For most people involved in the strategic management field, teaching competitive strategy involves teaching Porter's model of generic strategies. Critics of the model have however exposed some severe limitations to its application. There are also some serious sources of confusion, both within the model itself and in its relationship with the other principal concepts and models used in the teaching of competitive strategy. This paper explores some of the pedagogic problems that can result and makes some tentative suggestions as to how Porter's model may be used without giving rise to confusion.
