Biography - Michael E. Porter

For over 20 years Michael Porter has been regarded as an important contributor to the literature on business strategy. The purpose of this brief guide is to direct you quickly and efficiently to Porter-related material in the Western Libraries. Biographical information is found in the following sources: "Porter, Michael E. (1947- )," by K. Rohani, in the Biographical Dictionary of Management, ed. by M. Witzel, 2001, Vol.2, p.821; "Michael E. Porter," by Morgan Witzel in the IEBM - Handbook of Management Thinking, 1998, p.544 and "Michael Porter," in Fifty Key Figures in Management, by Morgan Witzel.
Apart from the books by Porter that are listed below, a good book to start with is Perspectives on Strategy : Contributions of Michael E. Porter: It is "the purpose of this book to focus on the contribution of one of the most prominent scholars in the strategy field, Michael Porter, from both a practitioner, that is Chief Executive Officer (CEO), perspective, and from a research perspective." Click on the link above to see the table of contents and see the book for additional readings by and about Porter. Some of Porter's concepts have already made it into standard reference works. See, for example, the "Five Forces Model," by Stephanos Avgeropoulos, in The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Management Vol.II, Strategic Management, ed. by Derek Channon, 1997, p.108.

A complete list of Professor Porter's publications can be found on the site of the Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness at the Harvard Business School (in Nov. 2003 the link can be found here. ) From that list selected titles are presented below with links to the items by Porter found in the collections of the Western Libraries.

Selected Books by Michael Porter
(in reverse chronological order)

Update: This profile was originally done a few years ago and is not consistently updated. We did note, however, that a new edition of On Competition arrived in 2008 and here is a description of what the new edition provides (from the Harvard Business School Press site):
"For the past two decades, Michael Porter's work has towered over the field of competitive strategy. On Competition, Updated and Expanded Edition brings together more than a dozen of Porter's landmark articles from the Harvard Business Review. Five are new to this edition, including the 2008 update to his classic "The Five Competitive Forces That Shape Strategy," as well as new work on health care, philanthropy, corporate social responsibility, and CEO leadership. This collection captures Porter's unique ability to bridge theory and practice. Each of the articles has not only shaped thinking, but also redefined the work of practitioners in its respective field. In an insightful new introduction, Porter relates each article to the whole of his thinking about competition and value creation, and traces how that thinking has deepened over time. This collection is organized by topic, allowing the reader easy access to the wide range of Porter's work. Parts I and II present the frameworks for which Porter is best known--frameworks that address how companies, as well as nations and regions, gain and sustain competitive advantage. Part III shows how strategic thinking can address society's most pressing challenges, from environmental sustainability to improving health-care delivery. Part IV explores how both nonprofits and corporations can create value for society more effectively by applying strategy principles to philanthropy. Part V explores the link between strategy and leadership." Nov. 2008.

On Competition. 2008.
M. Porter, and E. Olmsted Teisberg. Redefining Health Care: Creating Value-Based Competition on Results. 2006.
M. Porter and E. Olmsted Teisberg. Fixing Competition in U.S. Health Care. 2004.
M. Porter, H. Takeuchi, and M. Sakakibara. Can Japan Compete? 2000.
M. Porter, and S. Stern. The New Challenge to America's Prosperity: Findings from the Innovation Index. 1999.
On Competition.. 1998.
Canada at the Crossroads. The Final Report: The Reality of a New Competitive Environment. 1991.
–––– , G.T. Crocombe, and M.J.Enright. Upgrading New Zealand’s Competitive Advantage. 1991
The Competitive Advantage of Nations. 1990
Competition in Global Industries. (editor) 1986.
Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance, 1998.
Cases in Competitive Strategy, New York: The Free Press, 1982.
Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors,1980.
––––, R.E. Caves, and A.M. Spence. Competition in the Open Economy. 1980.
––––, A.M. Spence, J.T. Scott, and R.E. Caves. Studies in Canadian Industrial Organization.Canadian Royal Commission on Corporate Concentration, January 1977.
Interbrand Choice, Strategy and Bilateral Market Power. 1976.

Selected Articles in Books
The following information was taken from the bibliographical list provided on the site of the Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness at the Harvard Business School. The publisher information is included and if the item is held by the Western Libraries a live link is provided to direct you to the publication.

“Location, Clusters, and Company Strategy,” in Oxford Handbook of Economic Geography, (G. Clark, M. Gertler, and M. Feldman, eds.), Oxford: Oxford University Press (2000).

“Attitudes, Values, beliefs, and the Microeconomics of Prosperity,” in Culture Matters: How Values Shape Human Progress, (L.E. Harrison, S.P. Huntington, eds.), New York: Basic Books (2000).

"Microeconomic Competitiveness: Findings from the 1999 Executive Survey,” and (with Gregory C. Bond) “Innovative Capacity and Prosperity: The Next Competitiveness Challenge,” in The Global Competitiveness Report 1999, Geneva, Switzerland: World Economic Forum, 1999.

“Clusters and the New Economics of Competition,” Harvard Business Review, November-December 1998. Also reprinted in World View: Global Strategies for the New Economy, Jeffrey E. Garten (ed.), Boston: Harvard Business School Press (1999); Managing in the New Economy, Joan Magretta (ed.), Boston: Harvard Business School Press (1999); Systems of Innovation: Growth, Competitiveness and Employment, Charles Edquist and Maureen McKelvey (eds.), Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing Limited (2000).

“The Microeconomic Foundations of Economic Development,” and “Measuring The Microeconomic Foundations of Economic Development,” in The Global Competitiveness Report 1998, Geneva, Switzerland: World Economic Forum, 1998.

–––– and Nicolaj Siggelkow. “Competition and Strategy: The Creation of a Group and a Field,” in The Intellectual Venture Capitalist: John H. McArthur and the Work of the Harvard Business School, 1980-1995 (eds. Thomas K. McCraw and Jeffrey L. Cruikshank), Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 1999.

–––– and Örjan Sölvell. “The Role of Geography in the Process of Innovation and Sustainable Competitive Advantage of Firms,” in The Dynamic Firm (eds. Alfred D. Chandler, Jr., Peter Hagström, and Örjan Sölvell), Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 1998.

“What is Strategy,” Harvard Business Review, November-December 1996. Excerpted in Spotlight on Performance 12, no. 1, Northfield, MN: Fine Lines Creative Communications. Also reprinted in Delivering Results: A New Mandate for Human Resource Professionals, D. Ulrich, ed., Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 1998.

“Capital Choices: National Systems of Investment,” in As If the Future Mattered, Neva R. Goodwin (editor), Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 1996.

–––– and Claas van der Linde. “Green and Competitive: Ending the Stalemate,” Harvard Business Review, September-October 1995. Also published in The Earthscan Reader in Business and the Environment, edited by Richard Welford and Richard Starkey, Earthscan Publications Ltd, London, 1996.

“The Competitive Advantage of the Inner City,” Harvard Business Review, May-June 1995. Also excerpted in The City Reader, second edition, Richard T. LeGates (ed.), New York: Routledge (1999).

“Competitive Strategy Revisited: A View from the 1990s,” in The Relevance of a Decade, Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 1994.

“Global Strategy: Winning in the World-Wide Marketplace,” in The Portable MBA in Strategy. Liam Fahey and Robert M. Randall (eds.), New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1994.

“Capital Disadvantage: America’s Failing Capital Investment System,” Harvard Business Review, September-October 1992. Also reprinted in The Quest for Loyalty: Creating Value through Partnership, edited with an introduction by Frederick F. Reichheld, Harvard Business School Press, 1996.

“Capital Choices: Changing the Way America Invests in Industry,” Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, September 1992. Also in Studies in International Corporate Finance and Governance Systems: A Comparison of the U.S., Japan, and Europe, Donald H. Chew (ed.), New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.

“Towards a Dynamic Theory of Strategy,” Strategic Management Journal, special winter edition, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., Chichester, England, 1991. Also reprinted in Fundamental Issues in Strategy: A Research Agenda, edited by Richard P. Rumelt, Dan E. Schendel, and David J. Teece, Harvard Business School Press, Boston, MA, July 1994.

–––– and Kathryn Rudie Harrigan. “End Game Strategies for Declining Industries,” Harvard Business Review, July/August 1983. Also reprinted in Sunrise...sunset: Challenging the Myth of Industrial Obsolescence, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and Harvard Business Review, Spring, 1985.

“The Technological Dimension of Competitive Strategy,” in R. Rosenbloom, Research on Technological Innovation, Management and Policy, J.A.I. Press, Volume 1, 1983.

“Analyzing Competitors: Predicting Competitor Behavior and Formulating Offensive and Defensive Strategy,” in Policy, Strategy, and Implementation, edited by Milton Leontiades, Random House, 1983.

–––– with T.M. Hout and E. Rudden. “How Global Companies Win Out” Harvard Business Review, September/October 1982. Also reprinted in Global Strategies: Insights from the World’s Leading Thinkers (preface by Percy Barnevik), Boston, Massachusetts: Harvard Business School Press, 1994.

“Industrial Organization and the Evolution of Concepts for Strategic Planning: The New Learning,” in T.H. Naylor, Corporate Strategy: The Integration of Corporation Planning Models and Economics, North-Holland Publishing, Amsterdam, 1982.

–––– with A. Michael Spence. “The Capacity Expansion Process in a Growing Oligopoly: The Case of Corn Wet Milling” in J.J. McCall, The Economics of Information and Uncertainty, National Bureau of Economic Research, University of Chicago Press, 1982.

“Strategic Interaction: Some Lessons from Industry Histories for Theory and Antitrust Policy,” in S. Salop, editor, Strategy, Predation and Antitrust Analysis, Federal Trade Commission, 1981. Also reprinted in Antitrust Law and Economics Review, Volume 13, Number 3, 1981, p. 13 and in Robert Lamb, editor, Competitive Strategic Management, Prentice-Hall, 1984.

“Market Structure, Strategy Formulation and Firm Profitability: The Theory of Strategic Groups and Mobility Barriers,” in John Cady, editor, Marketing and the Public Interest, Marketing Science Institute, July 1978, 101-126.

"Optimal Advertising: An Intra-Industry Approach,” in D. Tuerck, editor, Issues in Advertising: The Economics of Persuasion, American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, 1978, 91-114.

Selected Articles About Porter
Articles by or about Porter can be easily found using a variety of electronic databases. Selected here are some core articles to get you started. As well, we have included a few that relate to Canada and some that were published in a journal produced here and one that was written by an Ivey faculty member. The articles are in reverse chronological order. Links are provided to the catalogue record for each journal, from there articles can accessed either electronically or in paper format.

Argyres, Nicholas & Anita M McGahan, "An Interview With Michael Porter," The Academy Of Management Executive,
May 2002. Vol. 16, Iss. 2, p. 43-52.

Hammonds, Keith H. "Michael Porter's Big Ideas," Fast Company, Mar 2001. Iss. 44, p. 150-156.

Goett, Pamela. "Michael E. Porter: A Man with a Competitive Advantage," The Journal of Business Strategy,Sep/Oct 1999. Vol. 20, Iss. 5, p. 40-41.

Hodgetts, Richard M. "A Conversation with Michael E. Porter: A "Significant Extension Toward Operational Improvement and Positioning," Organizational Dynamics, Summer 1999. Vol. 28, Iss. 1, p. 24-33. (Available in paper format in Business Library)

Surowiecki James ."The Return of Michael Porter, Fortune, Feb 1, 1999. Vol. 139, Iss. 2, p. 135-138.

Anonymous. "Porter on the Competitive Advantage of Clusters," Strategic Direction, Feb 1999. Iss. 150, p. 21-22.

O' Connell, Laurence et al.. "Business Research as an Educational Problem-solving Heuristic - the Case of Porter's Diamond," European Journal Of Marketing, 1999. Vol. 33, Iss. 7/8, p. 736-745.

Kumar, Kamalesh & Ram Subramanian. "Porter's Strategic Types: Differences in Internal Processes and their Impact on Performance," Journal Of Applied Business Research, Winter 1997/1998. Vol. 14, Iss. 1, p. 107-124.

O'Shaughnessy, Nicholas J." "Michael Porter's Competitive Advantage Revisited," Management Decision, 1996. Vol. 34, Iss. 6, p. 12-20.

Foss, Nicolai J. "Research in Strategy, Economics, and Michael Porter," The Journal Of Management Studies, Jan 1996. Vol. 33, Iss. 1.

Miller, A, Dess, G G. "Assessing Porter's (1980) Model in Terms of its Generalizability, Accuracy and Simplicity," The Journal Of Management Studies, Jul 1993. Vol. 30, Iss. 4.

Powell, Thomas C. "Administrative Skill as Competitive Advantage - Extending Porter's Analytical Framework,"
Revue Canadienne Des Sciences De L'administration, Jun 1993. Vol. 10, Iss. 2

Rugman, Alan M, Verbeke, Alain. "Foreign Subsidiaries and Multinational Strategic Management: An Extension and Correction of Porter's Single Diamond Framework," Management International Review: Special Issue, Second Quarter 1993. Vol. 33,
Iss. 2,

Dunning, John H. "Internationalizing Porter's Diamond," Management International Review: Special Issue, Second Quarter 1993. Vol. 33, Iss. 2.

Narula, Rajneesh. "Technology, International Business and Porter's "Diamond": Synthesizing a Dynamic Competitive Development Model," Management International Review:, Special Issue,Second Quarter 1993. Vol. 33, Iss. 2.

Rugman, Alan M."Porter Takes the Wrong Turn," Business Quarterly, Winter 1992. Vol. 56, Iss. 3.

Thompson, Donald N. "Porter on Canadian Competitiveness,"Business Quarterly, Winter 1992. Vol. 56, Iss. 3.

Grant, Robert M."Porter's 'Competitive Advantage of Nations': An Assessment," Strategic Management Journal, Oct 1991. Vol. 12, Iss. 7.

Luciani, Patrick. "Can Canada Stay Rich?; A Conversation with Prof. Michael Porter," Canadian Business , Oct 1990. Vol. 63, Iss. 10.
(Available in paper format in Business Library)

Speed, Richard J. "Oh Mr. Porter! A Re-Appraisal of Competitive Strategy," Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 1989. Vol. 7, Iss. 5,6.

White, R.E. "Generic Business Strategies, Organizational Context and Performance: An Empirical Investigation," Strategic Management Journal, Vol.7, 1986, p.217.