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This study theoretically articulates and empirically validates a model of relationships between market complexity (competition intensity, heterogeneity and technological change), strategic focus on product and service differentiation, ADS offerings and differentiation advantage.

The authors develop and test hypotheses through structural equation modeling based on data from the Sixth International Manufacturing Strategy Survey (IMSS-VI), involving 931 manufacturers from 22 countries.

The results indicate that (1) market complexity has a positive impact on strategic focus on product and service differentiation; (2) focus on product and service differentiation, but not market complexity, has a positive impact on the extent to which business units offer ADS to their customers; (3) ADS have a positive impact on service differentiation advantage, but no influence on product differentiation advantage.

Managers should incorporate decisions related to ADS provision as part of their manufacturing strategy formulation processes to align markets, strategic focus on product and service differentiation, and ADS provision. ADS seem an appropriate lever for market differentiation, because they appear not only to support service differentiation advantage, but also to be consistent with strategic focus on product differentiation.

The study provides novel insights and large-scale empirical evidence on the influence of the market environment on the offering of ADS, as well as on how relationships between the product and service activity in the manufacturing organization may affect differentiation advantage.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the direct influence of three types of operations management practices, namely total quality management (TQM), lean manufacturing (LEAN), and supply chain management (SCM) on operational performance.

Cluster analysis is used to classify data collected from Thai manufacturing firms into three business strategy clusters of cost leadership, differentiation, and focussed strategy. Next, multiple-regression analysis was used to test the relationships between operations management practices and performance in each of the three strategy clusters.

Results show that all three operations management practices were significantly associated with performance including the interaction of TQM and SCM. Also, the interaction of LEAN and SCM significantly affected performance for firms pursuing focussed business strategy.

Manufacturers in developing nations can use this result to deploy appropriate operations management practices to enhance their competitive edge.

This study explores the cross-functional alignment between strategies and practices, which have been transferred from developed to developing countries.

While Porter's generic strategies are a widely accepted typology of strategic options for businesses, prior studies have not linked specific strategic practices with each generic strategy and explored the associations between the practices and overall organizational performance. The purpose of this paper is to propose and test the following two hypotheses: specific strategic practices (or tactics) can be identified which are associated with each generic Porter strategy; and there are specific strategic practices which are more strongly associated with higher levels of organizational performance within each generic strategy.

To test these hypotheses, a questionnaire was developed and administered to a sample of 226 working adults. A factor analysis and regression analyses were used to analyze the data.

Findings include a list of critical strategic practices significantly associated with organizational performance for each of Porter's generic strategies.

Future research would be advised to include a more geographically and randomly selected sample. Furthermore, the use of archival financial performance data is suggested.

Suggestions for managers crafting strategies and reinforcing supporting strategic practices based on the findings of this research are discussed.

This research has uncovered a core list of strategic practices which better defines each generic Porter strategy. The authors have also pinpointed an even smaller list of critical practices strongly associated with performance for each specific generic strategy.

There is a growing interest in understanding the strategic behaviour of family firms producing international commodities such as coffee, particularly in contexts where decisions about what products to sell, where to commercialise them and how to promote them appear to be highly based on both business and family aspects. The purpose of this paper is to explore product differentiation strategies in family firms in the specialty coffee industry across Latin American countries. Whilst the socioeconomic relevance of coffee production in Central America is unequivocal, the approach and rationale of families that engage in specialty coffee production remain underexplored.

This study examines product differentiation in specialty coffee family farms across countries in Central America: Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. The study relies on in-depth interviews, case studies and an interpretative approach to unpick the dynamics of product differentiation by families in business dedicated to producing specialty coffee.

The findings show that product differentiation in specialty coffee family farms is influenced by both business and family aspects and driven by entrepreneurial stewards. Coffee-farming families can engage in product differentiation through a shared vision, a combination of traditional and specialised knowledge, and through the continuous development of an exchange network. The findings reveal a connection between families in business balancing family and business interests, and the strategic intention to build up their assets entrepreneurially over time.

This study contributes to the literature on stewardship and strategic behaviour in family firms when families in business engage in differentiating their products in a highly competitive industry. More specifically, this study focuses on companies across countries where coffee is of crucial socioeconomic importance, and where the said companies are owned and managed by families. The study expands understanding of product differentiation in family-enterprise-first businesses and suggests that the family elements in differentiation can be explained through an entrepreneurial stewardship perspective.

The limited academic literature available on niche marketing has mainly focused on market‐specific factors, and the discussion has in particular centred on the characteristics of what a niche is and what causes it to exist. In an attempt to fill this gap in the literature, the purpose of this paper is to identify the strategic capabilities of niche firms.

In this paper, aspects regarding niche marketing and strategic capability are identified and briefly discussed with reference to the existing literature. Next, the methodology for the research at hand is presented, followed by a discussion of its findings. The paper then continues with the conclusion of this research, followed by pinpointing some of its limitations and providing recommendations for future research.

All the investigated case firms follow a focused differentiation strategy to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage. The focus aspect of the niche firms' strategy is mirrored in the reported narrow geographic market focus, which could be limited to only one country, a limited number of customers – one sole customer in one case – or a limited number of customer types. With regard to strategic capabilities, the results were rather similar across cases, particularly for each pair of case firms within similar sectors (wine, organic salmon, and stockfish). From the case firms' point of view, it is clear that having access to high‐quality raw material is critical to their strategy of delivering high‐quality products. Finally, many of the identified resources and competences appear rather static, or fixed over several years.

The strategic capabilities as identified in this paper can be described and placed at different stages within the firms' value chains. Each stage has its own set of important strategic capabilities. These stages are: inbound logistics, production or refinement, and marketing and sales.

The purpose of this study is to develop and empirically test a model investigating the relationship between conflict with private label (PL) suppliers and retailers’ PL performance. The study also examines differences in the relationship based on two PL types, namely, price-oriented and differentiation-oriented PLs.

Hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling and data obtained from a survey of general merchandise managers in 190 supermarket chains in Japan.

The results indicate that conflict with PL suppliers can have negative effects on retailers’ PL performance. Moreover, the use of price-oriented PLs leads to higher levels of conflict with PL suppliers than the use of differentiation-oriented PLs.

This study offers managerial insights into the importance of sophisticated conflict management in relation to PL suppliers and the efficacy of premium PLs, which may cost less in terms of conflict management than price-oriented PLs.

Considering the influence of conflict with suppliers on retailers’ PL performance, this study suggests a novel approach to examining conflict between PL suppliers and retailers by classifying PLs into two types, namely, price-oriented and differentiation-oriented PLs.

Aims to discuss the basic strategy taken by a specific manufacturer. States supply chain structures influence, directly, the supply chain inventory as a measure of performance. Examines the difference in the supply chain in relation to the manufacturer’s strategy to the product.

The purpose of this study is to examine the performance consequences of misalignment among business strategy, organizational configurations and management accounting systems (MAS).

The authors conducted a questionnaire survey to collect data and test the hypotheses developed in this study. The authors sent the questionnaires to the accounting and finance managers of the manufacturing companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange. The authors received 259 responses from a total of 579 questionnaires sent or a 44.73% response rate. This study excludes 36 responses for further analyzes due to incomplete responses (five responses) and responses from lower-level employees (31 responses). The remaining 223 responses are used for statistical analyzes.

This study hypothesizes and finds that misalignments among business strategy, leadership style, organizational culture and MAS are negatively associated with both financial and non-financial performance.

The study has three limitations. First, the authors intentionally collect data from the manufacturing industry to minimize the effect of data heterogeneity. To improve the generalizability of the study, future research might consider using data from other industries. Second, the study measures business strategy based on respondents’ perception of their companies’ strategy using indicators representing either product differentiation or cost leadership strategy. Future studies might use different ways of measuring business strategy using more objective empirical proxies such as research and development expenditures or premium price capability. Finally, this study conducts a survey and measures all the variables in a single period. Future studies might use a longitudinal approach to investigate the evolution of companies’ strategies and their impact on leadership styles, organizational commitment and MAS.

The results of the study will help companies in their search for senior executives, in building their organizational culture and in implementing their MAS. The study suggests that product differentiation companies should search for transformational leaders that empower their subordinates to take initiative and encourage innovative ideas in performing their tasks. In regard to MAS, the results suggest that product differentiation companies should implement broad focus MAS that emphasize the balance between financial and non-financial factors. By contrast, cost leadership companies should search for transactional leaders who emphasize on completing tasks on hand effectively and efficiently. In regard to MAS, the findings suggest that cost leadership companies will benefit more from using narrow focus MAS such as formal planning and budgeting, variance analyzes and cost-volume-profit analyzes.

The findings of the study suggest that product differentiation companies should build a flexible culture that encourages subordinates to take the risk and effectively manage opportunities and challenges through changes and innovation. Furthermore, cost leadership companies should build a controlled culture that promotes adherence to policies and procedures to minimize costs and increase efficiency.

This paper introduces to the management and accounting literature the concept of fit among competitive strategy, leadership style, organizational culture and MAS and uses the two-stage method proposed by Ittner and Larcker (2001) to measure the degree of misalignment among business strategy and its contextual variables and, in turn, examines the impacts of the misalignment on financial and non-financial performance.

This study aims to investigate the conflicting views in supply chain and strategic management literature regarding cooperative supply chain relationships (CSCR) and firm performance. Supply chain literature suggests a universally positive impact of CSCR on performance, irrespective of a firm’s strategy. In contrast, strategic management literature contends that the effectiveness of CSCR depends on their alignment with the firm’s competitive strategy. The research aims to clarify this disparity, offering insights into the strategic use of CSCR for enhancing firm performance.

This paper theorizes the integration of perspectives for the impact of CSCR on firm performance by examining the relationships considering the alignment of cost leadership and product differentiation strategies with supplier and customer relationships. Plant-level survey data is analyzed using regression techniques to test four hypotheses.

All four main relationships (cost leadership, product differentiation, supplier relationship and customer relationship) on firm performance are statistically significant. However, cost leadership firms are better aligned to their chosen strategy when they have strong relationships with suppliers, whereas similar relationships with customers create misalignment, negatively influencing firm performance. In contrast, product differentiators benefit by investing in relationships with customers rather than with suppliers.

A firm’s performance does not solely depend on its CSCR efforts but on aligning them with the firm’s overall strategy. Therefore, managers need to be cognizant of the firm’s competitive strategy when investing in CSCR. Failing to do so could negatively impact firm performance and, eventually, its ability to compete in the marketplace.

Scholars have advocated for the importance of examining competing perspectives of phenomena, both within and across various bodies of literature, as cross-disciplinary analysis often brings enhanced focus and depth, leading to improved understanding. This research is one of the initial efforts to empirically analyze the varying perspectives on CSCR in supply chain and strategic management literature. This cross-disciplinary approach can yield a more integrated perspective.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the range of realignment strategies employed by retailers in the USA in response to the 2008 economic recession.

Following the grounded theory approach, National Retail Federation News Briefs published between 2008 and 2011 were analyzed by sorting them into thematic categories and comparing trends in strategic decisions during the recession (2008-2009) and after the recession (2010-2011). Based on the emergent categories, propositions were developed to provide theoretical explanations of the findings.

The authors found five thematic categories of realignment strategies: promotional, organizational, price, operational, and product realignments. In line with contingency theories, retailers used these strategies to achieve a greater fit with the altered business environment and consumer consumption patterns. While promotional realignment was most prevalent, followed by organizational realignment, different realignment strategies were pursued based on the strategic focus and long-term vs short-term orientation of the retailers.

The contribution of the findings is twofold: filling a critical gap in the literature examining the range of realignment decisions of the US retail industry in response to the recent economic recession; and enhancing the theoretical understanding of underlying factors or mechanisms of specific realignment decisions in the context of a turbulent economic environment.