HBS' Porter Appointed University Professor

President Neil L. Rudenstine has appointed Christensen Professor of Business Michael E. Porter as University Professor, the highest possible honor for a member of the faculty.

Porter is currently one of the most sought after consultants in competitive business strategy. His most well-known book, Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors, is in its 53rd printing and has been translated into 17 languages.

Porter, the 20th professor to hold the post since its inception in 1936, is now certified to teach in any of Harvard's nine schools. He is the fourth professor from Harvard Business School (HBS) to earn the honor.

He will hold the Bishop William

Lawrence University Professorship, a chair named after a Harvard Corporation member who played a crucial role in raising funds for the University in the 1920s.

The University Professor position was established in 1935 by President James B. Conant '14, who cited a need to institute "a certain number of University Professors with roving commissions whose teaching and creative work shall not be hampered by departmental considerations."

In a press release, Rudenstine said that Porter was an ideal choice for the post.

"From every point of view--as an imaginative and penetrative thinker, an influential writer, and a gifted teacher--Mike Porter fits the role of University Professor perfectly," Rudenstine said. "He will now have the chance to bring his extraordinary energy and intelligence to bear on many subjects of inquiry across the entire University."

Porter said the appointment indicated to him that Harvard recognizes the scope of his work and is happy to see him work in areas that traditionally fall outside the purvey of HBS.

"It put, in some sense, more emphasis on parts of my work that are outside of the traditional definition of the Business School," Porter said. "Over time, my work broadened extensively, and now I am being encouraged to view that other part of my work as equally essential."

In the next few years, Porter plans to work in areas that intersect with the missions of the Kennedy School, the Law School, the Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies, the Design School and the School of Public Health.

"We're turbo-charging the work on economic development and urban development," Porter said.

He also plans collaborations with Geyser University Professor William J. Wilson and IBM Professor of Business and Government Roger B. Porter, along with his former economics teacher, Ropes Professor of Political Economy Richard E. Caves.

Though Porter "has no current plans" to teach an undergraduate class, he says he wouldn't rule it out.

After graduating from Princeton as an aerospace major in 1969, Porter began his graduate studies at HBS, where he said Caves and University Professor Chris R. Christensen inspired him to his current path.

"For some mystical reason, [Christensen] really singled me out and gave me some special attention," Porter said. "I totally changed course. I had an aerospace degree."