Have Michael E. Porter explain Competitive Strategy to you

While working on another piece for this blog, I came across this great video from a rather old series of Harvard Business School videos. Please find my comment below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4ZBVp8-9gA

If you want to save lot of money for executive education on strategy, just have Prof. Porter explain the generic strategies, 5 forces and details of a low-cost strategy. A truly great lecture.

In summary, every company has to watch out for five forces that shape the profitability of every industry. Although the 5 forces are often criticized for not capturing change or government regulations, Porter mentions these factors in his review. He also brushes over what he calls the generic strategies. This is a 2×2 matrix of scope (narrow/broad) and advantage (differentiation/low-cost), which allows a positioning and survival of several competitors in the same industry. I know people insisting on “lowest cost” but Porter talks about this, too. The main idea is that one has to pick a strategy and then follow through.

The examples and interviews he uses to illustrate a low-cost strategy might be a bit outdated, but one gets the point.