The Competitve Advantage Of Nations

The Competitive Advantage of Nations by Michael E. Porter
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of labor have been superseded as sources of prosperity and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.
Porters 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.