Michael Porter
Early Life and Education
Michael Eugene Porter was born on May 23, 1947, in Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA. He attended Princeton University, where he studied Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering, earning his Bachelor's degree in 1969. He then pursued an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School, graduating in 1971. Porter continued his academic journey at Harvard, earning a Ph.D. in Business Economics in 1973.
Career
After completing his Ph.D., Porter joined the faculty of Harvard Business School. He was appointed the Bishop William Lawrence University Professor at Harvard, a position he still holds. Over the years, Porter has made significant contributions to the field of strategic management, economics, and social responsibility.
Contributions to Strategic Management
Porter is best known for his work in strategic management. His theories and models, such as the Porter's Five Forces model and the Value Chain model, have been widely adopted in the business world. These models help businesses understand their competitive environment and identify their strategic advantages.
Porter's Five Forces
Porter's Five Forces is a model that analyzes an industry's competitive forces to determine the intensity of competition. The five forces include the threat of new entrants, the bargaining power of buyers, the bargaining power of suppliers, the threat of substitute products or services, and the intensity of competitive rivalry.
Value Chain
The Value Chain model is a tool for identifying ways to create more customer value. It involves examining all of the activities a company performs and how they interact, thereby identifying the company's strengths and weaknesses.
Contributions to Economics
Porter has also made significant contributions to the field of economics. His Porter's Diamond model is a framework that assesses the competitive advantage of nations.
Porter's Diamond
Porter's Diamond model suggests that national home base is crucial for the global success of an organization. The model consists of four attributes of a nation that shape the environment in which local firms compete.
Social Responsibility
In addition to strategic management and economics, Porter has also contributed to the concept of social responsibility in business. He developed the concept of Shared Value, which posits that businesses can achieve economic success by also considering social issues.
The Shared Value concept suggests that companies can enhance their competitiveness while simultaneously advancing social and economic conditions in the communities where they operate.
Awards and Recognition
Porter has received numerous awards and recognitions for his work. He was awarded the McKinsey Award for the best Harvard Business Review article in 1979 and 2008. In 2001, he received the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his contributions to the field of economics.
Personal Life
Porter is married to Elizabeth Olmsted Teisberg, a distinguished author and professor at the University of Virginia. They have two children.