Understanding Michael Porter: The Essential Guide to Competition and Strategy

If your value chain looks like everyone else’s, then you are engaged in competition to be the best.

Remind yourself that the goal of strategy is superior profitability and that one of its two possible components is relative price—that is, you are able to charge more than your rivals charge.

Assess the underlying drivers of each force.

“a good competitive strategy that will result in sustainably superior performance.”

Typical Steps in Industry Analysis

Choices in the value proposition that limit what a company will do are essential to strategy because they create the opportunity to tailor activities in a way that best delivers that kind of value.

Porter is fond of saying that if you have a strategy, you should be able to link it directly to your P&L.

But if the trend is relevant, tailor it to your strategy.

Both industrial customers and consumers tend to be more price sensitive when what they’re buying is Undifferentiated Expensive relative to their other costs or income Inconsequential to their own performance A