“Andrews and Christensen identified a pressing need for a holistic way of thinking about an enterprise. They articulated the concept of strategy as a tool to for doing so.” (Montgomery and Porter, 1979, p.xii).
“The central concept in this early work was the notion of fit between the unique capabilities of a company and the competitive requirements of an industry that distinguished it from others. The challenge for management was to choose or create an environmental context where the company’s distinctive competence and resources could produce a relative competitive advantage.” (Montgomery and Porter, 1979, p.xii). “Present research continues to affirm the important role industry conditions play in the performance of individual firms. (…) average industry profitability is, by far, the most significant predictor of firm performance. It is far more important than market share and much more important than the extent of a firm’s diversification.” (Montgomery and Porter, 1979, p.xiv).
Functional strategy: “internal consistency – the extent to which a firm’s plan and policies reinforce each other and can be mutually achieved.” (Montgomery and Porter, 1979, p.xvi ).
“Business strategists can use their imagination and ability to reason logically to accelerate the effects of competition and the rate of change.” (Henderson, 1979, p.4). “Can evolution be planned for business? That is what strategy is for.” (Henderson, 1979, p.5).
“Chasing market share is almost as productive as chasing the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. You can never get there. Even if you could, you would find nothing. If you are in business you already have 100% of your market. So do your competitors. Your real goal is to expand the size of your market. But you will always have 100% of your market, whether it grows or shrinks.” (Henderson, 1979, p.5). “Market share is a meaningless number unless a company defines the market in terms of the boundaries separating it from its rivals. These boundaries are the points at which the company and are equivalent in a potential customer’s eyes. (…) The competitor that truly has an advantage can give the potential customers more of their money and still have a larger margin between its cost and its selling price.” (Henderson, 1979, p.6).
“Strategic competition compresses time.” (Henderson, 1979, p.6).“Natural competition works by a process of low-risk, incremental trial and error. Small changes are tried and tested. (…) But unmanaged change takes thousands of generations. (…) By committing resources, strategy seeks to make sweeping changes in competitive relationships.” (Henderson, 1979, p.6).
“Cutting-edge Japanese companies today are capitalizing on time as a critical source of competitive advantage: managing time the way most companies manage cost, quality or inventory.” (Stalk, 1979, p.39). “For these leading companies time has become the overarching measurement of performance. By reducing the consumption of time in every aspect of the business, these companies also reduce cost, improve quality, and stay close to their customers.” (Stalk, 1979, p.49).
“Because when the focus of attention is on ways to beat the competition, it is inevitable that strategy gets defined primarily in terms of the competition.” (Ohmae, 1979, p.62). “Competitive realities are what you test possible strategies against; you define them in terms of customers. Tit-for-tat responses to what competitors do may be appropriate, but they are largely reactive.(…) It also takes shape in the determination to avoid competition whenever and wherever possible” (Ohmae, 1979, p.62). “Getting back to strategy means getting back to a deep understanding of what a product is about.” (Ohmae, 1979, p.70).
“If you ask people whether they want their coffee in ten minutes or seven, they will say seven of course. But it’s still the wrong question. And you end up back where you started, trying to beat the competition at its own game.” (Ohmae, 1979, p.71).
“Ultimately, the only way to sustain a competitive advantage is to upgrade it.” (Porter, 1979, p.138).“either they (these companies) would make their advantage obsolete, or a competitor would do it for them.” (Porter, 1979, p.138).“But change is an unnatural act, particularly in successful companies; powerful forces are at work to avoid and defeat it. Past approaches become institutionalized in standard operating procedures and management controls.” (Porter, 1979, p.138). “the existing strategy takes on an aura of invincibility and becomes rooted in the company culture. (…) Change is tempered by the fear that there is much to lose.” (Porter, 1979, p.139).
“the uncomfortable truth that innovation grows out of pressure and challenge.” (Porter, 1979, p.160). “A company should seek out pressure and challenge, not avoid them.” (Porter, 1979, p.161).“Early-warning signals translate into early-mover advantage.” (Porter, 1979, p.161).
“The whole project got off the wrong foot. It asked people what features they wanted in a washing machine rather than what they wanted out of life.” (Levitt, 1979, p.198).
“The purpose of business is to get an keep a customer. Or, to use Peter Drucker’s more refined construction, to create and keep a customer. A company must be wedded to the idea of innovation.” (Levitt, 1979, p.203).
“a portfolio of competencies versus a portfolio of businesses.” (Prahalad and Hamel, 1979, p.280). “Core competencies are the collective learning in the organization.” (Prahalad and Hamel, 1979, p.281). “core competence does not diminish with use. Unlike physical assets which do deteriorate over time competencies are enhanced as they are applied and shared.” (Prahalad and Hamel, 1979, p.292).“How strange that SBU managers, who are perfectly willing to compete for cash in the capital budgeting process, are unwilling to compete for people.” (Prahalad and Hamel, 1979, p.294).
“Strategies can form as well as be formulated. A realized strategy can emerge in response to an evolving situation, or it can be brought about deliberately.” (Mintzberg, 1979, p.407). “Actions simply converge into patterns. They may become deliberate, of course, if the pattern is recognized and then legitimated by senior management.” (Mintzberg, 1979, p.408).
“It embodies disciplined unity of purpose, a purpose which – to be powerful – must be clear and worthy of the commitment of energetic and intelligent people.” (Andrews, 1979, p.451). “Such strategy summons up imagination, innovation and a zest for risk.” (Andrews, 1979, p.451). “Nonetheless, imagination exists in all questing organizations and people.” (Andrews, 1979, p.459). “”What’s new?” is a question that should havean unending series of answers in the execution as well as formulation of strategy?” (Andrews, 1979, p.459).
