The Business Book

IN CONTEXT

FOCUS

Competitive strategy

KEY DATES

1921 US economist and statistician Harold Hotelling says that as long as there are profits to be had in a market, more and more vendors will arrive to serve it, until it reaches saturation point.

1979 Michael Porter’s “How Competitive Forces Shape Strategy” is published in Harvard Business Review.

2005 W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne publish Blue Ocean Strategy, suggesting that companies should aim for uncontested markets rather than compete with each other in existing markets.

2008 Michael Porter writes The Five Competitive Forces That Shape Strategy.

In order to survive, companies have to understand and ...