Competition, Competitive Advantage, and Clusters

Abstract

Harvard professor, Michael Porter has been one of the most influential figures in strategic management research over the last three decades. He infused a rigorous theoretical framework of industrial organization economics with the then still embryonic field of strategic management and elevated it to its current status as an academic discipline. Porter's outstanding career is also characterized by its cross-disciplinary nature. Following his most important work on strategic management, he then made a leap to the policy side and dealt with completely different set of analytical units from his earlier work. More recently he has made a foray into inner city development, environmental regulations, and health care services. Throughout these explorations Porter has maintained his integrative approach, seeking a road that links management case studies and the general model building of mainstream economics. Porter's cross-disciplinary exploration has created tensions within the various fields to which he has contributed, and his work on both strategic management and economic development has met with criticism. With expert contributors from a range of disciplines including strategic management, economic development, economic geography and planning, this book assesses the contribution Michael Porter has made to these respective disciplines. It clarifies the sources of tension and controversy relating to all the major strands of Porter's work, and provides – academics, students and practitioners – managers and policymakers – with a key and critical guide for the application of Porter's models. The book highlights that while many of the criticisms of Porter's are valid, they are almost an inevitable outcome for a scholar who has sought to build bridges across wide disciplinary valleys. His efforts have provided others with a toolbox of frameworks to explore in more depth the nature of competition, competitive advantage, and clusters from a range of vantage points, such as firm, nation, or regional levels.

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