Competitive strategy

Twenty years after the introduction of the theory, we revisit what it does—and doesn’t—explain.

Today's dynamic markets and technologies have called into question the sustainability of competitive advantage. Under pressure to improve productivity,...

How some large companies infuse their planning process with new entrepreneurial vigor, maintaining market leadership over the long haul

A four-year, ten-nation study of the patterns of competitive success in leading countries concludes that companies achieve competitive advantage through...

Although the ability to manage torrents of data has become crucial to companies' success, most organizations remain badly behind the curve. More than...

In 1979, a young associate professor at Harvard Business School published his first article for HBR, "How Competitive Forces Shape Strategy." In the years...

Most executives believe that competing through business models is critical for success, but few have come to grips with how best to do so. One common...

Awareness of these forces can help a company stake out a position in its industry that is less vulnerable to attack.

Why is it so hard to build and maintain the capacity to innovate? The reason is not simply a failure to execute but a failure to articulate an innovation...

First answer two questions; then explore four paths.

Corporate strategy, the overall plan for a diversified company, is both the darling and the stepchild of contemporary management practice—the darling because CEOs have been obsessed with diversification since the early 1960s, the stepchild because almost no consensus exists about what corporate strategy is, much less about how a company should formulate it. A diversified […]

Figure out where you are on the distinctiveness-centrality spectrum.

China and India, ancient allies and modern competitors, are rebuilding economic ties after almost five decades. Consequently, multinational companies face the most challenging—and potentially rewarding—business landscape ever.

In a world of constant change, the spoils go to the nimble.

How to reinvent capitalism—and unleash a wave of innovation and growth.

“What we’ve been doing isn’t in line with the company’s strategy—and we need to fix that.” Someone in your organization has the mandate to walk into any office, speak those words, and spark some sort of transformation. Maybe it’s the CEO and the CEO only. That’s the traditional model, after all—vision, planning, and directives flow […]

In recent years, a growing number of business practitioners and theorists have postulated that one way for a company to increase its return is by increasing its market share, and studies appear to have confirmed this relationship. But the authors of this article refuse to accept the blanket inference that “more” is necessarily always going […]

Forecasting total market demand can be crucial to creating a smart marketing strategy. Some companies--and even whole industries--have learned the hard...

Competing in overcrowded industries is no way to sustain high performance. The real opportunity is to create blue oceans of uncontested market space.

We need measures to help people, animals, and plants survive the climate crisis.

Just four months after entering the U.S. market, Pro-G Sports Management, a small U.K.-based agency representing professional golfers, faced a major crisis...

This case describes Keroche co-founder Tabitha Karanja's decision to exit the wine business following the Kenyan government's 2007 increase in excise...

In the summer of 2016, PepsiCo Beverages Canada faced a choice: whether to launch its new product, organic Gatorade, in Canada. Only a few months previously,...

Nintendo languished in last place during the console wars of the early 2000s, with game industry analysts suggesting that the Kyoto-based firm exit the...

In November 2006, Symon Bridle, the newly appointed chief operating officer of Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts, was thinking about a number of organizational...

In 2013, Nokia sold its Device and Services business to Microsoft for €5.4 billion. For decades Nokia had led the telecommunications (telecom) industry...

Grolsch reassesses its international strategy in light of the company's recent acquisition by SABMiller, the world's second-largest brewer. Grolsch was...

Describes the initial results of Black & Decker's strategy in the United States.

On September 12, 2017, just as Apple's Tim Cook was unveiling the iPhone X, Richard Yu, CEO of Huawei's Consumer Business Group (CBG), and Glory Cheung,...

Considers whether Steinway should reintroduce a long-discontinued product line to meet competition from the Japanese. Raises the issue of just how quality...

Just four months after entering the U.S. market, Pro-G Sports Management, a small U.K.-based agency representing professional golfers, faced a major crisis...

This case discusses the effect import taxes had on Harley-Davidson. Using statistics on "average unit value" of 790cc and larger imports, Harley determined...

Chinese Galanz was the world's largest microwave oven manufacturer in 2013. It had sales of 20 million microwave ovens, group revenues of RMB46 billion...

Set two years after a takeover attempt forced the company to restructure by leveraging up, selling assets, and repurchasing stock. The case affords an...

In August 1992, Haagen-Dazs opened its first ice cream parlor in Barcelona. In July 1993, Farggi, a small Spanish family-owned company, opened its own...

The high-speed internet industry was one of the fastest growing and fastest evolving industries in the Republic of Korea. From the first telephone line-based...

Aaron Jonnerson, vice president of marketing at the automotive division of Avellin, must make marketing mix decisions for the launch of Eco7, a new environmentally-friendly...

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In April 2016, the owner of Kreative Works, a small-scale furniture manufacturer in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India, decided to expand his company's product...

Peak Sealing Technologies (PST), a manufacturer of premium carton sealing tapes, stresses technological innovation as the company's core value. But when...

Twenty years after the introduction of the theory, we revisit what it does—and doesn’t—explain.

Today's dynamic markets and technologies have called into question the sustainability of competitive advantage. Under pressure to improve productivity,...

How some large companies infuse their planning process with new entrepreneurial vigor, maintaining market leadership over the long haul

A four-year, ten-nation study of the patterns of competitive success in leading countries concludes that companies achieve competitive advantage through...

Although the ability to manage torrents of data has become crucial to companies' success, most organizations remain badly behind the curve. More than...

In 1979, a young associate professor at Harvard Business School published his first article for HBR, "How Competitive Forces Shape Strategy." In the years...

Most executives believe that competing through business models is critical for success, but few have come to grips with how best to do so. One common...

Awareness of these forces can help a company stake out a position in its industry that is less vulnerable to attack.

Why is it so hard to build and maintain the capacity to innovate? The reason is not simply a failure to execute but a failure to articulate an innovation...

First answer two questions; then explore four paths.