully. Let me give you two examples:
COST STRUCTURE:
Most MBAs have learned about the value chain and cost structure analysis. But in real life I've seen very few who combine these two concepts proficiently. The real beauty in benchmarking cost structures is when you skilfully apply it to the value chain. This book tells you exactly how to do this. In practice, I've seen this approach applied very few times (except advanced strategy consultants). It may be because people often use Porter's concepts too casually...
COST DRIVERS:
Most strategy books are on drivers of differentiation - the preferred strategy choice by management gurus. And Porter does indeed help you on this issue. More importantly, this book is one of the few to tell you about the cost drivers. How many books have you read on Cost Leadership? Porter elaborates on 10 cost drivers, such as economies of scale, learning, linkages, synergies, pattern of capacity utilization, integration, timing, policies, and location.
STRATEGY IS ABOUT BEING DIFFERENT. Start out personally by reading the real thing ... it's a bargain.
Peter Leerskov,
MSc in International Business (Marketing & Management) and Graduate Diploma in E-business
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Summary: This book really rocks mangement thinking!!!
Review: Michael Porter's insights are just remarkable in bringing competitive advantage at its best. Companies that rely on old tactics are sinking themselves in the great tsunamis of competition. Porter's thought will take us to a flight where no one else has gone before. Pure sheer managerial thinking and rapid decision making act as leverage in 'creating and sustaining superior performance'. This book tells you all!
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Summary: A Must Read For Any Senior Manager or Business Owner
Review: Mr. Porter's book did an excellent job in outlining all the key areas that matter in the real world. Mr. Porter takes you through the exercise of properly choosing strategies (price, differentiation, technology) while focusing on buyer values to create sustainable competitive advantages and barriers. His outline of industry segmentation helps to keep readers focused on properly using capital to maximize earnings and competitive positions (a common mistake in the business world). I found the read most helpful in structuring a much more sound strategic plan for my own company. Thank you to Mr. Porter for providing such a wonderful strategic guide. CEO Profit Line of America, Inc.
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Summary: This book must be read by all strategists!
Review: Porter has highlighted many important considerations for those who are pursuing possible strategies to employ for their organisation. In order to pursue generic strategies like cost, differentiation & quick response (recent), you would have to gear your value chain towards these options. Porter has shown how this may be done in his book which is a great reference for strategic formulation. However, in order to have the optimum strategy(s) for an organisation, you would have to consider the human side. Porter's book tends to sway towards the organisational design dimension. I recommend Miller & Dess's Strategic Management (McGraw-Hill Series in Management) for a complete overview of strategic management. Also look out for Warren Bennis's Organizing Genius for an insight into great teams.
Rating:
Summary: excellent
Review: The book is really excellent. Is there anything written by Michael Porter similar about the retailer market?
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Summary: Great idea in Value Chain Management
Review: The book is very very difficult to find. You should have it
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