Michael Porter Quotes

Strategy is about setting yourself apart from the competition. It's not a matter of being better at what you do - it's a matter of being different at what you do.

You should learn from your competitor, but never copy. Copy and you die.

What is your Unique Selling Proposition? What makes you different than your competitors? Wrap your advertising message around that USP and communicate it in a clear and concise manner.

When looking at trends I always ask myself basic and timeless questions about business, and the one I seem to always come back to is, 'How is this different than anything else in the marketplace?'

Strategy is about making choices, trade-offs; it's about deliberately choosing to be different.

What we need to do is run our business. We need to come up with a value prop that is so compelling that customers have to go for it.

We are always focused on how can we differentiate ourselves. In today's world, where people are gravitating toward experiences, it is even more important.

You really need a unique selling proposition, and people need to care about that unique selling proposition.

Marketing is the distinguishing, unique function of the business.

If we look at pricing holistically, we'll create a more solid business.

Cutting prices or putting things on sale is not sustainable business strategy. The other side of it is that you can't cut enough costs to save your way to prosperity.

The most essential thing for us was to get the business model right, then put the world-class technology under it to support it. At Merrill, that meant not doing what people expected.

Now if you go exactly where your competitors are, you're dead.

It's not easy being number two. As a marketer, you have limited choices - you can pretend you're not defined by the market leader, or, you can embrace your position and go directly after your nemesis.

The essential element of successful strategy is that it derives its success from the differences between competitors with a consequent difference in their behavior.

If you want to be around in 10 years you've got to do something to differentiate yourself from the pack.

Just as predatory animals follow a similar general design and behave in similar ways, so organizations, especially those in competition with one another, must follow certain design principles if they are to succeed and prevail.

I learnt the hard way about positioning in business, about catering to the right segments.

You need to define yourself in the marketplace.

Even if someone is already in your market space, ask yourself whether you can approach it from a different angle and thereby secure your own customer base.

If you don't have a competitive advantage, don't compete.

In advertising, not to be different is virtual suicide.

If you haven't created the time as an owner to understand why people are choosing your model over your competition, then you are only managing the business that comes in the door, not actively seeking it out.

The values we developed were instrumental in gaining a competitive advantage.

You have to do things right to stay in business, and that's not easy, and that's a choice on a daily basis, the choices you make in how to run your business and how to have a point of differentiation and how to be true to your brand, how to offer something that people want and to offer something that you love.