InThe End of Competitive Advantage: How to Keep Your Strategy Moving as Fast as Your Business, Columbia Business School Professor Rita Gunther McGrath argues that it’s time to go beyond the concept of sustainable competitive advantage. McGrath spoke with MDM staff writer Angela Poulson on how organizations can capture opportunities quickly, exploit them decisively and move on before they are exhausted.

MDM: Tell me a little about the origins of this book.

Rita Gunther McGrath: The book had its origins in a profound sense of unease that I had that we really haven’t made much progress in the field of strategy for a long time. Historically, strategy was about the search for superior performance and a thing called sustainable competitive advantage. And the idea was you found something that you did better than other companies in your industry and you threw up entry barriers like crazy, ...