My review of this book is an odd one. Michael Porter is quite bright. The book is quite well written. The book is extremely thorough and not completely dry. Yet, it's not a very helpful book as it's all basic economics. You don't need this book to understand or formulate a competitive strategy. You just need to know basic economics. Basic principles like: If you are in an industry that makes money, people will want to enter that industry. And, if you do something different than others, it is more difficult to replicate you. And, if there is only one supplier of an input, it will cost more than if there were two suppliers. And, you should consider marketing as part of your competitive strategy. That someone could write a book that sold enough to make him money on these elementary and painfully obvious topics is a tribute in large part to Porter's willingness to write so Dickens-like on such matters as well a certain bullheadedness in his belief that this book was a good idea from a business perspective. If those sound like backhanded compliments, I have written appropriately.
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