I liked this book a lot relative to something most people would find dry and uninteresting. For anyone curious about how industries are structured and how that relates to the strategy they should adopt I would highly recommend this book.The book is slightly dated by its mention of "microcomputers" along with other now extinct technologies and companies. However, the basic principal's still apply. If Michael Porter's work was not still relevant to managers and industry executives, business profes...

This is one of those books that you have to read if you're to take yourself as a business person seriously. If you haven't gone to b-school and already studied this extensively then you should. Thinking about the market, buyers, sellers and competitors this way, particularly if you are doing something new could not be more important. A true 5 star must read.

Study book but quite interesting

Michael Porter's book, Competitive Strategy, forms the basis for much of what is taught in a modern Business Strategy course in an MBA program. Porter lays a foundation for understanding an industry at a macro level. How is the industry structured? With few or many competitors, similarly sized or varied? Understanding the 'lay of the land' for an industry using Porter's framework provides a good schematic of the 'spaces' occupied by different firms. Clusters of firms that target the same custome...

Porter is the gold standard for MBA courses on Strategy. It's a very general book and it teaches you how about how to analyze different businesses depending on what their rivals, industry and market is doing, etc. For example, in looking at competitors, you would think about what their risks are, what their financial goals are , any economic/non-economic organizational values, what kind of managers are in their leadership ranks, etc - things that make them tick. This book teaches you how to thin...

I think that reading this book is essential for executives and entrepreneurs. The most important concepts in my option that you can learn from it are:- The five forces of an industry: You will learn how to analyse and understand an industry to then position your company, and create a strategy that can help you win.- The 3 general competitive strategies: cost leadership, differentiation and focus (niche).- How to analyse a competitor moves.

I did not expect that the first book I finished in 2022 is this one. I studied engineering back in university but now I work in the business strategy team - I did not choose to work as a business strategist but somehow I was brought here. To deepen my understanding in the strategy world this book is a must-read. Just one sentence of my impression: I am still glad that I chose to study engineering at the university instead of business. ;)The book is very structural, textbook-like, but is somehow

After reading this book, what i felt was Mr. Porter has brought a well defined crystal clear structure (framework) to competitive analysis. This book has provided the logic to those people who are responsible for formulating strategic decisions in any company.The book has divided into three sections. The first section begins with the famous Porter's five force model and provides the general foundation through subsequent chapters. Section 2 explains the more specific analysis of strategy in impor...

I had low expectations for this book as I find most "business analysis" books to be mostly conjecture with little analytical rigor. However, after reading it I can see why it's a classic. Although Porter's Five Forces are well known throughout the business world, and there does not seem to be much empirical evidence for their usefulness, what this book provides is an exhaustive checklist of ways to think about and analyze a business. If thought of as research manual, it is useful (albeit quite l...

Harvard professor and management consultant analyzes how countries develop capabilities to maintain or further competitiveness in the global market. The development of software engineers in Bangalore, India is an excellent example of how a region can carve out a niche in the global market. Another example is high-end fashion in Italy. In this era of hyper-competition, countries must look ahead and develop those skills and capabilities that would position it in a place of advantage.

This is probably the best business book I have read. Although it was written over 30 years ago, nearly all of Porter’s points about analyzing industries are still relevant today. Because he establishes a foundational structure at a high enough level, in many cases it seems timeless. Many of the points Porter makes seem obvious at first, but he backs up each assertion with specific examples and he outlines topics in such a structural manner that everything makes sense and fits together to build t...

I’ve always had this book on my list but had a bit of fear to start it. Always seemed too technical and dense. Because of quarantine and the shortage of options on my library, I decided to finally face it.And it was exactly what I expected: a very thoughtful and detailed book, yet very dense and hard to read. I’d say it is needed for people that are in business, but not a fun experience.Why is it needed? This book is the birth of nowadays business competitive strategy. Pretty much everything aft...

Brilliant and comprehensive! A must read for consultants and managers to learn the basic strategies of business and avoid common pitfalls that seem common sense but give you much wisdom only in hindsight after having make the mistakes (if you haven't read about them already).The book is an easy read but takes it will take time if you want to internalize well. But that time invested will hopefully be worth it! The examples are obviously dated but the concepts are perfectly applicable even today.

While the core concepts are important and I can understand why Porter's 5 Forces are such an integral part of business education, the actual book turned out the be excruciating. It doesn't help that the industries and examples are now decades old, but this is one of the first books in a long time I willfully and guiltlessly stopped reading.

This is one of the greatest books on corporate strategy that's ever been written--and there have been many, many books on that topic.The starting idea is that it's not just about being good in isolation. It's about offering something better than your competitors can. Many people who have never read the book have heard of Porter's Five Forces: Current Competitors, Bargaining Power of the Buyers, Bargaining Power of the Suppliers, New Entrants into the Market, Availability of Alternative Products/...

A concept that Warren Buffett has popularized in the world of investing is circle of competence. It describes what industries and businesses the investor understands well enough to be able to make an informed investment decision. It may be easy to understand the notion but its realization surely is harder than it seems. An integral part is to grasp the inner workings of an industry and the competitive situation of the specific business. A book that has stood the test of time and that will give t...

Porter's competitive strategy usually only covered 15-20 minutes in the business school, along with other historical people in management such as Ansof, Schumpeter or Mintzberg. However what makes Porter different is that he is the founder of Monitor, which is at the end a failure, indicating that there is something wrong with his theory, but in the other hand Porter is very popular and like standard jargon among the business school student, which ironically, there are so many cheat sheet and re...

The key message in this book:If you want to be the top dog in your industry, then you’re going to have to put in the time analyzing and understanding your competitors. Everything they do and everything they say can give you insights into how to anticipate their moves and get an edge on the competition.

I Love competition after reading this book

The book provides great insight regarding competitive analysis of markets, which are hard to come-by in other books as this books specializes on this particular sphere. There is conclusive information about types of markets, enter-barriers, retaliation and strategies for dealing with competition.However, despite that this book was overwhelmed with data, its structuring was ineffective. One thing that I strongly dislike from the book, is that it gives too much information. What is meant here, is