understand their essential natures or the direct relationship between them. This book cuts through the fog that pervades many discussions of competition and strategy. Our goal is to clarify readers’ understanding of strategy and to reframe their approach to it. We want executives to know how their markets work, where their competitive opportunities lie, and how to develop and protect hem. To this end, we include both broad discussions of general principles and detailed case studies of actual competitive interactions. Taken together, we think they present a useful guide for people who need to make strategic decisions. Executives often confuse strategy with planning. They think that any plan for attracting customers or increasing margins is a strategy. Any large-scale plan that requires a lot of resources or takes a long time to execute is considered strategic. Essentially, any plan that answers the question “How can we make money?” qualifies as a business strategy. As a result, too many leaders end up fighting wars they cannot win while failing to protect and exploit the advantages that are the real bases for their success.

这本书打破了许多关于竞争和战略的讨论中弥漫的迷雾。我们的目标是澄清读者对战略的理解，并重新制定他们的策略。我们希望高管们知道他们的市场如何运作，他们的竞争机会在哪里，以及如何开发和保护他们。为此，我们既包括对一般原则的广泛讨论，也包括对实际竞争互动的详细案例研究。综上所述，我们认为它们为需要做出战略决策的人提供了一个有用的指南。管理者经常把战略和计划混为一谈。他们认为任何吸引客户或增加利润的计划都是一种策略。任何需要大量资源或执行时间较长的大规模计划都被视为战略性计划。基本上，任何能回答“我们如何赚钱”的计划？“符合商业战略的条件。结果，太多的领导人最终打不赢的战争，却未能保护和利用他们成功的真正基础优势。