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Joan Magretta

Understanding Michael Porter: The Essential Guide to Competition and Strategy Hardcover – December 6, 2011

by Joan Magretta (Author)

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Competitive advantage. The value chain. Five forces. Industry structure. Differentiation. Relative cost. If you want to understand how companies achieve and sustain competitive success, Michael Porter’s frameworks are the foundation. But while everyone in business may know Porter’s name, many managers misunderstand and misuse his concepts.

Understanding Michael Porter sets the record straight, providing the first concise, accessible summary of Porter’s revolutionary thinking. Written with Porter’s full cooperation by Joan Magretta, his former editor at Harvard Business Review, this new book delivers fresh, clear examples to illustrate and update Porter’s ideas.

Magretta uses her wide business experience to translate Porter’s powerful insights into practice and to correct the most common misconceptions about them—for instance, that competition is about being unique, not being the best; that it is a contest over profits, not a battle between rivals; that strategy is about choosing to make some customers unhappy, not being all things to all customers.

An added feature is an original Q&A with Porter himself, which includes answers to managers’ FAQs.

Eminently readable, this book will enable every manager in your organization to grasp Porter’s ideas—and swiftly deploy them to drive your company’s success.

Print length

256 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Harvard Business Review Press
Publication date

December 6, 2011
Dimensions

6.5 x 1 x 9.5 inches
ISBN-10

9781422160596
ISBN-13

978-1422160596
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“The Harvard professor's books are required reading for health care leaders tackling strategy.” — American Hospital Association

“A book on understanding Porter is worthwhile because he's often misunderstood. He is widely and rightly regarded as the all-time greatest strategy guru, but that view gets the emphasis wrong.” — Fortune magazine

“If you have always intended to read Michael Porter's groundbreaking management classics, but have never quite got around to doing so, Joan Magretta's Understanding Michael Porter does the hard work for you” – Financial Mail (South Africa)

“Magretta’s book is a timely reminder that serves to put Porter’s thinking and concepts before us again—ideas that all firms and strategy practitioners would be well-advised to study and learn from…an excellent read.” — Quality Digest

“Summing Up: Highly recommended” — CHOICE

“Joan Magretta lays out Porter’s ideas on competition in a concise, easy-to-read volume.” — Business Day (South Africa)

“The book is a great read even for those who are looking to get initiated into the Michael Porter way of thinking” — The Economic Times (India)

“Magretta adds value through fresh case studies showing how companies such as Zara, Ikea and In-N-Out Burger deploy Porter’s ideas. Written in a very accessible style, this is a book for managers rather than academics.” — The Irish Times

“Ms. Magretta does a superb job of clearly and logically explaining Prof. Porter’s concepts, with lots of helpful examples. This is a distillation, but it never feels sparse, with ample time for the reader to learn a concept and sufficient reinforcement of the ideas as you are guided through the Porter oeuvre. Reading it brings you up-to-date on his ideas and, more importantly, helps you to understand your own business and the strategic elements you may have missed.” — The Globe & Mail

“200 pages of simple, non-faddish common sense for business.” — Anna Farmery, TheEngagingBrand.com

“Book of the Month. This book will become the strategy bible for today’s busy managers.” — Business Executive

About the Author

Joan Magretta has worked with Michael Porter for almost two decades; she is a Senior Associate at the Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness at Harvard Business School, a McKinsey Award winner, and author of What Management Is, a top pick of its year by The Economist. She was a Bain partner and strategy editor of the Harvard Business Review.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ 1422160599
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Harvard Business Review Press; 1st edition (December 6, 2011)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 256 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9781422160596
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1422160596
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.03 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.5 x 1 x 9.5 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #71,210 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #81 in Strategic Business Planning
- #163 in Systems & Planning
- #796 in Business Management (Books)

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4.6 out of 5

640 global ratings

5 star		77%
4 star		16%
3 star		3%
2 star		1%
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Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 28, 2022

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Great condition! I plan to read this first before diving through Michael Porter's Competitive Strategy/Advantage, Competitive Advantage of Nations, and On Competition

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FIZ

Mejor libro de estrategia

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 31, 2022

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Impresionante claro, preciso y lleno de insights de como mirar la estrategia de una empresa. Más no siempre es más, más innovación, más tecnología, más ventas no tendrán un gran impacto si no vienen de la mano de un segmento de clientes específicos, con una propuesta de valor definida que sea constante en el tiempo. No todos podemos ser los mejores en todo, por eso la estrategia se basa en enfocarse en quien quiero servir.

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Grouchy Smurf

An Accessible, Concise and Yet Rigorous Introduction to the Ideas of Michael Porter on Business Strategy

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 7, 2015

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Michael Porter is considered one of the most important scholars in the field of strategy, and Ms. Magretta's book presents his ideas clearly and concisely. As a professor of strategy who has been teaching Porter's ideas to executives and students for more than 10 years, I enjoyed the book, even though I have read Porter's books and articles themselves. The book can be thought of as a more detailed yet accessible versions of two of his seminal articles, The Five Forces That Shape Competitive Strategy and What is Strategy.
If you have not read any of Porter's work before, this book is probably the best vehicle to get introduced to his ideas, and you will gain valuable insights. Even if you have read the above articles however, the book will still be useful, because Ms. Magretta updates the examples, integrates material from other works by Porter and makes the material more accessible without watering it down. The last chapter on Continuity is quite fresh for example. The case study examples have been updated, which was important for me. The discussion of how the desire to grow detracts from strategy is especially insightful and eye-opening. The Q&A with Michael Porter is also unique to this book. Finally, Ms. Magretta presents a list of additional readings case studies for those who are interested in pursuing the material further. In short, there is enough material to satisfy even avid readers of Porter's ideas.
One could of course point to some weaknesses as well. The strategy field has advanced quite a lot since Porter's ideas have been presented, and a full understanding of his concepts and views requires relating them to alternative views of strategy. For example, his 1996 article, What is Strategy, was written partly as a defense of his views vis-a-vis some of the alternative views. Furthermore, Porter's ideas are controversial and not universally accepted. Finally, one could argue that examples were picked conveniently to support Porter's views. However, these are more critiques of Professor Porter's views, rather than of the book itself.
One word of caution: Porter's ideas are wide-ranging. He has written about diverse topics such as competitive advantage of nations, clusters and global strategy and health care. Those are not in this book. This book focuses on his ideas on the field of business strategy, which is where he made his biggest mark.
The book will be most relevant and useful for practicing managers, especially senior managers or those who are part of the strategy formation process in their organizations. However, the general reader can also gain valuable insights. As someone who teaches and studies business strategy, I highly recommend this book.

26 people found this helpful

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The_jv

Helpful Business Insights

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 22, 2018

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Michael Porter has been regarded as a genius when it comes to marketing strategy. Though his work his considered very academic and often catered to certain fields the book present topics that are more general and explained with a more broad mindset. One special thing that I appreciated were that there were many examples to backup with what the text was referring to. This connections of discussion and examples made for a very easy to understand and read. Some examples that highlight his ideas are the explanations of values. Some examples include “value chain” one handy attribute was that many of these definitions were reinforced several times in order to help the reader understand. Magretta who uses this repetition in important moments helped me solidify the concepts, while also encouraging me to review in the glossary if needed. The importance here is that there is a breakdown of a step by step process in how to understand these ideas. Another example that was very insightful to read was based on the “0 sum competition”. This was related to not focusing on dominating the market share but rather focuses on developing competitive advantage. This seems to be his sole strategy. An interesting concept because no matter how a business often responds to another their competition between each other is often a “0 sum competition”.

Though my only critic was that these solutions and discussions for strategy were often very vague in nature. Porter’s ideas are not accepted everywhere so there are critics on his view of strategy. Though Porter expressed ideas outside of strategy they are focused on his most influential work. I would say that those readers who will gain the most from this book are those looking to better manage teams and those who currently supervise a team. Though I gained adequate knowledge Porter idea in this text offers a highly insightful resource for anyone pursuing a future in business strategy and management.

One person found this helpful

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Paul Simister

An easy to understand introduction to the main strategy guru

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on May 19, 2015

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Michael Porter shook up the world of strategy and big business with two books - Competitive Strategy in 1980 and Competitive Advantage in 1985. Since then, he has become the established view and other experts have tried to make their names by misrepresenting his work and arguing against these misrepresentations.

What's covered in the book will be taught in every business school and it certainly was in my MBA studies although, by then, I'd read the original books. He fought back against his critics with a famous article in the Harvard Business Review called "What is Strategy" and also updated his five forces commentary in another article.

This book summarises his main ideas in a very easy to read format that avoids much of the detail that made the original books a chore for all but the most interested or dedicated.

It helps to answer the big question of why consistent profit performance varies across industries and within industries.

His five forces model explains how some industries find their profits competed away by companies they buy from or sell to, by substitute products that achieve the same goals, by new entrants who appear at the first sign of excess profits or by competitive rivalry that forces down prices and forces up costs to serve.

His work on competitive advantage through the value chain analyses how firms can achieve cost advantages or differentiation so that profitability between companies within an industry varies from the strongest to the weakest.

These are explained in the book along with the latest ideas on differentiation and positioning that come from the "What Is Strategy article. It also includes a 20 plus page interview between the author and Michael Porter.

There is no substitute for going back to his original works that still stand up remarkably well except for outdated examples. However those books are demanding to read and this makes the ideas much more approachable.

It's an excellent summary for an MBA student or a senior manager in a good sized business who gets involved in strategic planning sessions. It's also a good refresher for anyone who has formally studied strategy.

I'm less ready to endorse it for entrepreneurs and small business owners. If that's you, then I think you need both a wider context and a deeper understanding of what's involved in finding a niche and differentiating the business from competitors. One option is to go and hire an expert but I'd like to be able to point you towards a book first so that you can properly engage in any debate. At the moment, I can't think of one which is frustrating.

About my book reviews - I aim to be a tough reviewer because the main cost of a book is not the money to buy it but the time needed to read it and absorb the key messages. 4 stars means this is a good to very good book.

Paul Simister, a business coach who helps business owners who are stuck, get unstuck.

9 people found this helpful

Mr. Christopher Fox

A thoughtful summary of much of Porter's work

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on June 28, 2020

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This book provides a thoughtful summary of much of Porter's work. It describes and evidences what he meant, and didn't mean. Key contributions include the review of the five forces model, and Porter's five criteria for good strategy.

There is also a transcript of an interview in which Porter reflection his own work and answers questions on how it should be applied in different circumstances. The book concludes with a useful glossary of some of the key terms and concepts underpinning Porter's work.

Steven Fox

Joan Magretta aims to correct these misconceptions in a easily digestible

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on March 1, 2016

Verified Purchase

Porters works are not light reading, and as this book points out, they are typically taught from secondary materials rather than the source works. This leads to a number of misconceptions about porters work, chief among these is the misconception of it being a static analysis framework.

Joan Magretta aims to correct these misconceptions in a easily digestible manner

3 people found this helpful

Meo

This book is highly recommended before you start reading On Competition

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on February 10, 2016

Verified Purchase

For those who are new to business, strategy and competition, jumping to read Porter's own work can be daunting. This book is highly recommended before you start reading On Competition, Competitiveness of Nation etc. It's a really good and helpful book. Thank you Joan!

Renegade

Great book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on July 30, 2018

Verified Purchase

Great book with insight outside the theory
Gives a great model of business analysis to pirterscire text.

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