A new Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness (ISC), directed by Michael E. Porter, opened at HBS in July. The interdisciplinary ISC is dedicated to enlarging and disseminating the body of research on competition and strategy pioneered over the last two decades by Porter, Harvard's Bishop William Lawrence University Professor.

"This is a tremendously exciting undertaking," declared HBS Dean Kim B. Clark. "Under Michael Porter's leadership, the ISC will quickly become a highly valuable and visible source of important ideas, information, and analysis that will help extend the reach and impact of Harvard's intellectual capital."

Research at the ISC will span a wide array of topics, such as regional cluster development, the impact of the Internet on competitive positioning, antitrust policy, and strategies for philanthropic organizations. In pursuing these avenues, the institute aims to collaborate with interested faculty and related programs in different parts of Harvard and beyond.

The ISC (www.isc.hbs.edu) will focus its activities on three principal areas: the study of competition and its implications for company strategy; the competitiveness of nations, regions, and cities; and the relationship between competition and society. In addition to Porter, the core ISC team will consist of eight research and administrative staff members; the ISC will also host visiting scholars and researchers. Nonresident scholars from around the globe will also contribute to its efforts, and the institute will work closely with other academic institutions and nonprofit organizations. Some of the ISC's major projects include Baltic Rim Competitiveness, the Innovation Index, the Global Competitiveness Report, Environmental Policy and Competitiveness, and Japanese Competitiveness. In these and a number of other areas, the ISC seeks to develop new theory, assemble bodies of data to test and apply theory, and share its ideas broadly with business, government, academia, and nongovernmental organizations. The institute also intends to produce curricular materials (related to the microeconomic foundations of economic development) for use at Harvard and other institutions, as well as for dissemination using Web-based technologies. It further aims, in collaboration with HBS, to offer specialized educational programs for top-level business and government leaders.

"The ISC seeks to foster the integration of competition and corporate strategy with economic policy and social development in ways that not only advance theory but also connect with actual practice," Porter observed. "It will be a vehicle for partnering with scholars throughout Harvard University as well as with leaders in academic, corporate, and public life from around the world."

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