Core Field: Strategy

The Academic

A University professorship is the highest professional recognition that can be awarded to a Harvard faculty member. Professor Porter is the fourth faculty member in Harvard Business School history to earn this distinction, and is one of about 15 current University Professors at Harvard. In 2001, Harvard Business School and Harvard University jointly created the Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness, to further Professor Porter’s work.

He received a B.S.E. with high honours in aerospace and mechanical engineering from Princeton University in 1969, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and Tau Beta Pi. He received an M.B.A. with high distinction in 1971 from the Harvard Business School, where he was a George F. Baker Scholar, and a Ph.D. in Business Economics from Harvard University in 1973.

Professor Porter's ideas on strategy have now become the foundation for the required strategy course at the Harvard Business School, and his work is taught in virtually every business school in the world. Professor Porter’s primary course for Harvard graduate students is a University-wide course, Microeconomics of Competitiveness, which is taught not only at Harvard but at 56 other universities around the world using video content and instructor support developed at Harvard. Professor Porter also created and chairs Harvard's program for newly appointed CEOs of billion dollar corporations

The Author

Professor Porter, the author of 17 books and over 125 articles, is a leading authority on competitive strategy and the competitiveness and economic development of nations, states, and regions.

• Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors, was his first book-length publication on strategy. Now in its 63rd printing and translated into 19 languages.
• His second major strategy book, Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance, was published in 1985 and is in its 38th printing.
• His book On Competition (1998) includes a series of articles on strategy and competition, including his Harvard Business Review article "What is Strategy?" (1996). "Strategy and the Internet" was published in 2001.

Some of his other published works include:

• Redefining Health Care
• Competitive Advantage : Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance
• Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Anaalyzing Industries and Competition
• Competitive Advantage of Nations
• Michael E. Porter on Competition

The Speaker

Mr Porter is one of the most sought after speakers on strategy worldwide with limited time available so audiences ‘feast on him’ when he makes a speaking appearance. He is in demand by both private and public sectors drawing very senior audiences. He packs his speeches and events with information, providing a solid framework for delegates to develop winning strategies for their own organisations as well as thorough country studies produced up to the minute for every single event.

The Award Winner

Michael Porter has been recognised for his many contributions to business and strategy.

• The Financial Times did a survey of 1,000 executives on the Most Influential Business Writers/Management Gurus in their edition of November 18, 2006. Mr Porters ranking was No 5
• Appointed by President Reagan to the President's Commission on Industrial Competitiveness, 1983
• Four-time recipient, McKinsey Award, with three first-place honours
• Fourth faculty member in Harvard Business School history to earn the distinction of University professor; one of about 15 current University Professors at Harvard
• Recipient, Graham and Dodd Award of the Financial Analysts Federation, 1980
• Recipient, George R. Terry Book Award of the Academy of Management, 1985
• Fellow, International Academy of Management, 1985
• Fellow, Academy of Management, 1988
• Fellow, Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences, 1991
• Recipient, Charles Coolidge Parlin Award, 1991
• Honored, Massachusetts State Legislature, 1991
• Named Richard D. Irwin Outstanding Educator in Business Policy and Strategy, Academy of Management, 1993
• Recipient, Adam Smith Award of the National Association of Business Economists, 1997
• Recipient, first-ever Distinguished Award for Contribution to the Field of Management, International Academy of Management, 1998
• Honored, MBA Class of 2001, Harvard Business School
• Honorary doctorates: Stockholm School of Economics; Erasmus University, the Netherlands; HEC (Hautes Ecoles Commerciales), France;
• Universidada Tecnica de Lisboa, Portugal; Adolfo Ibanez University, Chile; INCAE, Central America; Johnson and Wales University; and Mt. Ida College
• Recipient, Creu de St. Jordi (Cross of St. George) from Catalonia (Spain)
• Recipient, Jose Dolores Estrada Order of Merit (the highest civilian honor awarded by the Government of Nicaragua)
• B.S.E. with high honors, aerospace and mechanical engineering Princeton University
• M.B.A. with high distinction, Harvard Business School, George F. Baker Scholar
• Ph.D., Business Economics, Harvard University