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Greg Mills describes his search for the perfect engagement ring which includes an analysis of the prices of 6,000 diamonds. An engineer, Greg hopes to impress Sarah Staggers by using regression to find an underpriced diamond. Students are asked to either select one of the 6,000 diamonds or provide point forecasts for prices of 3,142 diamonds in a hold-out sample. The instructor can use the actual prices of the held-out diamonds to evaluate student pricing models.

Within the context of globalization, industrial competitiveness has played a decisive role in determining a country's status in the world. Porter's Diamond Model is the most popular competitiveness theory currently available for explaining the achievement of a country's industrial and firm's competitive advantage. There has been considerable discourse in relation to Porter's Model and the purpose of this paper is to critique and refine Porter's Diamond Model and consider the theme of sustainable development towards the development of a new conceptual model, merging theories and concepts from internationalization, sustainable development and industry competitiveness.

Critical analysis of industrial competitiveness literature to explore the discourse on Porter's Model and identify challenges which are then informed by a consideration of internationalization and sustainable development literature.

The Porter's Diamond Model is re‐formed as the Internationalized Sustainable Industrial Competitiveness Model (ISIC Model) to meet the trends of internationalization and sustainable development.

The sustainable development concept is explicitly connected with competitiveness.

The purpose of this paper is to explore how countries can make a more efficient and effective cooperation strategy, considering their competitive strengths and weaknesses.

This paper is an exploratory study in examining the efficient way of national cooperation from the competitiveness perspective. By applying the double diamond-based nine-factor model and the framework for the life cycle of national competitiveness, this study proposes the importance of cooperation strategy, considering the current competitiveness status. A case study of two economies of South Korea (hereafter referred to as Korea) and Dubai reveals a potentially substantial cooperative relationship.

Although Korea and Dubai are geographically and culturally distant, they share complementary resources to enhance their overall competitiveness. In addition, their past experiences of growth can effectively deal with their current challenges and help their economies move to more advanced stage.

The methodology used in this paper can provide a useful guideline for policy makers to examine the current development status of their economies, find an appropriate cooperation partner and decide the priority of cooperating areas.

Although most existing studies explain national competitiveness from a narrow perspective, this paper provides a more comprehensive analysis using the extended model of Porter’s single diamond model. In addition, this paper conducts an intensive case study of Dubai and Korea for possible cooperation.

The Korean textiles and apparel‐related industry has played a major role in the country's development; however, this sector's competitiveness is decreasing due mainly to labor costs. As with the country's economic development, the new sources of competitive factors need to be strategically developed and cultivated. The purpose of this study is to explore what constitutes a country's competitiveness in the global apparel market after losing its labor competitiveness and how a country effectively achieves it.

This study employs two competitiveness models, Porter's diamond model and a generalized double diamond model, as a theoretical framework. Along with two theoretical models, this study employs extensive literature reviews, examples of successful firms, and four interviews with field practitioners in the Korean apparel industry.

Beginning with Porter four determinants (factor conditions, demand conditions, related and supporting industries, and firm strategy, structure, and rivalry), new sources of competitive advantage factors are suggested for the evolving industry. The generalized double diamond model incorporates international activities, which may occur either within a country or outside a country. Utilizing generalized double diamond model, the future directions and solutions for the industry with the identified new competitive factors were suggested.

Based on the models and the identification of new competitive factors, the Korean apparel industry is reviewed, and recommendations are made for its continued growth in the global marketplace. Implications pertaining to the creation of a dynamic self‐reinforcing diamond system were also suggested.

This article models debt market equilibrium given an expanded notion of rational behavior. The model extends Diamond's model of reputation acquisition, by assuming that some prospective borrower‐investors are opportunistic utility maximizers, while others are unwilling to mislead borrowers as to their intended use of borrowed funds. We find that the presence of honest borrowers is necessary to the function of debt markets, and that, as in real‐world markets, opportunistic and honest agents can coexist. We further find that total economic activity is positively correlated to the proportion of trustworthy agents. A major research concern in financial economics is the reconciliation of observed behavior with the predictions of the perfect‐markets, utility‐maximization models, which have traditionally supplied the dominant paradigm in finance. The main focus of recent research has been on the predictions of Agency Theory, or simply Agency (Jensen and Meckling, 1976). Agency has its origins in the property rights literature of economic theory (Alchian, 1969) and, in essence, addresses the following question: How do rational agents act in imperfect markets? A whole range of market imperfections have been analyzed ranging from the simplest type of moral hazard and adverse selection (Thakor, 1989) to the debt capacity of an industry (Maksimovic and Zechner, 1991). Indeed, few if any areas of business theory have escaped Agency's scrutiny; it has, in effect, recast the theory of the firm. In this light, the firm becomes a structure whose efficiency depends upon its ability to mitigate the costs associated with Agency. Firms are “legal fictions which serve as a nexus for a set of contracting relations among individuals” (Jensen and Meckling, 1976, p.310). One of the major gaps in the one‐period models of agency behavior has been the inability of these models to explain management's “honest” behavior (Thaler, 1992). That is, managers do not always engage in such “rational” acts as risk‐shifting, or paying excessive dividends, in order to enrich shareholders (and themselves) at the expense of bondholders. A significant move toward reconciling Agency's predictions with observed behavior has resulted from the reputation‐acquisition work of Diamond (1989), building on the work of Kreps and Wilson (1982) and Milgrom and Roberts (1982). In these models, agents acquire reputations by demonstrating some consistent mode of behavior through multiple iterations of a contractual situation. Through these iterations, principals modify their beliefs concerning the future behavior of the agent by observing certain outcomes. In Diamond's model, rational agents will not continually choose either a risky project or safe project. Their choice is a function of the interest rate and the stage of the game. Specifically, these agents choose the risky project initially; then, as attrition among risk‐takers causes interest rates to drop, they shift to the safe project for some iterations. As the end of the game approaches, however, these agents once again revert to investing in the risky project. In comparison with the attention that has been devoted to identifying and analyzing market imperfections, the former part of the Agency question — namely the “rational agents” part — has attracted much less attention in the finance literature. In Agency models, rationality has been defined strictly in terms of the individual pursuit of pecuniary wealth. This expected‐utility model has been tested experimentally and has been found to be systematically violated, in at least two fundamental ways: 1) Individuals do not behave as if they are attempting to maximize wealth (Plott, 1986), and 2) Individual behavior is affected by notions of fairness and cooperation (Kahneman, et al, 1986). Attempts to construct a theory of capital market behavior which can accommodate this observed behavior are virtually nonexistent. This lack is probably due to the presumption that opportunistic agents will drive ethical agents out of the market. However, as we demonstrate in the model developed in this paper, this is not necessarily the case. By focusing attention specifically on Agency's rationality premise, the model developed here differs from antecedent Agency models. This article investigates the implication, for financial‐market equilibra, of an alternative rationality premise. We assume that some agents will display the virtues of honesty and trustworthiness in their dealings with Other agents. Modifying Diamond's (1989) model of reputation acquisition in debt markets, the impact of these ‘virtuous’ agents on financial‐market equilibria is investigated. The model indicates that the existence of trustworthy agents in financial markets is not merely desirable from an economic perspective, but actually is essential if debt markets are not to fail. Specifically, if lenders do not belief that some non‐trivial cohort of trustworthy agents exists, then lenders cease to lend and debt markets cease to function. Also, the greater the proportion of honest agents, the greater is the overall level of economic activity; indeed, the existence of honest agents will tend to induce at least some of the opportunistic agents to act virtuously. We find that, as Bowie observes in a more general context, “[i]t only pays to lie or cheat when you can free ride off the honesty of others” (1991, pp.11–12). In addition, the belief in a non‐trivial cohort of trustworthy agents can lead to the elimination of some agency problems.

The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the perceived implications of economic and monetary union (EMU) as a driver for changes in the hotel business environment and, consequently, on Portuguese competitiveness, in terms of the conceptual framework and methodology adopted and showing the way how it may contribute to help managers and decision makers to effectively manage their competitive strategies.

The paper adopted and adapted Porter's models (Diamond, Five Forces and Value Chain) as the basis for analysing the implications of EMU upon the hotel business environment (at national, industry and operational level). Those implications are the ones perceived by the stakeholders in that sector: public authorities, trade associations and hoteliers.

The findings indicated that EMU not only changed the hotel business environment at a national level, but also changed the competitive and operational environment. Nonetheless, as this study found, the hotel stakeholders had relatively different hopes and fears concerning EMU.

The paper offers a conceptual framework sufficiently versatile (regarding the context of the study) which can be used by decision makers or managers as a tool to understand their business environment and, consequently, to cope with potential challenges.

Two of the innovative features of this study are: the triangulation of perspectives on the implications of EMU on hotels and the use of a combination of Porter's models as a suitable tool for studying the implications of EMU in the services sector. This can be useful to service decision makers and managers that seek to cope with the business environment challenges.

Public organizations are constantly offered new ideas and concepts that involve a substantial investment of resources when it comes to translating them into organizational practice. An especially powerful group of such concepts in the discourse of organizations comprises so-called “magic concepts” that both pose opportunities and challenges for public leaders trying to translate them. Although critical discussion about the value of popular concepts has been intense in existing research, there is still little knowledge about the factors that determine why some magic concepts have a pervasive influence, while others quickly go out of fashion and leave little trace in organizational practice. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

By combining insights from public leadership theory, implementation theory, institutional theory and organizational psychology, this paper outlines four dimensions that are central to the robustness of the organizational translation of magic concepts. The paper develops a conceptual model labeled “The Translational Diamond,” which suggests that the robust translation of organizational concepts depends on the level of both strategic and local anchoring, as well as the interplay between reflection and experimentation in the translation process. The Translational Diamond is applied in two embedded case studies, which offer insight into the variance between two organizational departments attempting to translate the same magic concept.

A central argument in the “translational diamond” is that bigger, balanced diamonds reflect more robust translations than smaller, warped diamonds. The results support this assumption. Although the translation of trust involves challenges in both departments, there are much more severe difficulties in the social department, which is characterized by a notably smaller and much more warped diamond than the health and care department.

While this paper argues that strategic and local anchoring and the interplay between reflection and experimentation play a crucial role in the translation of magic concepts, there may be other factors at stake in the process. For example, Røvik argues that the skill of the individual translators engaged in the process is important for creating a robust translation (Røvik, 2007). In addition, magic concepts are potentially involved in a power battle with other magic concepts that are constantly competing for organizational attention (Hood, 2005). Such power dynamics may substantially influence actors’ engagement in translation, but are not within the scope of this paper.

For public leaders, the translational diamond may serve as a conceptual framework that can spur their understanding of, and reflection about, how to support the translation of magic concepts in their organization. For example, archetypically warped diamonds can illustrate the problems that might occur if translation is not sufficiently anchored in all four dimensions. Translating organizational concepts involves respect for the inherent dilemmas of securing a balance between strategic and local perspectives, as well as the strengths of securing feedback loops between reflection and experimentation. These dimensions will not necessarily be equally balanced at all times in the process of translating magic concepts. The conceptual model of the translational diamond may help leaders to understand the current status of a translation and guide them in their endeavor to support a better balance.

While symbolic change may serve other organizational purposes than effectiveness, this paper addresses the under-studied question of how organizational concepts are translated robustly into practice. The originality of the “translational diamond” is its focus on “how” rather than “whether” the translation of magic concepts should be attempted. In addition, the diamond’s integration of theoretical constructs from leadership theory, implementation theory, institutional theory and organizational theory offers a more nuanced understanding of central dimensions impacting organizational translation at a practical level.

The main purpose of this paper is to develop a methodology to analyze the competitiveness based on the diamond model and constructing a composite index; the secondary aim is to apply this methodology to the national index of Turkey’s defense industry.

Instead of providing the results based only on diamond, a composite index study was carried out. The collected variables were distributed using subject-groups under determinants via an expert opinion survey. The variables were analyzed with alternative methods of imputation, normalization and aggregation. Factor analysis (FA) was performed with the aggregated values of each subject to find the years’ clusters.

Turkey’s diamond model indicated an improvement in defense industry between 1998-2010. And, FA revealed the clusters as 1998-2000, 2001-2007, 2008-2010. It was found that Turkey had an advantage in demand conditions but needs to give higher importance to factor conditions. In addition, the key provisions were catered to the issues related to government and the defense industry.

Turkey’s competitiveness structure between 1998-2010 were researched.

This study provides a qualitative approach of the composite index to the quantitative side of the diamond model.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a model to analyze the interactions among the competitiveness factors of the real estate industry on the basis of Porter's Diamond Model. The model provides insights into the relationship between these factors in the context of the Beijing and Tianjin real estate industries.

Based on Porter's Diamond Model, this paper establishes the competitiveness factors model and divides the factors into four key categories. (i.e. productivity element, demand constraint, the strategy or structure of relevant and supportive industry and corporation, and horizontal competition). After relevant indices are picked up in each category, the paper utilizes structural equation modeling to analyze the contribution of each factor on competitiveness of real estate industry. Data are collected from Beijing and Tianjin in China and the model is practiced in the context of the real estate industry of the two cities.

Supported by empirical evidence, this study finds out that related industries have the most significant influence on competitiveness of real estate industry and the second important is demand factors. Based on these, four pieces of suggestion are given to improve the competitiveness of real estate industry combining with the condition of Beijing and Tianjin in this paper.

This research builds a conceptual model based on Porter's Diamond model to provide a much more comprehensive understanding of the interactions between competitiveness factors of real estate industry, and introduces structural equation modeling to quantitatively analyze the contribution of each factor to competitiveness.