He has influenced more executives - and more nations - than any other business professor on earth. Now, at 65, he and an all-star team aim to rescue the U.S. economy.
By Geoff Colvin, senior editor-at-large
"We've never done this before, and shame on us, frankly": Porter in his Harvard office.
FORTUNE -- Right this minute, in offices around the world, business-people are holding high-level meetings to talk about strategy. They're trying to figure out if they can really achieve the lowest costs, or if they should focus on differentiating their product or try to dominate a niche in the business, and someone is suggesting they try to do a little bit of each, and someone else is replying they'd be doomed. "Should we really be doing all the activities in the value chain?" "No! We need to outsource!" The meetings are getting heated because everyone realizes the decisions could mean life or death.
If you interrupted one of these meetings and asked the participants why they're discussing these questions, they'd look at you funny. It's perfectly obvious, after all, that these are the most crucial issues. We talk about them because we have to, and everyone has been talking about them since the dawn of time, they would tell you. But they would be mistaken.
Generally without knowing it, they -- we -- are speaking the language of Harvard's Michael Porter, the most famous and influential business professor who has ever lived. Incredible as it seems, there was a time when these concepts were not the foundation of most business thinking. Says Roger Martin, the longtime dean of the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Business and a former colleague of Porter's: "Everyone who talks about sustainable competitive advantage and how they're going to get it -- they don't say, 'This meeting is occurring because Mike Porter said it's important.' But that is why."
Businesspeople aren't the only ones who speak Porter's language. Leaders of nations, regions, and cities use his "diamond model" to frame their plans for becoming more competitive. Environmental policymakers apply the Porter hypothesis. Health care reformers study his work on transforming that broken industry.
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