Competition
READ THESE FIRST:
The Five Competitive Forces That Shape Strategy (HBR Bestseller)
Strategy & Execution
HBR Bestseller
Transient Advantage
Strategy & Execution
Magazine Article
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Spontaneous Deregulation
Regulation Magazine ArticleHow to compete with platforms that ignore the rules -
Pipelines, Platforms, and the New Rules of Strategy
Strategy & Execution Magazine ArticleFor decades, the five-forces model of competition has dominated the thinking about strategy. But it describes competition among traditional "pipeline"... -
Why the Future Belongs to Tough-Minded Optimists
Motivating people Digital ArticleAre you one? -
Corporations Weren’t Designed to Run on Code
Economy Digital ArticleThe big problem with the global digital economy. -
The Other Disruption
Innovation & Entrepreneurship Magazine ArticleMost managers are well versed in the defensive playbook for confronting disruptive innovation. Most commonly, they either acquire the new entrants or... -
The Strategy Trap Successful Companies Fall Into
Strategy & Execution VideoExploit the present, but not at the expense of the future. -
What Is Disruptive Innovation?
Strategy & Execution Magazine ArticleFor the past 20 years, the theory of disruptive innovation has been enormously influential in business circles and a powerful tool for predicting which... -
Don’t Let Your Company Get Trapped by Success
Strategy Digital ArticleFive keys to staying on top. -
Where Disruptive Innovation Came From
Disruptive innovation Digital ArticleA decades-long effort to understand why great businesses fail. -
The Prius Approach
Strategy & Execution Magazine ArticleResponding to disruptive innovation may be one of the greatest challenges managers in established firms face. On the one hand, they've been warned that... -
How 1% Performance Improvements Led to Olympic Gold
Coaching InterviewAn interview with the former head of British Cycling. -
Life's Work: Andre Agassi
Leadership & Managing People Magazine ArticleThe tennis star talks about his legendary comeback, managing his emotions on the court, and what makes a great coach. -
The Future and How to Survive It
Strategy & Execution Magazine ArticleSince 1980 global corporate profits have grown at an unprecedented pace, increasing their share of global GDP by 30%. North American and Western European... -
When Platforms Attack
Competition Magazine ArticleWhat happens when Amazon, Apple, and others start competing with their own partners? -
Profit Is Less About Good Management than You Think
Competition Digital ArticleGood businesses don’t need to change CEOs that often. -
Business Competition Has Not Gotten Fiercer
Economics & Society Digital ArticlePerception is not reality. -
Navigating the Dozens of Different Strategy Options
Strategy Digital ArticleIt’s never been more complicated. -
Why Startups Are More Successful than Ever at Unbundling Incumbents
Entrepreneurship Digital ArticleScale isn’t what it used to be. -
4 Business Models for the Data Age
Information & technology Digital ArticleRethinking old strategies. -
What Is Strategy, Again?
Strategy Digital ArticleLooking back at the major schools of thought.
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Pipelines, Platforms, and the New Rules of Strategy
Strategy & Execution Magazine ArticleFor decades, the five-forces model of competition has dominated the thinking about strategy. But it describes competition among traditional "pipeline"... -
What Is Disruptive Innovation?
Strategy & Execution Magazine ArticleFor the past 20 years, the theory of disruptive innovation has been enormously influential in business circles and a powerful tool for predicting which... -
What Is Strategy? (HBR Bestseller)
Strategy & Execution HBR BestsellerToday's dynamic markets and technologies have called into question the sustainability of competitive advantage. Under pressure to improve productivity,... -
Blue Ocean Strategy
Strategy HBR BestsellerCompeting in overcrowded industries is no way to sustain high performance. The real opportunity is to create blue oceans of uncontested market space. -
How Competitive Forces Shape Strategy
Strategic planning Magazine ArticleAwareness of these forces can help a company stake out a position in its industry that is less vulnerable to attack -
How Smart, Connected Products Are Transforming Competition
Strategy & Execution Magazine ArticleInformation technology is revolutionizing products, from appliances to cars to mining equipment. Products once composed solely of mechanical and electrical... -
Competitive Advantage of Nations
Strategy & Execution Magazine ArticleA four-year, ten-nation study of the patterns of competitive success in leading countries concludes that companies achieve competitive advantage through... -
Strategic Intent (HBR Classic)
Strategy & Execution Magazine ArticleIn the early 1970s, when Canon took its first halting steps in reprographics, the idea of a fledgling Japanese company challenging Xerox seemed impossible.... -
Mapping Your Competitive Position
Market research Magazine ArticleA simple chart shows how much a customer will pay for a perceived benefit. This is more than a marketing aid, it’s a powerful tool for competitive strategy. -
How to Fight a Price War
Sales & Marketing Magazine ArticlePrice wars are a fact of life, whether we're talking about the fast-paced world of knowledge products, the marketing of Internet appliances, or the staid,... -
Core Competence of the Corporation (HBR Bestseller)
Strategy & Execution HBR BestsellerA company's competitiveness derives from its core competencies and core products. Core competence is the collective learning in the organization, especially... -
Strategic Management for Competitive Advantage
Change management Magazine ArticleFor the better part of a decade, strategy has been a business buzzword. Top executives ponder strategic objectives and missions. Managers down the line rough out product/market strategies. Functional chiefs lay out “strategies” for everything from R&D; to raw-materials sourcing and distributor relations. Mere planning has lost its glamor; the planners have all turned into […] -
Competing with Giants: Survival Strategies for Local Companies in Emerging Markets
Emerging markets Magazine ArticleIn battles for emerging markets, big multinationals don’t hold all the advantages. -
Clusters and the New Economics of Competition
Strategy & Execution Magazine ArticleIn this article, Michael Porter, the C. Christensen Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School, explains how clusters foster... -
How Global Brands Compete
Sales & Marketing Magazine ArticleIt's time to rethink global branding. More than two decades ago, Harvard Business School professor Theodore Levitt argued that corporations should grow... -
Why Innovation in Health Care Is So Hard
Innovation & Entrepreneurship Magazine ArticleHealth care in the United States--and in most other developed countries--is ailing. Medical treatment has made astonishing advances, but the packaging... -
Tesla's Not as Disruptive as You Might Think
Strategy & Execution Magazine ArticleAn investor in the electric car company Tesla recently issued a friendly challenge to HBS professor Clayton Christensen, the father of the theory of disruptive... -
What Is Strategy, Again?
Strategy Digital ArticleLooking back at the major schools of thought. -
Competing on Analytics
Strategy & Execution Magazine ArticleWe all know the power of the killer app. It's not just a support tool; it's a strategic weapon. Companies questing for killer apps generally focus all... -
Your Strategy Needs a Strategy
Competitive strategy Magazine ArticlePhotography: Sylvain Deleu Artwork: Nuala O’Donovan, Radiolaria, Grid Yellow Centre, 2011, porcelain, stained, unglazed, 36 x 24 x 36 cm The oil industry holds relatively few surprises for strategists. Things change, of course, sometimes dramatically, but in relatively predictable ways. Planners know, for instance, that global supply will rise and fall as geopolitical forces play […]
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Cola Wars Continue: Coke and Pepsi in 2010
Strategy & Execution Case Study8.95The 'Cola Wars Continue: Coke and Pepsi in 2010' case examines the industry structure and competitive strategy of Coca-Cola and Pepsi over 100 years of... -
Apple Inc. in 2015
Strategy & Execution Case Study8.95At the end of 2014, Apple Inc. recorded the most profitable quarter of any firm in history, and its market capitalization soon topped $700 billion. 'Apple... -
Tesla Motors
Strategy & Execution Case Study14.00In mid-2013, Tesla Motors was riding a wave of success: It had launched its first really mass-produced car-the model S-to rave reviews; had recently raised... -
eHarmony
Strategy & Execution Case Study8.95eHarmony's CEO needs to decide how to react to imitations of its business model, encroachment by competing models and ascendance of free substitutes.... -
ZARA: Fast Fashion
Strategy & Execution Case Study8.95Focuses on Inditex, an apparel retailer from Spain, which has set up an extremely quick response system for its ZARA chain. Instead of predicting months... -
Google Inc. in 2014
Strategy & Execution Case Study8.95The case 'Google Inc. in 2014' describes Google's history, business model, governance structure, corporate culture, and processes for managing innovation.... -
Apple Inc. in 2012
Strategy & Execution Case Study8.95On October 5, 2011, Steve Jobs tragically died of cancer. The recently retired CEO of Apple Inc. was a legend: he had changed Apple from a company near... -
General Electric vs. Westinghouse in Large Turbine Generators (A)
Strategy & Execution Case Study8.95Describes the U.S. large turbine generator industry in early 1963, a period of severe price cutting and depressed industry conditions. Presents data to... -
Dogfight over Europe: Ryanair (A)
Strategy & Execution Case Study8.95In April 1986, the Ryan brothers announce that their fledging Irish airline Ryanair will soon commence service between Dublin and London. For the first... -
Cola Wars Continue: Coke vs. Pepsi in the Twenty-First Century
Strategy & Execution Case Study8.95Examines the industry structure and competitive strategy of Coca-cola and Pepsi over 100 years of rivalry. New challenges of the 21st century included... -
Google Inc.
Strategy & Execution Case Study8.95The case 'Google Inc.' describes Google's history, business model, governance structure, corporate culture, and processes for managing innovation. It... -
Haier: Taking a Chinese Company Global in 2011
Strategy & Execution Case Study8.95In 2011, Haier, China's leading appliance manufacturer, had over $20 billion in worldwide sales and had just been named the leading refrigerator manufacturer... -
Komatsu Ltd.
Strategy & Execution Case Study8.95Reviews and updates the structure and characteristics of the earth-moving equipment industry presented in the companion case, Caterpillar Tractor Co.... -
Siebel Systems: Anatomy of a Sale, Part 1
Sales & Marketing Case Study8.95How does a $2 million software sale happen? This case traces efforts by Siebel Systems to sell lead management software to discount broker Quick & Reilly.... -
TerraCog Global Positioning Systems: Conflict and Communication on Project Aerial
Organizational Development Case Study8.95TerraCog, a successful privately held high-tech firm that develops GPS (global positioning system) and similar products for consumer markets, has recently... -
Sealed Air Corp.
Sales & Marketing Case Study8.95Market leadership and technological innovation have marked Sealed Air's participation in the U.S. protective packaging market. Several small regional... -
Facebook
Technology & Operations Case Study8.95As Facebook topped one billion monthly users in October 2012, the online social network continued to face questions about how best to monetize its surging... -
Global Wine War 2009: New World versus Old
Leadership & Managing People Case Study8.95The case contrasts the tradition-bound Old World wine industry with the market-oriented New World producers, the battle for the US market, the most desirable... -
Coffee Wars in India: Cafe Coffee Day Takes on the Global Brands
Strategy & Execution Case Study14.00Café Coffee Day (CCD) is contemplating how to respond to the entry of Starbucks into the Indian coffee chain market. The case study describes the emergence... -
Honda (A)
Strategy & Execution Case Study8.95Describes the history of Honda Motor Company from its beginning through its entry into and subsequent dominance of the U.S. market. The history is explained...