Institute For Strategy And Competitiveness

The Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness is a nonprofit research, education, and policy organization founded by Michael Porter and based at Harvard Business School in Boston, Massachusetts. Our mission is to advance scholarship; develop practical, research-based frameworks; and educate and advise leaders and policymakers.

The Politics Industry

The American political system is broken.
How do we fix it?
Start by understanding how it actually works.

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RECENT Publications

Six Tests for Physicians and Their Leaders for the Decade Ahead (pdf)

In the years immediately ahead, physicians and their leaders must move to a new level of health care in which they reliably deliver the performance that society needs. To enable and ensure success, significant changes will be required. A set of six tests for physicians and their leaders focuses on these core considerations: putting patients first, creating superteams, plunging into competition, reducing costs, embracing innovation, and the grasping the nature of leadership.

Acting now while preparing for tomorrow: Competitiveness upgrading under the shadow of COVID-19

The COVID-19 response needs to include a focus on microeconomic competitiveness to enable a recovery that leads to sustainable, robust growth.

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Recent & Upcoming Events

Intensive Seminar 2021 for Value Based Health Care

HBS Campus, Boston MA | January 2021
The Value-Based Health Care Delivery Intensive Seminar is designed to familiarize future health care leaders with the value-based framework and concepts The framework centers around the core premise that the goal of health care is to maximize value for patients, defined as health outcomes achieved per unit of cost.

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In the news

Why Do We Let Political Parties Act Like Monopolies?

The New York Times, May 20, 2019

KU Leuven's Documentary on Shared Value

KU Leuven, February 11, 2019

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Data & External Sites

U.S. Cluster Mapping Portal

"Mapping a nation of regional clusters"

Why Competition in the Politics Industry is Failing America

"A strategy for reinvigorating our democracy"

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Essential Reading

In health care, the days of business as usual are over. Around the world, every health care system is struggling with rising costs and uneven quality despite the hard work of well-intentioned, well-trained clinicians. Health care leaders and policy makers have tried countless incremental fixes—attacking fraud, reducing errors, enforcing practice guidelines, making patients better “consumers,” implementing electronic medical records—but none have had much impact. It’s time for a fundamentally new strategy.

The Strategy That Will Fix Health Care

Competitive advantage. The value chain. Five forces. Industry structure. Differentiation. Relative cost. If you want to understand how companies achieve and sustain competitive success, Michael Porter's frameworks are the foundation. But while everyone in business may know Porter's name, many managers misunderstand and misuse his concepts. Understanding Michael Porter sets the record straight, providing a concise, accessible summary of Porter's revolutionary thinking.

Understanding Michael Porter

Institute For Strategy & Competitiveness

Smart, Connected Products

Value-Based Health Care

Competition in the Politics Industry

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Essential Reading