Strategist and Author
Hamilton Helmer is an American business strategist with a PhD in economics from Yale University who taught strategy at Stanford for a decade. His book 7 Powers distils decades of consulting experience into a framework identifying the foundations of durable competitive advantage.
by Hamilton Helmer
Helmer develops a first-principles theory of business strategy grounded in Power, defined as conditions that create potential for persistent differential returns. He catalogs seven distinct Powers (scale economies, network economies, counter-positioning, switching costs, branding, cornered resource, process power) and maps each to the competitive dynamics that make it durable.
The books Hamilton Helmer references, cites, and recommends most frequently.
by Clayton Christensen
Christensen explains why successful companies fail: they rationally ignore disruptive innovations that initially serve small, unprofitable markets, until those markets overtake them entirely.
by Clayton M. Christensen
Christensen shifts from diagnosing disruption to prescribing strategy: target non-consumption, not existing competitors. The key is creating new markets before disruptors take yours.
by W. Chan Kim
Kim argues that competing in crowded markets is a losing game. Instead, companies should create uncontested market space, blue oceans, by simultaneously pursuing differentiation and low cost.
Who Hamilton draws from, and who draws from Hamilton — aggregated across every book in this collection. Counts show the number of citation links, not the depth of each one.