Michael E. Porter is the Bishop William Lawrence University Professor, based at Harvard Business School. A University professorship is the highest professional recognition that can be awarded to a Harvard faculty member. Professor Porter is the fourth faculty member in Harvard Business School history to earn this distinction, and is one of about 15 current University Professors at Harvard. In 2001, Harvard Business School and Harvard University jointly created the Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness, to further Professor Porter's work.  

Professor Porter, the author of 17 books and over 125 articles, is a leading authority on competitive strategy and the competitiveness and economic development of nations, states, and regions. He received a B.S.E. with high honors in aerospace and mechanical engineering from Princeton University in 1969, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and Tau Beta Pi. He received an M.B.A. with high distinction in 1971 from the Harvard Business School, where he was a George F. Baker Scholar, and a Ph.D. in Business Economics from Harvard University in 1973.  

Professor Porter's ideas on strategy have now become the foundation for the required strategy course at the Harvard Business School, and his work is taught in virtually every business school in the world. Professor Porter's primary course for Harvard graduate students is a University-wide course, Microeconomics of Competitiveness, which is taught not only at Harvard but at 56 other universities around the world using video content and instructor support developed at Harvard. Professor Porter also created and chairs Harvard's program for newly appointed CEOs of billion dollar corporations. Professor Porter speaks widely on competitive strategy, competitiveness, and related subjects to business and government leaders throughout the world.  

Professor Porter's core field is strategy, and this remains a primary focus of his research. His book, Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors, was his first book-length publication on strategy. The book is in its 63rd printing and has been translated into 19 languages. His second major strategy book, Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance, was published in 1985 and is in its 38th printing. His book On Competition (1998) includes a series of articles on strategy and competition, including his Harvard Business Review article "What is Strategy?" (1996). "Strategy and the Internet" was published in 2001.  

Professor Porter was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and has lived and traveled throughout the world as the son of a career Army officer. He was an all-state high school football and baseball player. At Princeton, he played intercollegiate golf and was named to the 1968 NCAA Golf All-American Team. After graduating from college, Professor Porter served through the rank of captain in the U.S. Army Reserve. He maintains a long-time interest in the esthetics and business of music and art, having worked on the problems of strategy with arts organizations and aspiring musicians. Professor Porter serves as a trustee of the Buckingham, Browne & Nichols School (Cambridge, Massachusetts). Professor Porter and his two daughters reside in Brookline, Massachusetts.