Michael Porter Strategy Quotations

Strategy is about making choices, trade-offs; it's about deliberately choosing to be different.

As a multisport athlete, I was always fascinated with competition and how to win. At HBS and later at the Harvard Department of Economics, I was drawn to the field of competition and strategy because it tackles perhaps the most basic question in both business management and industrial economics: What determines corporate performance?

Sound strategy starts with having the right goal

The best CEOs I know are teachers, and at the core of what they teach is strategy.

A strategy delineates a territory in which a company seeks to be unique.

Finally, strategy must have continuity. It can't be constantly reinvented.

There's a fundamental distinction between strategy and operational effectiveness.

If a strategy meets a goal: It's working. If a strategy meets a target: It's a success.

The company without a strategy is willing to try anything.

Risk is a function of how poorly a strategy will perform if the 'wrong' scenario occurs.

Operational effectiveness and strategy are both essential to superior performance.