A discussion on the competitive strategies as outlined by Michael Porter in his books "Competitive Strategy" and "Competitive Advantage".
Written in 2008; 1,893 words; 9 sources; APA; $ 60.95
Paper Summary:
This paper discusses the work of Michael Porter and looks at his books, "Competitive Strategy" and "Competitive Advantage" in which he identifies two basic types of competitive advantage a firm can possess. The author discusses how many strategies there are and whether firms who follow only one strategy are 'stuck in the middle'.
Outline:
Introduction
Cost Leadership
Porter's Typology
Differentiation
Focus
Focus as a Separate Strategy
Cost focus
Differentiation Focus
'Stuck in the Middle'
Conclusion
From the Paper:
"In his books, Competitive Strategy (1980) and Competitive Advantage (1985) Michael Porter has identified two basic types of competitive advantage a firm can possess; low cost or differentiation. Moreover, he has formulated three generic competitive strategies aimed at achieving competitive advantage; namely, cost leadership, differentiation and focus strategies. Porter (1980) has also described a low profitability strategy which he called 'Stuck in the Middle'. At that time, the notion of generic strategy was very appealing as it seemed to offer the theoretical basis in an area which previously lacked solid theoretical foundations (Murray, 1988).
"In spite of the extensive empirical evidence which support Porter's (1980) typology of generic strategies, there has been much discussion and criticism for its conceptual limitations (Kotha & Vadlamani, 1995). It has been suggested that the focus strategy is just a special case of cost leadership or product differentiation and, therefore, there are only two competitive strategies. In this essay I will discuss how many strategies there are and whether firms who do not follow only one strategy are 'stuck in the middle'. In the following section I will review Porter's (1980) typology of the three generic strategies."
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