Porter To Head International Economic Institute at HBS

Michael E. Porter, the renowned consultant, author, and Harvard Business School (HBS) professor will direct a new Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness (ISC), the University announced yesterday.

The interdisciplinary institute will be based at HBS and will support both research and teaching by marshalling a wide range of resources across the University.

Porter, who as Lawrence University professor can teach at any Harvard-affiliated school, said in his statement that “this institute seeks to foster the integration of competition and corporate strategy…with economic policy and social development.”

It will work with a number of other similar programs around the world, and also internally with Harvard’s Center for International Development.

The competitiveness of nations, states, corporations, and other economic units has long been an area of expertise for Porter.

He currently co-chairs the Global Competitiveness Report, a data-developing project that looks at the competitiveness of various nations. The institute will draw upon and elaborate on Porter’s work in the field, aiming to produce studies for a wide international audience.

The ISC’s new web page says competitive strategy “refers to how a company competes in a particular business,” and is “concerned with how a company can gain a competitive advantage through a distinctive way of competing.”

Porter’s competitiveness studies are considered industry defining, and included a massive public study of New Zealand’s economy completed in 1998.

In a related development, Porter is in negotiations with Thailand’s government to undertake a competitiveness study. The Bangkok Post reported on Tuesday that the Thai government was hiring Porter for 50 million baht ($1.3 million).

Lyn Pohl, an assistant to Porter, disputed that the deal had been finalized, but confirmed that one might be in the offing.

“We’re still talking to them about it—we haven’t come to any agreement,” she said.

In a later email she wrote that Porter was in discussions with the Thais, but that “there was no agreement to go forward.”

She said that the proposals were confidential but would say that the figures quoted in the article were inaccurate.

Porter could not be reached for comment on either the Bangkok deal or the ISC.

—Staff writer David H. Gellis can be reached at gellis@fas.harvard.edu.