Now nearing its 60th printing in English and translated into nineteen languages, Michael E. Porter's Competitive Strategy has transformed the theory, practice, and teaching of business strategy throughout the world. Electrifying in its simplicity -- like all great breakthroughs -- Porter's analysis of industries captures the complexity of industry competition in five underlying forces. Porter introduces one of the most powerful competitive tools yet developed: his three generic strategies -- lowest cost, differentiation, and focus -- which bring structure to the task of strategic positioning. He shows how competitive advantage can be defined in terms of relative cost and relative prices, thus linking it directly to profitability, and presents a whole new perspective on how profit is created and divided. In the almost two decades since publication, Porter's framework for predicting competitor behavior has transformed the way in which companies look at their rivals and has given rise to the new discipline of competitor assessment. More than a million managers in both large and small companies, investment analysts, consultants, students, and scholars throughout the world have internalized Porter's ideas and applied them to assess industries, understand competitors,, and choose competitive positions. The ideas in the book address the underlying fundamentals of competition in a way that is independent of the specifics of the ways companies go about competing. Competitive Strategy has filled a void in management thinking. It provides an enduring foundation and grounding point on which all subsequent work can be built. By bringing a disciplined structure to the question of how firms achieve superior profitability, Porter's rich frameworks and deep insights comprise a sophisticated view of competition unsurpassed in the last quarter-century.

迈克尔·波特(Michael E.Porter)32岁即获哈佛商学院终身教授之职，是当今世界上竞争战略和竞争力方面公认的第一权威。他毕业于普林斯顿大学，后获哈佛大学商学院企业经济学博士学位。目前，他拥有瑞典、荷兰、法国等国大学的8个名誉博士学位。2000年12月，迈克尔·波特获得哈佛大学最高荣誉“大学教授”资格，成为哈佛大学商学院第四位得到这份“镇校之宝”殊荣的教授。

作为最受推崇的商学大师之一，波特教授撰写过17部书及100多篇文章。他提出的“竞争五力模型”、“三种竞争战略”在全球被广为接受和实践，其竞争战略思想是哈佛商学院的必修的科目之一。波特教授的书籍风靡全球，其中，《竞争战略》一书已经再版了53次，并被译这17种文字：另一本著作《竞争优势》，至今也再版32次。

波物教授不仅担任杜邦、宝洁、壳牌、瑞士信贷波士顿第一银行、英特尔、爱德华·琼斯、Navistar 等著名跨国公司的顾问，也在政府和国际组织的政策制定中扮演着重要角色。1983年，他曾应邀出任美国里根总统的产业竞争委员长主席一职，帮助推动了1980年美国乃至世界的有关竞争力的初始工作，带动了当时美国经济的复苏。

他先后获得过“威尔兹经济学奖”、“格雷厄姆一都德奖”、“亚当·斯密奖”、“查尔斯·库利奇·巴凌奖”，还已经累计5次获得“麦肯锡《哈佛商业评论》最佳年度论文奖”，是全球许多国家、州长、市长和公司首席执行官的顾问。