Porter's Generic Strategies

Any entrepreneur needs to know Michael Porter's ideas on competitive strategies if only to understand how co-creation and commons-based enterprises have remapped a large section of the entrepreneurial map. The article in QuickMBA.com gives his ideas this way:

If the primary determinant of a firm's profitability is the attractiveness of the industry within which it operates, an important secondary determinant is its position within the industry. Even though an industry may have below-average profitability, a firm that is optimally positioned can generate superior returns.

A firm positions itself by leveraging its strengths...A firm's strengths untimately fall into one of the two headings: cost advantage and differentiation. By applying these strengths in either a broad or narrow scope, three generic strategies result: cost leadership, differentiation, and focus. These strategies are applied at the business unit level. They are called generic strategies because they are not firm or industry dependent.

The article goes on to discuss Porter's ideas in some detail, and I recommend you to go to this website: www.quickmba.com/strategy/generic.shtml. Even read the entire book, which is very detailed, and work out his ideas in the context of the industry you're in or want to be in.

And post a comment here on this blog.

Everything I do is entrepreneurial. For real estate 2.0, go to www.yourstopforrealestate.com/blog and for writing 2.0, go to www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com.