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

by Joan Magretta (Author)

4.6 831 ratings

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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 themfor 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 ideasand 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 againideas that all firms and strategy practitioners would be well-advised to study and learn froman 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: #51,595 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #47 in Strategic Business Planning
- #78 in Systems & Planning
- #437 in Business Management (Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.6 831 ratings

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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.

28 people found this helpful

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Kindle Customer

Outstanding compilation; some Kindle hiccups

Reviewed in the United States on April 28, 2012

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Once again Joan Magretta produces a masterful synthesis of complex business ideas (her first being What Management Is). I'm well aware of Michael Porter's contributions to business thinking but I've been hesitant to read his work directly because it seemed so academic and specialized. But in this book, Michael Porter's ideas are laid out logically and explained clearly, with plenty of examples to support the ideas. A major key to understanding Porter is mastering the definitions of key words or phrases, such as "value proposition", "value chain", or even "strategy". Sometimes it's easy to recognize jargon but sometimes not, so you can be easily be confused or led down the wrong path if you're not paying attention closely. Magretta helps by repeating the definitions at key times to reinforce the ideas and ensure you don't get lost (plus there's a handy glossary at the back) and describes how to analyze or implement them step-by-step. It's so well written that I finished in a few days but I did have lots of questions, such as the relationship between business models and strategy or how do his ideas apply to non-profits (the field in which I work) and those were nicely addressed in the closing FAQ interview. If there are any problems, it's in the Kindle edition. The text and diagrams work out better than most Kindle ebooks (although the charts are at their minimum size limit; larger or zoomability would have been nice) but somehow the Kindle version reads the FAQ, Glossary, and Notes all as page 185 (even though it's simultaneously presented as Locations 2452-3092). That may not be a problem for most readers, but if you want cite a quotation from the book for a research paper or report, or want to jump to that section by page rather than location, you're dead in the water. This problem obviously lies with the publisher or Amazon, not the author.

5 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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Marco Augusto

Really appreciated

Reviewed in Italy on August 13, 2023

Verified Purchase

Michael Porter is easy to read but hard to grasp and use in practice. This book explains in the simplest way possible how the immense amount of value that Porter have been creating in strategy study space, can be applied to your strategy creation process. Really appreciated.

Ashutosh kumar

Worth the price.

Reviewed in India on July 14, 2023

Verified Purchase

Loved the book

Cliente Amazon

libro que aporta poco

Reviewed in Spain on August 25, 2022

Verified Purchase

comentarios típicos y mucho bla bla bla. No lo recomendaría leer

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Mr. Christopher Fox

A thoughtful summary of much of Porter's work

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 28, 2020

Verified Purchase

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.

One person found this helpful

Bernardo y Estefania

Un gran "resumen ejecutivo" de las ideas de Michael Porter

Reviewed in Mexico on October 13, 2018

Verified Purchase

Este libro es como un resumen ejecutivo de todo lo que ha escrito Michael Porter sobre estrategia empresarial. Indispensable para quien quiera empezar un negocio.

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