管理学教授唐·苏尔（Don Sull）分别在麻省理工学院和伦敦商学院教授战略学.他曾为《哈佛商业评论》撰写过有关战略的文章,我最近与他讨论了两种论点之间的冲突:一方是把"可持续竞争
优势"（sustainable competitive advantage）置于战略核心的学者,另一方学者则认为,有些产业因为变化过于迅速,因此难以创造持续的绩效.以下是我们的对话
纪录摘要:I spoke with contributor Don Sull, who teaches strategy at MIT and the London Busines
s School, about the tension between scholars who put sustainable competitive advantage at
the center of strategy and those who argue that some industries are changing too quickly t
o allow for sustained performance. Here’s our edited conversation:HBR:谁才是正确的──是倡导"可持续竞争优势"
的传统论者,还是强调"瞬时竞争优势"（transient advantage）的挑战者?Who’s right — the "sustainable advantage" trad
itionalists or the "transient advantage" challengers?唐·苏尔:双方都表达了某些有用的观念.让我们先跟政治哲学借用一些说法,从以
下面三个角度来分别思考:"正面论点"（thesis,辩证法中的"正"）、"反面论点"（antithesis,辩证法中的"反"）,以及"综合论点"（synthesis,辩证法中的"合
"）.They both have something useful to say. Let’s borrow some language from political philo
sophy and think in terms of thesis, antithesis, and synthesis.HBR:好的,什么是"正面论点"? Okay – wha
t’s the thesis?    唐·苏尔:我先从迈克尔·波特（Michael Porter）开始说起.他最聪明绝顶的洞见就是,企业的竞争基础是一连串彼此连结、而且相互加强的活
动和资源.这些事物让企业以一种无法模仿的方式创造出价值.举例来说,宜家家居（Ikea）便想出了办法,让顾客为必须自己组装的家具,付出了比你预期更高的售价……因此,宜家家居得以维持低
成本.在它们创造的优势背后,其实存在着相当精密复杂、彼此紧密连结的一组选择.之后则出现一批人,探讨以能力和资源为基础来竞争,这些都是迈克尔·波特思想的延伸.他们谈的就是可持续战略（
sustainable strategy）.Start with Michael Porter. His most brilliant insight was that compa
nies compete on a bundle of connected, mutually reinforcing activities and resources. That
bundle allows the company to create value in a way that can’t be imitated. (Ikea, for exa
mple, has figured out how to get customers to pay more than you might expect for furniture
that they have to assemble themselves…thus keeping IKEA’s costs low. There’s a very sophi
sticated, interlocking set of choices behind the advantage they’ve created.) The people wh
o came along later and talked about competing on competencies and resources – these are al
l extensions of Porter’s thinking. So that’s sustainable strategy.