About the Authors
University Professor
Harvard Business School
Michael E. Porter is the Bishop William Lawrence University Professor at Harvard Business School. A leading authority on competitive strategy and the competitiveness of nations and regions, Professor Porter's work is recognized in governments, corporations, non-profits, and academic circles across the globe. His ideas on strategy have 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 core field is competition and strategy, and this remains a primary focus of his research. His ideas have also re-defined thinking about competitiveness, economic development, economically distressed areas, and the role of corporations in society. Professor Porter is the author of 17 books and numerous articles, and is a six-time winner of the McKinsey Award for the best Harvard Business Review article of the year, most recently for "Strategy and Society: The Link Between Competitive Advantage and Corporate Social Responsibility".
Professor Porter has recently devoted considerable attention to understanding and addressing the problems in health care evident in the United States and abroad. His book, Redefining Health Care (with Professor Elizabeth Teisberg), develops a new framework for understanding how to transform the value delivered by the health care system, with practical recommendations for providers, health plans, employers, and government, among other actors. The book received the American College of Healthcare Executives 2007 James A. Hamilton book of the year award.
In addition to his research and writing, Professor Porter serves as an advisor to business and government. He has served as strategy advisor to numerous leading U.S. and international companies, including Caterpillar, Procter & Gamble, Scotts Miracle-Gro, Royal Dutch Shell, Taiwan Semiconductor, and Sysco. Professor Porter also plays an active role in U.S. economic policy with the Executive Branch and Congress, and has led national strategy initiatives in numerous countries. He currently serves on the board of directors of Endeca Technologies, Parametric Technology Corporation, and Thermo Fisher Scientific, and chairs Harvard Business School's program for newly appointed CEOs of multibillion dollar corporations.
Professor Porter received a B.S.E. with high honors in aerospace and mechanical engineering from Princeton University. He received an M.B.A. with high distinction from the Harvard Business School, where he was a George F. Baker Scholar, and a Ph.D. in Business Economics from Harvard University.
Professor Porter has won numerous awards and honors, including Harvard's David A. Wells Prize in Economics for his research in industrial organization, the Academy of Management's highest award for scholarly contributions to management, and the Adam Smith Award of the National Association of Business Economists. The recipient of numerous honorary doctorates and national honors, in 2005 he was elected an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and received the John Kenneth Galbraith Medal.
For further information, see the web site of the Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness.
Associate Professor of Business Administration
Darden Graduate School of Business
The University of Virginia
Elizabeth Teisberg is an associate professor of business at the University of Virginia's Darden Graduate School of Business, and a Senior Fellow at the New England Healthcare Institute. At UVA, she received the Frederick S Morton Leadership Award in 2004 and the Wachovia award for research excellence in 2006. Her expertise is in Strategy, Innovation and Risk Analysis. Prior to joining the faculty at the Darden, she was an associate professor in the Strategy Group at the Harvard Business School.
In addition to Redefining Health Care, Prof. Teisberg coauthored with Michael Porter four articles on health care, as well as a Harvard Business Review Special Report 'Fixing Competition in U.S. Health Care.' Professor Teisberg's earlier projects have analyzed strategy in medical device and biotech companies, real options, research and development decisions, medical innovation, and strategic response to uncertainty.
She is the author or coauthor of over 50 cases and articles in professional publications such as the Harvard Business Review, Rand Journal of Economics, Management Science, the Energy Journal, Research-Technology Management, Science, and Interfaces. As well, she is the coauthor of The Portable MBA, which has been published in five languages.
Professor Teisberg earned M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in engineering-economic systems from the Stanford University School of Engineering. She also holds a master of engineering in systems science from the University of Virginia and an A.B. degree, summa cum laude, in political science and mathematics from Washington University in St. Louis. She is a member of Phi Beta Kappa.
Professor Teisberg lives in Charlottesville, Virginia.
For further information, see Elizabeth Teisberg's website .
