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This study investigated the relationships among big data analytics capability (BDAC), low-cost advantage, differentiation advantage, market and operational performance underpinning the resource-based view (RBV) and the entanglement view of sociomaterialism (EVS) theories.

A total of 191 responses from members of the Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers were analysed using a structural equation modelling approach.

This study has conclusively demonstrated that BDAC is indeed a resource bundle comprising human skills, tangible and intangible resources. This study found that BDAC positively influences competitive advantage and firm performance. The differentiation advantage was found to be a key factor in explaining market performance. Theoretically, both RBV and EVS could be used to link BDAC, differentiation advantage and market performance to explain superior firm performance.

First, the sample is restricted to the manufacturers in Malaysia. Second, a single independent variable, BDAC, is used as a higher-order capability to influence competitive advantage, and thus, superior firm performance. Third, this study uses a self-reported survey, which means that only one respondent from each firm answered the questions. Fourth, this study excludes the focused strategy as it aims to investigate the competitive strategy used in the broader industry environment, rather than in a specific segment pursuing a focused strategy.

First, BDAC is a valuable, rare, inimitable and non-substitutable tool for manufacturers to enhance their firm performance. Second, BDAC is crucial for manufacturing firms to reduce costs and differentiate themselves. Third, a low-cost advantage may not help manufacturers achieve greater market and operational performance.

The relationship among BDAC, low-cost advantage, differentiation advantage, market and operational performance within manufacturing industry is empirically tested.

This study contributes to the participative budgeting and budget misrepresentation literature by exploring: (1) whether managers’ judgments of fair behaviors are malleable and context-dependent and (2) if these judgments of fair behavior impact cost reporting misrepresentations. Two experiments investigate these questions. Experiment 1 (n = 42) tests whether the behavior that managers judge to be “fair” differs based on the decision context (i.e., initial economic position [IEP]). Experiment 2 (n = 130) investigates: (1) how managers’ deployment of fairness beliefs influences their reporting misrepresentations and (2) how decision aids that reduce task complexity impact managers’ deployment of fairness beliefs in their misreporting decisions. The study found that managers deploy fairness beliefs (i.e., honesty or equality) consistent with maximizing their context-relevant income. Hence, fairness beliefs constrain misrepresentations in predictable ways. In addition, we find more accounting information is not always beneficial. The presence of decision aids actually increases misrepresentations when managers are initially advantaged (i.e., start with more resources than others). The implications from these findings are relevant to the honesty and budgeting literature and provide novel findings of how managers’ preferences for fairness constrain managers from maximizing their income. The chapter demonstrates that contextual factors can influence the deployment of managers’ fairness beliefs which, in turn, differentially impact their reporting misrepresentation. Another contribution is that providing decision aids, which reduce task complexity, may not always benefit companies, since such aids may increase misrepresentation under certain conditions.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the moderating effect of environmental human resource management on the relationship between firms' environmental management practices and competitive advantages of cost and differentiation.

CEOs of Spanish chemical firms were asked to respond to a questionnaire containing the measures of the study variables. The final sample consists of 94 firms and the hypotheses were tested using partial least square methodology.

Empirical evidence showed that companies with a high level of human resource environmental practices can benefit from the advantages in costs and differentiation derived from the implementation of pollution prevention technologies.

From a theoretical standpoint, the paper discusses the moderating role of environmental human resource management practices in the relationship between pollution prevention technologies and economic performance. Empirically, it provides evidence of the role of human resource management practices and proactive environmental management practices in supporting competitive advantages of cost and differentiation.

The textiles and clothing sector is one of India's most important economic sectors, next to the agriculture sector in terms of industrial output and employment, providing employment to more than 30 million people. Many studies predict that India will get a significant share of the world textiles and clothing trade due to the advantage of cheap labor and other factor resources but India's slower growth rate, as compared to other low‐cost competitors, indicates otherwise. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the comparative advantage of India and Bangladesh for the clothing sector in the world export trade with the help of Balassa's index of Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA). The study highlights the shift in comparative advantage for India and Bangladesh between two periods. The study also points out constraints restricting the growth of export share of India in world market and offers suggestions to policy makers for enhancing India's export share in the world clothing trade.

RCA indices have been calculated for various clothing product categories (under Harmonized System) up to four digit classification with the help of Balassa's relative measure for India and Bangladesh. Tables have been prepared for India and Bangladesh, highlighting products having comparatively higher revealed comparative advantage. For calculation of RCA indices, the export data have been taken from “UN Comtrade”, an electronic database of the United Nations and from the database of the World Trade Organization (WTO). Further, Spearman rank correlation coefficient has been calculated for analyzing the changes over the period 1995‐2003 for India and Bangladesh.

Findings reveal that the number of products for which India enjoyed the comparative advantage increased from 23 products to 25 products between 1995 and 2003 and for Bangladesh, this number increased from 21 products to 29 products between 1995 and 2003. Clothing exports of India and Bangladesh are classified on the basis of comparative advantage at the HS 4‐digit level for the years 1995 and 2003 and the comparative position is given on the basis of a measure of structural change in exports of India and Bangladesh. The products in which India and Bangladesh have comparative advantage in garment exports are highlighted.

This paper has calculated and compared revealed comparative advantage indices over a period of time up to four digits classification of HS product categories. Also, this paper highlights constraints, and offer suggestions which would be helpful to exporters and policy makers.

The purpose of this paper is to advance the understanding of factors that affect offshoring performance results. To do so, this paper focuses on the access to location-specific advantages, rather than solely on the properties of the offshoring company, its strategy or environment. Assuming that different levels of synergy may exist between particular offshoring strategic decisions (choosing offshore outsourcing or captive offshoring and the type of function) and different offshoring advantages, this work advocates that the actual fact of realization of certain offshoring advantages (getting or not getting access to them) is a more reliable predictor of offshoring success.

A set of hypotheses derived from the extant literature is tested on the data from a quantitative survey of 1,143 Scandinavian firms.

The paper demonstrates that different governance modes and types of offshored function indeed provide different levels of access to different types of location-specific offshoring advantages. This difference may help to explain the ambiguity of offshoring initiatives performance results.

Limitations of the work include using only the offshoring strategy elements and only their limited variety as factors potentially influencing access to offshoring advantages. Also, the findings are limited to Scandinavian companies.

The paper introduces a new concept of access, which can help to more reliably predict performance outcomes of offshoring initiatives. Recommendations are also provided to practitioners dealing with offshoring initiatives.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate and compare the perceptions of competitive advantage (cost leadership, differentiation, and performance) of those wineries which have implemented a clear business case for an environmental management system (EMS) and those which have not. Benefits and challenges of sustainability practices are also addressed.

Data were collected via self‐report web‐based survey. Of the 98 respondents, over 80 per cent were family‐owned, family‐managed.

Those respondents with a clear business case for EMS exhibited significant differences in cost leadership and differentiation advantages over those without a clear business case for EMS. Those with a clear EMS derived significantly greater supply chain optimization and operational efficiencies than those without a clear EMS. Those with a clear EMS also felt that they gained an enhanced ability to enter new markets to a much greater extent than those without a clear EMS. Results of this study demonstrate a significantly higher level of commitment by those respondents with a clear EMS when addressing sustainability initiatives during a current economic down turn over those who did not. Those respondents who had a clear EMS indicated that they had somewhat increased their sustainability commitments, rather than conducting business as usual with no change or somewhat decreasing sustainability commitments as those who did not have a clear EMS.

Activities that create competitive advantages for wine businesses are understudied; this research bridges that gap.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between the strategic positioning of firms and the sustainability of firm performance. The paper argues that pursuing a differentiation strategy leads to more sustainable financial performance compared to following a cost leadership strategy. However, a differentiation strategy may also be associated with greater risk.

To investigate the research questions, the authors utilize publicly available archival data consisting of 12,849 firm-year observations for the period 1989-2003. In the first stage of the analysis, factor analysis is used to determine firms’ strategic positioning. The resulting factor scores are subsequently used in regression analysis to investigate the sustainability of performance based on the strategic positioning of firms.

The results indicate that both cost leadership and differentiation strategies have a positive impact on contemporaneous performance. However, the differentiation strategy allows a firm to sustain its current performance in the future to a greater extent than a cost leadership strategy. The differentiation strategy, though, is also associated with greater systematic risk and more unstable performance.

Sustainability of performance refers to how much a firm's current profitability can be sustained in future periods. The main contribution of this study is the comparison of generic strategies based on the sustainability of firm performance. This aspect of the strategy-performance link has not been considered in prior work. Another contribution of the study is that it considers multiple dimensions of firm performance in order to evaluate the trade-offs involved with pursuing different strategies. In particular, the authors contribute to the literature by documenting that while differentiation leads to more sustainable earnings, it also leads to riskier and more unstable earnings.

The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between practices of quality management (QM) and the characteristics of organizational design, and QM and competitive advantage.

The study uses a partial least squares approach to test these relationships in 350 hotels in Spain.

The findings show that QM influences specialization, formalization and interdepartmental interactions, and that QM practices influence both cost and differentiation competitive advantage. The results also indicate the importance of QM strategic and operational systems as practices that have a key impact on the characteristics of organizational design. Similarly, the QM operational system is key in the relationship between QM and cost competitive advantage. Finally, the QM operational, information and strategic systems positively influence differentiation competitive advantage.

When hotels adopt QM practices, there will be significant changes in a number of organizational variables, including specialization, formalization and interdepartmental interactions. This paper provides empirical evidence that QM practices improve both cost and differentiation competitive advantage in the hotel industry.

There has been little research on the effects of QM on organizational design in the hotel industry. The contribution of this paper is that analyze the effects of QM on organizational design and competitive advantage, extending knowledge about these issues in a specific sector.

Evaluates Wroe Alderson’s general theory of marketing as a possible platform for further developing Michael Porter’s ideas on strategic management. Alderson’s “transvection” and Porter’s “value system” are compared, and the uses of these concepts by their authors in developing approaches to achieving sustainable competitive advantage are contrasted. The potential for extension of each theory based on their similarities and differences is discussed. Presents examples showing how Alderson’s ideas may be used to resolve impasses in Porter’s work, and how recent empirical work testing Porter’s value system may be useful in extending and justifying Alderson’s transvection ideas. More generally, we suggest that Alderson’s general theory may provide a starting point for integrating Michael Porter’s ideas with the concepts from the “resource‐based view” of strategy, and that instances of independent formulation of nearly‐identical theories present special opportunities for scholars interested in both theory building and theory testing.