Competitive Strategy

What forces drive competition in an industry? What moves will competitors make? How will one's industry evolve? How do strategic planners respond to competitive actions? How can a firm be best positioned to compete in the long run?

Michael Porter's Competitive Strategy is the definitive work on the subject of "competitive strategy," the hottest new concept in American business today. The book addresses major questions of vital concern to managers, and presents a comprehensive set of analytical techniques for understanding a business and the behavior of its competitors.

Step-by-step, Porter provides the techniques and tools managers need to successfully conduct an industry and competitor analysis. Just a few examples:

• The fundamental factors determining the nature of competition in a business.
• The three generic competitive strategies for coping with industry structure: cost leadership, differentiation, and "focus."
• How to recognize and act on "market signals" from competitors.
• Forecasting how the structure of an industry will evolve.
• The costs, risks, and returns of a "preemptive" strategy.
• Competing effectively in an emerging industry.
• Selecting new industries to enter.

Beginning with a comprehensive set of tools and techniques for analyzing any industry and any array of competitors, the book moves on to examine competitive strategies for fragmented industries, emerging industries, maturing industries, declining industries and global industries. The final section of the book provides analytical techniques for making the important strategic decisions that confront — vertical integration, major capacity expansion, divestment and entry into new businesses.

This book will enable managers to anticipate and prepare for — rather than simply react to — sudden competitor moves, new entries into their business, and shifts in industry structure, as well as to take forceful positive action to improve a company's position through tested competitive strategies. Competitive Strategy is destined to become the Bible for Fortune 500 managers, company advisers, and securities analysts.

• Introduction
• Part I: General Analytical Techniques
1. The Structural Analysis of Industries
• Structural Determinants of the Intensity of Competition
• Structural Analysis and Competitive Strategy
• Structural Analysis and Industry Definition
2. Generic Competitive Strategies
• Three Generic Strategies
• Stuck in the Middle
• Risks of the Generic Strategies
3. A Framework for Competitor Analysis
• The Components of Competitor Analysis
• Putting the Four Components Together — The Competitor
• Response Profile
• Competitor Analysis and Industry Forecasting
• The Need for a Competitor Intelligence System
4. Market Signals
• Types of Market Signals
• The Use of History in Identifying Signals
• Can Attention to Market Signals Be a Distraction?
5. Competitive Moves
• Industry Instability: The Likelihood of Competitive Warfare
• Competitive Moves
• Commitment
• Focal Points
• A Note on Information and Secrecy
6. Strategy Toward Buyers and Suppliers
• Buyer Selection
• Purchasing Strategy
7. Structural Analysis Within Industries
• Dimensions of Competitive Strategy
• Strategic Groups
• Strategic Groups and a Firm's Profitability
• Implications for Formulation of Strategy
• The Strategic Group Map as an Analytical Tool
8. Industry Evolution
• Basic Concepts in Industry Evolution
• Evolutionary Processes
• Key Relationships in Industry Evolution
• Part II: Generic Industry Environments
9. Competitive Strategy in Fragmented Industries
• What Makes an Industry Fragmented?
• Overcoming Fragmentation
• Coping with Fragmentation
• Potential Strategic Traps
• Formulating Strategy
10. Competitive Strategy in Emerging Industries
• The Structural Environment
• Problems Constraining Industry Development
• Early and Late Markets
• Strategic Choices
• Techniques for Forecasting
• Which Emerging Industries to Enter
11. The Transition to Industry Maturity
• Industry Change during Transition
• Some Strategic Implications of Transition
• Strategic Pitfalls in Transition
• Organizational Implications of Maturity
• Industry Transition and the General Manager
12. Competitive Strategy in Declining Industries
• Structural Determinants of Competition in Decline
• Strategic Alternatives in Decline
• Choosing a Strategy for Decline
• Pitfalls in Decline
• Preparing for Decline
13. Competition in Global Industries
• Sources and Impediments to Global Competition
• Evolution to Global Industries
• Competition in Global Industries
• Strategic Alternatives in Global Industries
• Trends Affecting Global Competition
• Part III: Strategic Decisions
14. The Strategic Analysis of Vertical Integration
• Strategic Benefits and Costs of Vertical Integration
• Particular Strategic Issues in Forward Integration
• Particular Strategic Issues in Backward Integration
• Long-Term Contracts and the Economics of Information
• Illusions in Vertical Integration Decisions
15. Capacity Expansion
• Elements of the Capacity Expansion Decision
• Causes of Overbuilding Capacity
• Preemptive Strategies
16. Entry into New Businesses
• Entry through Internal Development
• Entry through Acquisition
• Sequenced Entry
• Appendix A: Portfolio Techniques in Competitor Analysis
• Appendix B: How to Conduct an Industry Analysis

A classical work. Gives a pretty naive picture of the market and generic stratgies. In fact. not even Monitor uses his techniques anymore, but you must know them by heart.