Many executives said that Porter had indeed outlined a clear strategy for making Taiwan's economy more competitive, but noted that there was always a huge gap between theory and practice. Many held that Porter revealed an ignorance regarding certain aspects of trade and economic relations between Taiwan and mainland China, which showed that he was somewhat out of touch with the current situation here.
許多企業家表示波特的確為提昇競爭力勾勒出明確的策略方向，不過，「知易行難」，理論和行動之間，顯然有一道鴻溝；不少人則認為，在兩岸經貿關係等某些議題上，可以看出波特對台灣了解不足，和現況有所脫節。