LibGuides: BADM 236 Communication and Critical Thinking RB: Classic Articles

The Charts That Changed the World

LFSB favorites

Porter, M. E. (1996). "What is strategy?" Harvard Business Review 74(6): 61-78
Required reading: HCM 450 LP,
FIVE FORCES - Porter, M. E. (1979). How competitive forces shape strategy. Harvard Business Review, 57(2), 137-145.
"Prior to Michael Porter's Breakthrough 1979 HBR article, 'competition' referred to rivalry between companies. Few people considered whether or why some industries were inherently more or less profitable than others or how persistent their profits were over time. Porter's diagram changed that - and students, strategists, consultants, and entrepreneurs now assess a company's competitive position according to the strength of the five forces." (from HBR December 2011 p.34)
Porter, M. E. (2008). The Five Competitive Forces That Shape Strategy. Harvard Business Review, 86(1), 78-93

Other noteworthy ideas

The Charts That Changed the World. (2011). Harvard Business Review, 89(12), 34–35.
Once in a while,... a chart so deftly captures an important strategic insight that it becomes an iconic part of management thinking--and a tool that shows up in MBA classrooms and corporate boardrooms for years to come. As HBR prepares for its 90th anniversary, in 2012, our editors have combed the magazine archives and other sources to select some charts that changed the shape of strategy: THE GROWTH SHARE MATRIX by Boston Consulting Group in 1968 | THE EXPERIENCE CURVE by Boston Consulting Group in 1966 | THE FIVE FORCES by Michael Porter in 1979 | DISRUPTIVE INNOVATION by Clayton M. Christensen and Joseph L. Bower in 1995 | THE MARKETING PYRAMID by C.K. Prahalad and Kenneth Lieberthal in 1998.
DISRUPTIVE INNOVATION Bower, J. L., & Christensen, C. M. (1995). Disruptive Technologies: Catching the Wave. Harvard Business Review, 73(1), 43–53.
When Clayton M. Christensen and Joseph L. Bower introduced this idea, in a 1995 HBR article, their simple chart illustrated a key insight: Established players can be threatened by lower-quality offerings that fulfill the needs of "overserved" customers--and those offerings tend to improve over time. (from HBR December 2011, p. 35)
THE MARKET PYRAMID - Prahalad, C. K., & Lieberthal, K. (1998). The end of corporate imperialism. Harvard Business Review, 76(4), 68-79.
"Today managers take for granted that the biggest growth opportunities lie in the emerging markets - and that viable businesses can be built to serve people near 'the bottom of the pyramid.' That can be traced to ... [this article]. ... People living on $5,000 to $10,000 a year may not sound like lucrative customers, but they constitute a demographic of immense purchasing power for companies selling food, housing, or energy." (from HBR December 2011, p. 35)