If a strategy meets a goal: It's working. If a strategy meets a target: It's a success.
Michael PorterRead
In the vast majority of businesses, there is simply no such thing as “the best.”
Interpretation
What this quote means
Perfection in business is unattainable; every company has strengths and weaknesses.
Michael Porter highlights the reality that in the competitive landscape of business, the concept of 'the best' is often subjective and unrealistic. Businesses must continually adapt and find their own strengths rather than striving for an unattainable ideal, as every organization operates in a unique context with different goals and challenges.
Themes
BusinessCompetitivenessSuccessAdaptationRealism
In practice
Example use cases
During a business presentation when discussing competition.
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All quotes →Health care historically has been a very siloed field that's organized around medical specialties - urology, cardiac surgery, and so forth - and around the supply of these specialty services. The patient is the ping-pong ball that moves from service to service.
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As a multisport athlete, I was always fascinated with competition and how to win. At HBS and later at the Harvard Department of Economics, I was drawn to the field of competition and strategy because it tackles perhaps the most basic question in both business management and industrial economics: What determines corporate performance?
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In a period of economic downturn, the overwhelming instinct is to pare back, cut costs, and lay off. If you do that, do so with your strategy in mind. The worst mistake is to cut across the board. Instead, reconnect and recommit to a clear strategy that will distinguish yourself from others.
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I think that, too many times, business has been seen as acting in its narrow self-interest rather than, essentially, contributing more broadly to society. I think a lot of that is unintentional; I don't think that many managers are deliberately trying to be unethical or are not trying to be sensitive to social needs.
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If your goal is anything but profitability - if it's to be big, or to grow fast, or to become a technology leader - you'll hit problems.
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