Book Review Competitive Strategy Techniques for Analysing Industries for Competitors - by Michael Porter
About The Author
Michael E. Porter is the C. Roland Christensen Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School. He has received the Wells Prize in Economics, the Adam Smith Award, three McKinsey Awards and numerous other honours.
Introduction
This is an interesting book on Business strategies and a must read for everyone who is or aspires to hold a role of decision making in any business. The book centres around the strategies that a company should implement while struggling in the competitive market in the recent past and the time to come.
The book is written in three sections.
• General Analytical Techniques
• Generic Industry Environments
• Strategic Decisions General Analytical Techniques is the first part of the book and it covers two topics main topics:
1. The five forces of competition. 2. Generic competitive strategies
To further discuss the five forces of competition we would like to mention that the author here believes that the intensity of the competition is dependent on these mentioned five forces of economics.
1. The buying power of customers- The Competition is higher when the buying power of customers is high. This is usually the case when there are many substitutes or competitors to the product.
2. The power of suppliers to squeeze profits- The power of suppliers to squeeze profits or bargaining power suppliers is high when their product enjoys a monopoly or has features or value adds that no other or very few other competitive products offer. Their bargaining power will also be high if the product is a necessity and cannot be substituted by other products easily.
3. The threat of new entrants coming into the industry- The competition is higher when the industry can easily attract new entrants. This happens when the capital requirement to start the business is not very high.
4. The threat of substitute products- The competition is high when the product can be easily substituted and has many
Michael E. Porter is the C. Roland Christensen Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School. He has received the Wells Prize in Economics, the Adam Smith Award, three McKinsey Awards and numerous other honours.
Introduction
This is an interesting book on Business strategies and a must read for everyone who is or aspires to hold a role of decision making in any business. The book centres around the strategies that a company should implement while struggling in the competitive market in the recent past and the time to come.
The book is written in three sections.
• General Analytical Techniques
• Generic Industry Environments
• Strategic Decisions General Analytical Techniques is the first part of the book and it covers two topics main topics:
1. The five forces of competition. 2. Generic competitive strategies
To further discuss the five forces of competition we would like to mention that the author here believes that the intensity of the competition is dependent on these mentioned five forces of economics.
1. The buying power of customers- The Competition is higher when the buying power of customers is high. This is usually the case when there are many substitutes or competitors to the product.
2. The power of suppliers to squeeze profits- The power of suppliers to squeeze profits or bargaining power suppliers is high when their product enjoys a monopoly or has features or value adds that no other or very few other competitive products offer. Their bargaining power will also be high if the product is a necessity and cannot be substituted by other products easily.
3. The threat of new entrants coming into the industry- The competition is higher when the industry can easily attract new entrants. This happens when the capital requirement to start the business is not very high.
4. The threat of substitute products- The competition is high when the product can be easily substituted and has many