Competitive strategy

Standardization has been a powerful strategy in consumer markets, but it's reached the point of diminishing returns. And diversity is not the only chink...

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

It’s the new Swatch.

Companies say they want breakthrough products, but most are far more adept at making incremental improvements to existing lines. A pioneering division at 3M successfully navigated a process that leads to breakthrough thinking.

During the past 25 years an increasing proportion of U.S. companies have seen wisdom in pursuing a strategy of diversification. Between 1950 and 1970, for example, single-business companies comprising the Fortune “500” declined from 30% to 8% of the total. Acquisition has become a standard approach to diversification. In recent years the productivity of capital […]

The federal government can and should play a much bigger role in helping American companies regain the lead in manufacturing. We need to invest a commensurate amount of federal R&D dollars in advanced manufacturing technologies as we do in other areas of science, technology, and engineering. The last administration created an assistant secretary for manufacturing […]

On the basis of a sample from the top 200 of the Fortune “500” and data from the PIMS (Profit Impact of Market Strategies) project, this author gives some guidelines for established companies on what to expect from new ventures. He points out that it takes an average of 10 to 12 years before the […]

A country’s competitiveness, like a company’s, is not primarily a matter of sales: it is a matter of incomes, and incomes earned, not borrowed. To be competitive means to raise incomes as rapidly as competitors do and to make the investments necessary to keep up competitively in the future. From this perspective, U.S. competitiveness is […]

Before you adopt a new management idea, figure out if it’s right for you.

Imagine yourself solving an arithmetic problem with the top managers of a leading Japanese automobile company. As a group, Japanese producers already export 2.3 million passenger vehicles a year to the United States. They are also building capacity for an additional 2.5 million vehicles in North America. You remind your friends across the table that […]

A study of pharmaceutical firms finds that it leads to valuable collaborations.

Innovation is great, but don’t forget to make the most of the tried-and-true tactics.

The Idea: The company experimented with business models to grow from its modest roots in nature documentaries into a major player in multiplexes around the world. When I came to IMAX, in 1994, I had been an entrepreneur, a lawyer, and an investment banker. I didn’t know much about the movie business, but I recognized […]

The competitive forces that shape strategy--in under two minutes.

An interview with Intuit chairman and cofounder Scott Cook

Managers should make environmental investments for the same reason they make other investments: because they expect them to deliver positive returns or to reduce risks.

According to a recent survey.

Many managers of service businesses are aware that the strategic management (by which I mean the total process of selecting and implementing a corporate strategy) of service businesses is different from that of manufacturing businesses. This article discusses how pure service businesses are different from product-oriented businesses and why they require different strategic thinking. A […]

In our book MarketBusters, my colleague Ian MacMillan and I encouraged companies to think about how adding an emotional appeal to their offerings can...

Even the most powerful platforms rely on their suppliers.