Product Description

Michael E. Porter's research for this title identified the fundamental determinants of national competitive advantage in an industry and how they work together to give international advantage. The findings had implications for firms and governments and set the agenda for discussions of global competition. The core ideas of this book remain relevant and this new 1998 edition includes the original text in full with a new introduction by the author, which reviews the key themes and issues of the book in the light of subsequent developments. This title is aimed at managers, consultants, academics, researchers, and policy makers. It is also for students undertaking courses on strategy, international business and related subjects on degrees in business or management, MBA courses, and a wide range of executive and post-experience courses.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #197001 in Books
• Published on: 1998-04-27
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 896 pages

Review
'America's top business guru...Professor Michael Porter of Harvard Business School is...consultant to the world on what makes economies hum. His status as an international authority on the right way to manage rests on a quarter of a century of mining data from the corporate coalface.' - The Times 'He's one of the two or three so-called gurus on competitiveness who've had more impact over the past 50 years than anyone else.' - Leo Murray, Director, Cranfield School of Management 'Porter (is) the world's foremost authority on corporate strategy.' - South China Morning Post 'Michael Porter is a guru. In the overcrowded parking lot of management gurus he is the flaming red one with a turbo charged, 32 valve, three litre engine, a GURU1 number plate and a CD changer in the boot. Porter, a professor at Harvard Business School, has not only taught generations of ambitious executives how to run business better, but his CV reads more like Henry Kissinger's diary than the life of an average academic.' - Neil Bennett, Sunday Telegraph 'Porter is the undisputed global authority on strategic management thinking and national competitive advantage.' - Carol Kennedy, Business Highlights, Booksellers' Buyers Guide 2000 'Michael Porter reaches his conclusions the old fashioned way: he earns them through solid research. The lessons of the book are sharp and deep.' - Robert M. Solow, Nobel Laureate in Economics, MIT 'The Competitive Advantage of Nations creates a new sphere in economics: an innovative socio-economic approach that will bring fresh insights to economists and industrialists.' - Shinji Fukukawa, Former Vice Minister, MITI, Japan 'A quite extraordinary achievement. The book's influence is certain to be widespread and profound. ' - Sir Christopher Hogg, Non-executive Chairman, Reuteres Holdsins plc, Chairman, Courtaulds plc ' Michael Porter clearly expresses the virtues of competition, innovation and risk-taking. His book offers insightful diagnoses of chronic economic ills and useful guidelines to a more prosperous economy. It should be read by policymakers and citizens alike.' - Senator Bill Bradley 'Michael E. Porter is an undoubted business guru...This book is, by any standards, a tour de force.' - The Good Book Guide 'Porter's prose is clear, his argument is engaging, and his case thoroughly supported by detailed evidence ... as a framework for understanding, and for effective industrial and political decision-making, it remains essential.' - Euroabstracts 'A classic text.' - Dr Ian Smith, Cardiff Business School 'Professor Michael Porter (is) one of the world's most influential authorities on corporate strategy...(the book) stands to become a standard text for the analysis of relative national economic performance.' - Independent on Sunday 'Michael Porter builds up an all-embracing view of economic change that amounts in the end to a powerful analytical framework...he has done for international capitalism what Marx did for the class struggle.' - The Economist 'The Competitive Advantage of Nations pulls off the seemingly impossible. It adds a fresh dimension to the international competitiveness debate, which has been going on since Adam Smith and David Ricardo.' - The Times 'This book can be envisaged to have a major impact on the thinking of management and government policy-makers.' - International Journal of Information Research Management

From the Publisher
Reviews
Reviews:

'Porter (is) the world's foremost authority on corporate strategy.' - South China Morning Post

'Michael Porter is a guru. In the overcrowded parking lot of management gurus he is the flaming red one with a turbo charged, 32 valve, three litre engine, a GURU1 number plate and a CD changer in the boot. Porter, a professor at Harvard Business School, has not only taught generations of ambitious executives how to run business better, but his CV reads more like Henry Kissinger's diary than the life of an average academic.' - Neil Bennett, Sunday Telegraph

'Porter is the undisputed global authority on strategic management thinking and national competitive advantage.' - Carol Kennedy, Business Highlights, Booksellers' Buyers Guide 2000

'Michael Porter reaches his conclusions the old fashioned way: he earns them through solid research. The lessons of the book are sharp and deep.' - Robert M. Solow, Nobel Laureate in Economics, MIT

'The Competitive Advantage of Nations creates a new sphere in economics: an innovative socio-economic approach that will bring fresh insights to economists and industrialists.' - Shinji Fukukawa, Former Vice Minister, MITI, Japan

'A quite extraordinary achievement. The book's influence is certain to be widespread and profound. ' - Sir Christopher Hogg, Non-executive Chairman, Reuteres Holdsins plc, Chairman, Courtaulds plc

' Michael Porter clearly expresses the virtues of competition, innovation and risk-taking. His book offers insightful diagnoses of chronic economic ills and useful guidelines to a more prosperous economy. It should be read by policymakers and citizens alike.' - Senator Bill Bradley

'Michael E. Porter is an undoubted business guru...This book is, by any standards, a tour de force.' - The Good Book Guide

'Porter's prose is clear, his argument is engaging, and his case thoroughly supported by detailed evidence ... as a framework for understanding, and for effective industrial and political decision-making, it remains essential.' - Euroabstracts

'A classic text.' - Dr Ian Smith, Cardiff Business School

'Professor Michael Porter (is) one of the world's most influential authorities on corporate strategy... (the book) stands to become a standard text for the analysis of relative national economic performance.' - Independent on Sunday

'Michael Porter builds up an all-embracing view of economic change that amounts in the end to a powerful analytical framework...he has done for international capitalism what Marx did for the class struggle.' - The Economist

'The Competitive Advantage of Nations pulls off the seemingly impossible. It adds a fresh dimension to the international competitiveness debate, which has been going on since Adam Smith and David Ricardo.' - The Times

'This book can be envisaged to have a major impact on the thinking of management and government policy-makers.' - International Journal of Information Research Management

About the Author
MICHAEL E. PORTER teaches at the Harvard Business School, is an advisor to leading companies all over the world, and served on the US President's Commission on Industrial Competitiveness. He is the author of Competitive Strategy (1980) and Competitive Advantage (1985).

Customer Reviews

a clear and enriching explanation of the famous diamond
This book certainly stands for one of last decade's most important conributions to thinking about trade. It is the result of Porter's research that attempted to determine why some nations succeed and others fail in international competition. Porter's « diamond » is explained in a clear and comprehensive way. Although it looks like a thick book, it is relatively easy to read for non native English readers. Eventhough many other authors provide a summary of Porter's work, I found it very interesting to read the original work. It makes one better understand the nuances and details often forgotten or omitted by referring authors. The theory is supported by many examples, making it a pleasure to read it. One can feel that the theory and the book are written out of experience and practice. It is not surprising therefore that the principles of The Competitive Advantage of Naitons have been used widely. Even if one could criticize some points of the theory, the book gives the reader an enriching insight in international business and competition.

Reasons for success and failures of nations
Michael E. Porter is a Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School and a leading authority on competition and strategic management. Porter is the author of the legendary business and management books 'Competitive Strategy' (1980), and 'Competitive Advantage' (1985). I cannot start this review without a word of warning: This book is consists of 850 pages and is thus not a quick weekend-read.

In this book, the author aims to answer the question, "Why do some social groups, economic institutions, and nations advance and prosper? ... I titled the book 'The Competitive Advantage of Nations' to highlight the crucial distinction between my broader concept of competitive advantage as a source of wealth and the nation of comparative advantage which had long dominated thinking about international competition." In order to answer this question, Porter uses his traditional extensive research methods and tools to prove his point.

The book is split up in four parts: (i) foundations; (2) industries; (3) nations; and (4) implications. In Chapter 1 - The Need for a New Paradigm, the author discusses the reasons for his research: "The central question to be answered is why do firms based in particular nations achieve international success in distinct segments and industries? The search is for the decisive characteristics of a nation that allow its firms to create and sustain competitive advantage in particular fields, that is, the competitive advantage of nations."

In Part I - Foundations, the author presents the theoretical frameworks which form the basis for the rest of the book. In Chapters 2, 3 and 4 Porter revisits most of his previous work, such as the five competitive forces, generic strategies, the value chain, and the advantages "diamond". Porter makes an important notion before turning the second part of the book: "The theory can and must be applied at two levels, the industry and the nation."

In Part II - Industries, the frameworks of Part I are applied to explain the histories of four industries (German printing press, American patient monitoring equipment, Italian ceramic tiles, and Japanese robotics). In addition, Porter applies the frameworks to the service sector. This is a sector which Porter has discussed very little in his previous books. "... an increasingly important class of industries where international competition has not been widely studied."

In Part III - Nations, the frameworks of Part I are applied to ten nations. Porter splits these ten nations up in early post-war winners, emerging nations in the 1970s and 1980s, and the traditional business countries (Britain and USA). Thank God, the author discusses both successes and failures within the different countries, plus identifying the reasons behind them. He also advises which steps can be taken to improve national advantage.

In Part IV - Implications, Porter discusses the impact of the frameworks of Part I on company's strategies and government policies. In the final chapter Porter tries to answer the question, "What of the future?" According to Porter "the central economic concern of every nation should be the capacity of its economy to upgrade so that firms achieve more sophisticated competitive advantages and higher productivity. Only in this way can there be a rising standard of living and economic prosperity."

This book is an impressive piece of research and Porter gets assistance from over 30 research assistants from all around the world. The book is not a simple read due to the amount of information provided and the length of the book. For readers who have read Porter's previous masterpieces I would like to stress that this book is considerably different than his previous masterpieces. It focuses less on industries and companies themselves, but more on national, international, and governmental issues. This book shows the author's education and training (Harvard PhD in economics). Still, the book is an impressive piece of work, although not for the fainthearted.