Competitive Strategy


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Hardcover
432 pages
ISBN 9780684841489 Published June 1998
Free Press
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Competitive Strategy
Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors
By Michael Porter 

Related Blog Posts
Business Book Humiliations
Posted Aug. 3, 2010 3:43 a.m. by sally-haldorson
In - 800 CEO Read Blog

Penguin's Portfolio imprint specializes in business books, and their Portfolio Javelin blog ("Business, Business Books, and the Business of Books") is a great read for any of us business book geeks. Yesterday, Will Weisser, Vice President and Associate Editor of Portfolio, wrote an entry inspired by a post in the Guardian's blog in which the author, Robert McCrum, confessed, despite his education and exposure to great books, that he had never read Middlemarch by George Eliot (if you too have not read Middlemarch, I highly recommend remedying that this summer--it's one of my favorites.) McCrum then invites readers to share their book humiliations by listing the books that they regret never having read.

In his post, Weisser agrees to play along, but specifies that he has "focused on the business category for 15 years but still haven’t read some of the most acclaimed and influential business books, the ones we use as benchmarks and role models."

Weisser's list of regrets:

Barbarians at the Gate by Bryan Burrough and John Helyar

Den of Thieves by James B. Stewart

In Search of Excellence by Tom Peters and Bob Waterman

The Innovator’s Dilemma by Clay Christensen

Only the Paranoid Survive by Andy Grove

Why We Buy by Paco Underhill

The HP Way by David Packard

Then he was kind enough to mention our book, The 100 Best Business Books of All Time, as a great resource for determining which books you've missed out on. (When preparing the "lost chapter" of The 100 Best, we added Barbarians at the Gate by Burrough and Helyar, and it would be the perfect book to take on vacation yet this summer.)

Intrigued by this challenge, I posed the question to Jack, our in-house encyclopedia of business books, what Business Book Humiliations he may still have. He replied that Michael Porter (author of Competitive Advantage and Competitive Strategy comes to mind. Personal History by Katharine Graham was Dylan's choice. If I had to choose one, it would be Men and Women of the Corporation by Rosabeth Moss Kanter.

What's your business book humiliation, the one business book you most regret never having read?



Two Lists
Posted Oct. 28, 2008 4:00 a.m. by dylan
In Uncategorized - 800 CEO Read Blog

The Arizona Republic printed a list of recommended finance and business titles from Jeffrey L. Coles'--finance department chair at Arizona State University. They are:

  • Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk by Peter L. Bernstein, John Wiley & Sons, 1998

  • Valuation: Measuring and Managing the Value of Companies by Tim Koller, Marc Goedhart & David Wessels, John Wiley & Sons, 2005

  • Irrational Exuberance by Robert Schiller, Currency, 2006

  • Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors by Michael Porter, Free Press, 1998

  • Chinese Lessons: Five Classmates and the Story of the New China by John Pomfret, Holt Rinehart and Winston, 2007

    • Coles sneaks in a sixth suggestion "for humor and cheer in our turbulent times," Scott Adams' Still Pumped From Using the Mouse.

    CIO Insight has picked ten leadership books they feel "capture what it takes to lead." They are:

  • Authentic Leadership: Rediscovering the Secrets to Creating Lasting Value by Bill George, Jossey-Bass, 2004

  • Judgment: How Winning Leaders Make Great Calls by Noel Tichy & Warren Bennis, Portfolio, 2007

  • Leading Change by John Kotter, Harvard Business School Press, 1996

  • The Leadership Moment: Nine True Stories of Triumph and Disaster and Their Lessons for Us All by Michael Useem, Three River Press, 1999

  • What Were They Thinking?: Unconventional Wisdom about Management by Jeffrey Pfeffer, Harvard Business School Press, 2007

  • Leadership Passages: The Personal and Professional Transitions That Make or Break a Leader by David L. Dotlich, James L. Noel & Norman Walker, Jossey-Bass, 2004

  • Reengineering the Corporation: A Manifesto for Business Revolution by Michael Hammer & James Champy, HarperBusiness, 2004

  • The Practice of Management by Peter Drucker, HarperCollins, 2006

  • Overcoming the Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Field Guide for Leaders, Managers, and Facilitators by Patrick Lencioni, Jossey-Bass, 2005

  • A Leader's Legacy by James Kouzes & Barry Posner, Jossey-Bass, 2006



    • The Wall Street Journal Business Gurus List
    Posted May 6, 2008 7:38 a.m. by todd-sattersten
    In Lists - 800 CEO Read Blog

    The Wall Street Journal yesterday had a major feature titled "New Breed of Business Gurus Rises." The article provides a ranking of the thought leaders in business today. The ranking system is based on the 2003 book What's the Big Idea? : Creating and Capitalizing on the Best New Management Thinking by Thomas Davenport. Davenport compiled the rankings using data from Google mentions, Lexus-Nexus media hits, and academic citations.

    The methodology creates a systematic way of measuring popularity, but it seems problematic. Take the case of Bill Gates at #3 on the list. For the man who created Microsoft, people are constantly talking about him in the media, online, and in academia. It seems a stretch that business people look to Gates for advice.

    Outside of Gates, the folks at the top are no huge surprise to folks who follow business books. Gary Hamel, Tom Friedman, Gates, Malcolm Galdwell, and Howard Gardner round out the top five. Below is a list of the gurus with their 2008 rankings and one of their noteworthy books:

    |Name |2008 Ranking |Book
    Gary Hamel1 Competing for The Future
    Thomas Friedman 2 The World is Flat
    Bill Gates 3 Business @ The Speed of Thought
    Malcolm Galdwell 4 Tipping Point
    Howard Gardner 5 Frames of Mind
    Phillip Kotler 6 Marketing Management
    Robert Reich 7 Supercapitalism
    Daniel Goleman 8 Emotional Intelligence
    Henry Mintzberg 9 Mintzberg On Management
    Stephen Covey 10 Seven Habits For Highly Effective People
    Jeffrey Pfeffer 11 The Knowing Doing Gap
    Peter Senge 12 The Fifth Discipline
    Richard Branson 13 Losing My Virginity
    Michael Porter 14 Competitive Strategy
    Michael Dell 15 Direct From Dell
    Geert Hofstede 16 Culture's Consequences
    Clayton Christensen 17 The Innovator's Dilemma
    Jack Welch 18 Winning
    Tom Peters 19 In Search of Excellence
    Myron Scholes 20 ---
    Ikujiro Nonako 20 The Knowledge Creating Company

    There are some gurus listed here who we have not given much attention to. Anybody read much on Hofstede or Nonaka? We will do some research as well.

    P.S. Rebecca also has a post on the side conversation going on at wsj.com about the lack of women on the list.



    Podcasts Start Back Up with Zook
    Posted Aug. 10, 2007 8:13 a.m. by todd-sattersten
    In History and Biographies - 800 CEO Read Blog

    We took some time off this summer from our podcasts.

    I am kicking off the fall season early with an interview I have been wanting to do for some time.

    Chris Zook is the author of three books, his most recent being Unstoppable. I talked with him for almost an hour about how to achieve profitable growth through focusing on the core of your business.

    I also asked him what books he would recommend to other books. He says there are three different kinds of books he is attracted to:



    Best Business Books via U.S. News and World Report
    Posted May 18, 2007 9:06 a.m. by todd-sattersten
    In Lists - 800 CEO Read Blog

    U.S. News and World Report has a huge special report on the Best Business Books. Their opening says:

    Hundreds of business books are published each year. Chances are at least one has the answers you're looking for. But how to find it? U.S. News spoke with 14 leaders from all walks of business life—from academics to entrepreneurs to corporate execs—about the five books they consider indispensable reading for managers.

    When magazines do these lists we always create a summary so people can see the picks in one quick view. The commentary that each leader gives is always interesting, so make sure you click through on the author's name if you see something that interests you.

    Good To Great made four appearances on the list and Collins is one of leaders providing reading recommendations. Porter's Competitive Strategy appears twice. Otherwise, the picks are unique. I personally like Jeff Pfeffer's picks and reasons the best.

    Best Business Books

    Chris Anderson (editor-in-chief of Wired, author of The Long Tail)

    Jack Brennan (CEO of Vanguard)

    Robert Bruner (Dean of Darden School of Business, University of Virginia)

    Jim Buckmaster (CEO of craigslist)

    Jim Collins (author of Good to Great)

    Mark Cuban (owner of the Dallas Mavericks)

    Thomas Donaldson (professor at Wharton School of Business)

    Carly Fiorina (former CEO of Hewlett-Packard)

    Jackie Fouse (CFO of Alcon)

    Robert Joss (dean of Stanford Graduate School of Business)

    Jeffery Pfeffer (professor at Stanford Graduate School of Business)

    John W. Rogers Jr. (chairman and CEO of Ariel Capital Management)

    Hector Ruiz (chairman and CEO of AMD)

    Deborah Wright (CEO of Carver Bancorp)

    Note: I left a couple books off because the leaders were self-promoting themselves or others associated with them.






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