Porter Five Forces - Brief

Michael Porter looks and behaves like a corporate titan as much as an academic. This is not unusual; the wisdom of top business professors is now tapped almost as frequently by companies and governments as it is by students. But the wisdom of Harvard’s Prof Porter is the highest-octane fuel available.

Like many leading executives, the Bishop William Lawrence University Professor is used to being listened to. His staff refer to him as “Professor Porter”. He wears a suit and tie, and our photographer receives instruction that this is the kind of assignment that requires smart casual or business attire at a minimum. And he is busy. Very busy. Earlier in the day of our interview, he was at a board meeting of one of two companies where he is a director. And he must leave to catch a flight in 55 minutes precisely.

If this were not daunting enough, the interview takes place in the Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness. The neo-Georgian town house on the Harvard Business School campus, its pilastered entrance newly re-roofed in gleaming copper, is, according to his official biography, “dedicated to furthering Prof Porter’s work”.

In the room where we meet, there is a picture of his two daughters on the mantelpiece. The institute’s bookshelves, however, are filled with multiple editions of his 19 books and the walls adorned with his diplomas, certificates and decorations.

Prof Porter’s reputation has put him near the centre of discussions with both chief executives and politicians about how to restore US growth and prosperity. Sitting down at his own boardroom table, with a look that brooks no small talk, he blames the depressed state of the economy in part on cyclical factors – retrenchment after the real estate bubble, corporate boards’ caution about domestic investment – and in part on “a more fundamental competitiveness problem”.

It is predictable that competitiveness is the lens through which Prof Porter sees the problem. At the root of his success...