Estrategias e Internet

Strategy and the Internet
by Michael E. Porter

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March 2001

HBR Case Study Mommy-Track Backlash
Alden M. Hayashi

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First Person The Job No CEO Should Delegate
Larry Bossidy

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HBR at Large The Nut Island Effect: When Good Teams Go Wrong
Paul F Levy .

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Strategy and the Internet
Michael E. Porter

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Building the EmotionalIntelligence of Groups
Vanessa Urch Druskat and Steven B. Wolff

Not All M&As Are Alike – and That Matters
Joseph L. Bower

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Introducing T-Shaped Managers: Knowledge Management’s Next Generation
Morten T. Hansen and Bolko von Oetinger

HBR Interview Tom Siebel of Siebel Systems: High Tech the Old-Fashioned Way
Bronwyn Fryer

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Best Practice Unleash Innovationin Foreign Subsidiaries
Julian Birkinshaw and Neil Hood

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Tool Kit Making the Most of On-Line Recruiting
Peter Cappelli

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Books in Review Playing Around with Brainstorming
Michael Schrage

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Copyright © 2001 by Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved.

Many have argued that the Internet renders strategy obsolete. In reality,the opposite is true. Because the Internet tends to weaken industry profitability without providing proprietary operational advantages, it is more important than ever for companies to distinguish themselves through strategy. The winners will be those that view the Internet as a complement to, not a cannibal of, traditional ways of competing.

Strategy
and the
by Michael E. Porter

Internet
The Internet is an extremely important new technology, and it is no surprise that it has received so much attention from entrepreneurs, executives, investors, and business observers. Caught up in the general fervor, many have assumed that the Internet changes everything, rendering all the old rules about companies and competition obsolete. That may be a natural reaction, but it is a dangerous one.It has led many companies, dot-coms and incumbents alike, to make bad decisions – decisions that have eroded the attractiveness of their industries and undermined their own competitive advantages. Some companies, for example, have used Internet technology to shift the basis of competition away from quality, features, and service and toward price, making it harder for anyone in their industries toturn a profit. Others have forfeited important proprietary advantages by rushing into misguided partnerships

ILLUSTRATION BY MICHAEL GIBBS

march 2001

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S t rat e g y a n d t h e I n t e r n e t

and outsourcing relationships. Until recently, the negative effects of these actions have been obscured by distorted signals from the marketplace. Now, however, the consequences arebecoming evident. The time has come to take a clearer view of the Internet. We need to move away from the rhetoric about “Internet industries,” “e-business strategies,” and a “new economy” and see the Internet for what it is: an enabling technology – a powerful set of tools that can be used, wisely or unwisely, in almost any industry and as part of almost any strategy. We need to ask fundamentalquestions: Who will capture the economic benefits that the Internet creates? Will all the value end up going to customers, or will companies be able to reap a share of it? What will be the Internet’s impact on industry structure? Will it expand or shrink the pool of profits? And what will be its impact on strategy? Will the Internet bolster or erode the ability of companies to gain sustainable advantagesover their competitors? In addressing these questions, much of what we find is unsettling. I believe that the experiences companies have had with the Internet thus far must be largely discounted and that many of the lessons learned must be forgotten. When seen with fresh eyes, it becomes clear that the Internet is not necessarily a blessing. It tends to alter industry structures in ways that dampen...