Competitive Advantage of Nations

Now beyond its eleventh printing and translated into twelve languages, Michael Porter’s The Competitive Advantage of Nations has changed completely our conception of how prosperity is created and sustained in the modern global economy. Porter’s groundbreaking study of international competitiveness has shaped national policy in countries around the world. It has also transformed thinking and action in states, cities, companies, and even entire regions such as Central America. Based on research in ten leading trading nations, The Competitive Advantage of Nations offers the first theory of competitiveness based on the causes of the productivity with which companies compete. Porter shows how traditional comparative advantages such as natural resources and pools of labor have been superseded as sources of prosperity, and how broad macroeconomic accounts of competitiveness are insufficient. The book introduces Porter’s “diamond,” a whole new way to understand the competitive position of a nation (or other locations) in global competition that is now an integral part of international business thinking. Porter's concept of “clusters,” or groups of interconnected firms, suppliers, related industries, and institutions that arise in particular locations, has become a new way for companies and governments to think about economies, assess the competitive advantage of locations, and set public policy. Even before publication of the book, Porter’s theory had guided national reassessments in New Zealand and elsewhere. His ideas and personal involvement have shaped strategy in countries as diverse as the Netherlands, Portugal, Taiwan, Costa Rica, and India, and regions such as Massachusetts, California, and the Basque country. Hundreds of cluster initiatives have flourished throughout the world. In an era of intensifying global competition, this pathbreaking book on the new wealth of nations has become the standard by which all future work must be measured.

Table of Contents:
Contents Introduction Preface 1 The Need for a New Paradigm Conflicting Explanations Asking the Right Question Classical Rationales for Industry Success The Need for a New Paradigm Toward a New Theory of National Competitive Advantage The Study A Broader Concept of Competitive Advantage PART I FOUNDATIONS 2 The Competitive Advantage of Firms in Global Industries Competitive Strategy Competing Internationally The Role of National Circumstances in Competitive Success 3 Determinants of National Competitive Advantage Determinants of National Advantage Factor Conditions Demand Conditions Related and Supporting Industries Firm Strategy, Structure, and Rivalry The Role of Chance The Role of Government The Determinants in Perspective 4 The Dynamics of National Advantage Relationships Among the Determinants The Determinants as a System Clustering of Competitive Industries The Role of Geographic Concentration The Genesis and Evolution of a Competitive Industry The Loss of National Advantage The Diamond in Perspective PART II INDUSTRIES 5 Four Studies in National Competitive Advantage The German Printing Press Industry The American Patient Monitoring Equipment Industry The Italian Ceramic Tile Industry The Japanese Robotics Industry 6 National Competitive Advantage in Services The Growing Role of Services in National Economies International Competition in Services The Relationship Between Services and Manufacturing National Competitive Advantage in Services Case Studies in the Development of Competitive Service Industries PART III NATIONS 7 Patterns of National Competitive Advantage: The Early Postwar Winners American Postwar Dominance Stable Switzerland Sweden's Choices Renewing German Dynamism 8 Emerging Nations in the 1970s and 1980s The Rise of Japan Surging Italy Emerging Korea 9 Shifting National Advantage The Slide of Britain Crosscurrents in America Postwar Development in Perspective 10 The Competitive Development of National Economies Economic Development Stages of Competitive Development The Stages and the Postwar Economies of Nations Postwar Economic Progress in Perspective PART IV IMPLICATIONS 11 Company Strategy Competitive Advantage in International Competition The Context for Competitive Advantage Improving the National Competitive Environment Where and How to Compete Tapping Selective Advantages in Other Nations Locating the Home Base The Role of Leadership 12 Government Policy Premises of Government Policy Toward Industry Government Policy and National Advantage Government's Effect on Factor Conditions Government's Effect on Demand Conditions Government's Effect on Related and Supporting Industries Government's Effect on Firm Strategy, Structure, and Rivalry Government Policy and the Stages of Competitive Development Targeting Government Policy in Developing Nations The Role of Government 13 National Agendas The Agenda for Korea The Agenda for Italy The Agenda for Sweden The Agenda for Japan The Agenda for Switzerland The Agenda for Germany The Agenda for Britain The Agenda for the United States National Agendas in Perspective Epilogue Appendix A. Methodology for Preparing the Cluster Charts Appendix B. Supplementary Data on National Trade Patterns Notes References Index About the Author

About the Author :
Michael E. Porter, one of the world's leading authorities on competitive strategy and international competitiveness, is the C. Roland Christensen Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School. In 1983, Professor Porter was appointed to President Reagan's Commission on Industrial Competitiveness, the initiative that triggered the competitiveness debate in America. He serves as an advisor to heads of state, governors, mayors, and CEOs throughout the world. The recipient of the Wells Prize in Economics, the Adam Smith Award, three McKinsey Awards, and honorary doctorates from the Stockholm School of Economics and six other universities, Porter is the author of fourteen books, among them Competitive Strategy, The Competitive Advantage of Nations, and Cases in Competitive Strategy, all published by The Free Press. He lives in Brookline, Massachusetts.

Review :
Business Week Rich in lessons about why and how industries, regions, and nations succeed or fail. The Economist An all-embracing view of economic change that amounts in the end to a powerful analytic framework. Porter has done for international capitalism what Marx did for the class struggle....A real achievement. Administrative Science Quarterly Should have a profound and far-reaching impact on academic course work, managers' perceptions, and public policy. Business in a Contemporary World The Competitive Advantage of Nations is destined to become a classic in its field. Journal of Development Economics The first serious attempt to develop a really original grand theory of national economic development processes since the early years of Postwar development economics, and one of the most original ways of thinking about development policy in years. Publishers Weekly This massive, impressive, salient tome is structured so that business executives, economists, policy-makers and ordinary readers can turn to the sections most relevant to their needs.