America used to be a uniquely productive, low-cost place to do business. We had efficient infrastructure. We had limited regulation. We believed in the market.
Category Archive: Michael Porter
Innovation is the central issue in economic prosperity.
In America, the problems of poverty and low income, particularly for minorities, are disproportionately focused in the inner cities. Shining a spotlight on the businesses growing in these communities is proof that any community has the potential for entrepreneurship.
As a multisport athlete, I was always fascinated with competition and how to win. At HBS and later at the Harvard Department of Economics, I was drawn to the field of competition and strategy because it tackles perhaps the most basic question in both business management and industrial economics: What determines corporate performance?
So companies have to be very schizophrenic. On one hand, they have to maintain continuity of strategy. But they also have to be good at continuously improving.
The underlying principles of strategy are enduring, regardless of technology or the pace of change.
A strategy delineates a territory in which a company seeks to be unique.
If all you’re trying to do is essentially the same thing as your rivals, then it’s unlikely that you’ll be very successful.
Strategy is about making choices, trade-offs; it’s about deliberately choosing to be different.
You can’t have a healthy society unless you have healthy companies that are making a profit, that are employing people and that are growing.