Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors

This book is a great tool to start getting deep knowledge n Competitive strategy. The concepts and the way it approaches the competitive issues never seem to get old. Reads fresh and easy to follow.

Porter's writing is clear and direct. With his works, he has made economics, at all levels of analysis (micro, macro) clear and understandable for the interested reader. I recommend all of his works for the reader who truly wants to understand strategy and competitive advantage.Everyone else writing on this topic after Porter is pretty much saying, "Me too". Start with the original.

Classic book! After reading it, I just realized that every modern marketing text book I have read (I'm a marketing major) is actually based on this one. I'm very impressed, this is the original.

This along with Competitive Advantage are maybe the top business books of my generation. How could this book get anything less than 5 stars?

This book is a checklist, a great checklist for anyone doing analysis on industries or companies. Porter is a hard to miss if you work in this area, so you might as well get through this book, and you'll know what everyone is talking about, and you'll also get a good framework that ensures that your analysis doesn't skip important points.Reading Art of War and those kinds of books gives you another kind of strategy, which is very useful in combination with the things Porter gives you. Basically, I think Porter has done a great job of "summarizing" the strategy-process, and this is why the book is fo famous, and it is also why I give it 4 and not 5 stars. With sound theory and thorough work you will get the same insights as with Porters framework, and you will also be better equipped to deal with the peculiarities in every situation. Nevertheless, many peole don't have time/the interest for more than a summary, so for them this book is great. And for the rest it's great to get through it to learn the "common language" that is prevalent in the industry of strategy and anlysis today.

As Adam Smith is to economics and capitalism, Porter is to business strategy within this market system.This is THE seminal book for defining how businesses compete.As technology fads and internet business models ("New economy") come and go, every company must still address the basics of competition as outlined within this book. The frameworks within the book outline:-How to assess the competitive structure of your industry,-Generic competitive strategies-Competitor Analysis-Effects of market signals on competitive behavior-Competitive moves in response to your strategy-Competitve strategy in a number of different market environments-Impact of strategies such as Vertical integration, growth through new products, scale, and M&A-... much moreYou will use this book as a reference, and find it is timeless. It is no wonder the Mr. Porter is widely regarded as the preeminent strategist.To put this in practice I recommend books on gaming theory.

The value of this book is not for its groundbreaking concepts (as no individual concept is overly insightful) as many reviewers have implied, but rather for the framework it provides. Almost all of Porter's main points are patently obvious to a modestly educated reader (e.g., a firm can compete on either charging a lower price or if it doesn't charge a lower price, it must make a differentiated/better product). Most points made in this book do not go much deeper than that, and any given reader would intuitively know any isolated strategy that Porter lays out without reading his book. However, the book is great not in that it will change your thoughts/intuitions, but in that it will give you a well-structured overall framework for analyzing competitive strategy holistically. In other words, it combines fairly obvious conclusions/intuitions into one overarching strategic overview.Most readers have noted the value that business managers can obtain by studying the text, but I can also see a lot of value that investors analyzing industries, or an individual company's position in an industry can get out of the book.

Michael Porter is a classical, a must have for anyone that study business related skills. be aware that the language used is of hard understanding and will take a while to actually get the whole book concept.

Enjoying it so far. Great theory, need some time to absorb and to apply it to my situations.Some of the examples are a little out of date, ie, they happened in the 1970s. They are still relevant as examples but could benefit from an update if more recent examples can be drawn upon.Looking forward to putting some of the concepts into action.

Studied Porter back at uni and I was pleased to find this book that developed over points that I had learned whilst not being too overwhelming . Great read.

Loved it. Only good for advance strategies.

This book is the foundation that positioning theory has been built on, but it's about time that this thinking was developed. I recently looked at books on strategy in the Amazon lists and found that of the top 20 selling books only one had some new ideas on strategy. The other 19 were reviews of previous work or how to implement strategy. Why do people in strategy spend their time trying to explain what has already been explained better than anyone else?

Very informative

Great book full of detailed techniques and strategies, as well as practical tips on analysing competition. Recommend.

All fine!

Used whilst studying for my degree. Excellent material.

Porter is the authority on strategy. Very insightful book.

Literally stolen from a uni library and has pages missing. On the whole tho great book.

Quality matched description and fantastic price

Basic is the best

A very good book that helped with all the information I needed for my research project on competition in industries.I was very happy the seller delivered the book on time and the condition was as described - perfect.

An all-time classic book that every business manager has to have in his bookshelf collection. Strongly recommended for MBA students.

Great book, just started to read it - clear, logical ideas.