Michael E Porter - the Theory of National Competitive Advantage - Uk

In his Theory of National Competitive Advantage, Michael E. Porter, "generally recognized as the father of the modern strategy field" (Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness, 2009), deals with the competition of regions and nations and their sources of economic prosperity (Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness, 2009). He found that the UK lags many other advanced nations in terms of competitiveness, especially regarding the levels of productivity and prosperity (institute for strategy and competitiveness, 2009).

Public discussions about the UK´s competitiveness are characterized by pessimism, a missing overall strategic perspective and the performance gap with its key competitors United States, Germany and France is in the centre of attention (ISC: UK competitiveness: moving to the next stage, 2003).

This essay will present some of Porter's most striking arguments on the UK's weak position, will then point out some positive trends and give useful guidelines to improve the competitive position of the UK.

In order to understand competitive advantage at the national level, Porter defines as follows:

A nation's prosperity depends on its competitiveness,