The Competitive Advantage of Nations is one of the most influential business and management books of all time. Michael Porter's research identified the fundamental determinants of national competitive advantage in an industry and how they work together to give international advantage. The findings are rich in implications for firms and governments and set the agenda for discussions of global competition. The book was an extraordinary achievement and had a profound effect upon management, policy-makers and academics worldwide. The core ideas of the book remain very relevant today and this new...

Porter's value chain enables managers to isolate the underlying sources of buyer value that will command a premium price, and the reasons why one product or service substitutes for another. He shows how competitive advantage lies in activities and in the way they relate to each other, to supplier activities, and to customer activities.

Electrifying in its simplicity - like all great breakthroughs - COMPETITIVE STRATEGY captures the complexity of industry competition in five underlying forces. Author Michael Porter introduces one of the most powerful competitive tools yet developed: his three generic strategies - lowest cost, differentiation, and focus - which bring structure to the task of strategic positioning. He shows how competitive advantage can be defined in terms of relative cost and relative prices, thus linking it directly to profitability, and presents a whole new perspective on how profit is created and divided....