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The construction industry is facing an enormous number of challenges due to continuous advancements in construction technologies and techniques. Hence, construction management theories have to confront critical newly issues concerning market globalization and construction innovations. The key factor to address these challenges is to ameliorate the competitive abilities of the competing construction firms. In this context, measuring competitiveness of construction firms is an efficacious approach to amplify their competitive growth and profitability. To this end, the purpose of this research paper is to design a three-tier multi-criteria decision making model for competitiveness assessment and benchmarking of construction companies, meanwhile tackling a wide range of essential factors and attributes that covers broad aspects of the present competitive market.

In the first tier, four new pillars (4P) of competitiveness assessment are introduced for construction firms, namely, organization performance, project performance, environment and client and innovation and development. These pillars are able to aid in construction firms’ management on both long and short term basis. Hence, 21 key competitive factors and eighty key competitive criteria are identified, incorporated and analyzed in this research study. The second tier encapsulates carrying out a questionnaire survey in the Canadian and Vietnamese market to garner two main sets of information. The first set of information incorporates responses of the pairwise comparisons between competitiveness factors and criteria. The second set involves gathering utility scores pertinent to each competitiveness criteria. The developed model then leverages the use of analytical hierarchy process to scrutinize the relative importance priorities of competitiveness factors and criteria. The third tier of the developed model encompasses the use of multi-attribute utility theory to compute competitiveness scores for construction companies through blending criteria’ relative importance weights alongside their respective utility functions. In addition, the third tier comprises conducting a sensitivity analysis to derive the most important criteria influencing the overall competitiveness of construction companies. The developed model is tested and validated using three case studies; one construction company from Canada and two construction companies from Vietnam.

Results demonstrated that the developed model has a potential to render a synthesized and methodical performance evaluation for the competitive ability of a given construction company. Furthermore, it was found that Vietnamese companies are more considerate towards pillars pertaining to environment and client while Canadian companies are more attentive towards innovation and development. The outcome of sensitivity analysis revealed that effectiveness of cost management highly affects the competitive ability of Vietnamese companies while effectiveness of cost management exhibits the most significant influence on the competitive of Canadian companies.

The developed model can benefit construction companies to understand their competitiveness in their market and diagnose their strengths and weaknesses. It is also can be useful in efficient utilization of their limited resources and development of sustainable and long-term strategic plans strategic plans, which consequently leads to maintaining better position in their dynamic business markets.

Literature review manifests that reported competitiveness assessment models and practices are not able to address present challenges, technologies and developments in construction market.

This study aims to examine the export competitiveness of Vietnam’s apparel sector by identifying the precise product categories that create its comparative advantage.

Revealed comparative advantage (RCA) and normalized revealed comparative advantage (NRCA) form the research methodology, and the RCA/NRCA values are calculated for the 2011–2020 period.

In total, 29 out of 34 product categories at four-digit levels and 65 out of 217 subcategories at six-digit levels elicited a consistent export comparative advantage throughout the 10-year study timeframe. The study also identified 13 subcategories at six-digit levels, which indicated 10 consecutive years of relative disadvantages.

The study’s findings have far-reaching implications for economic policy, development strategies and global economic integration. By providing a nuanced understanding of a country’s export strengths in the international apparel trade, this study offers valuable guidance for informed decision-making at various levels. The findings will serve as a significant source of information for policymakers and help them formulate novel policies aiming to diversify Vietnam’s apparel product offerings and export destinations. The results will also inform the government regarding the industry’s potential and attract necessary support, enabling it to grow further. This study reveals patterns in Vietnam’s apparel trade but does not provide insights into the underlying causes of comparative advantage.

The study provides an in-depth overview of Vietnam’s comparative advantages and disadvantages at two-, four- and six-digit harmonized system levels and helps understand Vietnam’s apparel export competitiveness.

The study aims to test the framework that proposes the role of resources (intellectual capital) in mobilizing entrepreneurial orientation that influences the competitiveness improvement of micro-small-medium enterprises (MSMEs) under the lens of resource orchestration theory.

In this study, 347 respondents from the MSMEs participated through a structured questionnaire. For the data analysis purpose, the structural equation modeling technique was employed using SmartPLS software.

The results suggest human, structural, and relational capital are significant antecedents of entrepreneurial orientation, which leads to competitiveness improvement. The findings also indicate the mediation role of entrepreneurial orientation between intellectual capital and competitiveness improvement.

The current study presumably will supplement the promising research effort to progress the research orchestration theory and also could be a strategic guideline for the managers/owners of the MSMEs.

This study is possibly a novel attempt to divulge the association between intellectual capital (tripartite model) and competitiveness improvement of firms under the lens of resource orchestration theory.

This study reveals the economic impact of the Indo-Pacific Strategy on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).

This paper uses the GTAP model to analyze the economic effects of RCEP under the effect of the “Indo-Pacific Strategy” under different scenarios.

The results show that (1) with the improvement of the implementation effect of the US “Indo-Pacific Strategy,” the welfare level of China has gradually had a significant negative impact, while the welfare level of US Allies and partners has been further improved. (2) The implementation of the Indo-Pacific Strategy will further expand the import scale of Japan, South Korea and other Allies that are both RCEP members and the USA and slightly reduce the import scale of the European Union (EU) and other countries. (3) After the USA implemented the “Indo-Pacific Strategy,” its export scale has significantly improved, and it has been able to completely offset the adverse effects of the signing of RCEP on its exports. China's export scale has also gradually declined, and Japan has benefited the most.

There are three main possible contributions to this article: first, the authors combined geopolitical factors to simulate and evaluate the economic effects of RCEP under different Indo-Pacific Strategy implementation scenarios, which is more relevant than analyzing the economic effects of RCEP in a “vacuum.” Second, the standard static GTAP model can only measure the change of equilibrium state before and after the trade policy. At the same time, the dynamic GTAP model (GTAP-Dyn) introduces mechanisms such as capital flow and capital accumulation and treats time as a continuous variable affected by exogenous variables so that each variable has a time dimension so as better to simulate the medium- and long-term economic effects. This paper refers to the dynamic recursion method of Walmsley (2006) and Yang (2011) to update the base year of the GTAP version 10.0 database to 2020, that is the time when RCEP officially reached 2020. The simulation results of shock variables introduced into the baseline scenario are more reliable. Third, the authors analyze the welfare effect of RCEP and the impact on the import and export of relevant countries from the macrolevel and examine the impact on different products in different countries from the microlevel.

This study aims to (1) develop a structural equation model in understanding the relationships between corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance and contractor competitiveness and (2) test the moderating effect of firm sizes on this relationship.

A literature review showed an urgent need to investigate the relationship between CSR implementation and contractor competitiveness holistically. CSR and contractor competitiveness variables were identified through the literature review and discussions with experienced professionals. Using a survey questionnaire, a total of 252 completed questionnaires were received. A structural equation modeling technique was then applied to analyze the data collected. Multigroup analysis was employed to test the moderating effect of firm sizes on the relationship between CSR implementation and contractor competitiveness.

The results indicated a strong relationship between CSR implementation and contractor competitiveness. This relationship is not moderated by firm size.

This research is one of the first studies to holistically explore the linkages between CSR implementation and contractor competitiveness. The findings can be served as a solid foundation to promote CSR performance in construction firms. Contractors of different sizes are suggested to implement CSR activities to foster competitiveness.

This study aims to investigate the impact of market competitiveness on investment efficiency, and the moderating role of ownership and regulatory structures.

In this study, the Herfindahl–Hirschman Index (HHI), Lerner Index (LI) and industry-adjusted Lerner Index (LIIA) were used to measure market competitiveness. The research population consisted of companies listed on Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE). Using a systematic elimination, 199 companies were selected within eight years during 2014–2021.

The results showed that market competitiveness (based on the LI, LIIA and HHI) positively affected investment efficiency. Moreover, institutional ownership and managerial ownership affected the relationship between market competitiveness (based on all proxies of market competitiveness) and investment efficiency. Blockholders’ ownership also moderated the relationship between market competitiveness (based on LIIA and HHI) and investment efficiency. The hypothesis testing had robustness based on additional analyses.

In recent years, competitive environment and the ownership structure of companies have changed to a certain degree, paving the way for the private sector to enter many areas of activity especially in emerging Asian markets. Moreover, investment drivers and investment efficiency in developed markets may not be generalized to emerging Asian markets. Therefore, the present findings can show the significance of this research to fill the existing gap in the literature and provide insights into ownership and regulatory structures as a governance mechanism in market competitiveness and investment efficiency.

This study aims to measure the competitiveness of top apparel exporting nations competing with China in different apparel product categories across the global environment.

Compound annual growth rate, trade competitiveness, market share percentages, revealed comparative advantage and its variant normalized revealed comparative advantage using two-, four- and six-digit harmonized system codes for the period of 2016–2021 were used to understand the comparative advantage of competing apparel exporting nations.

The findings revealed that China still holds a more decisive comparative advantage than its competitors over the majority of the product categories within the knitted or not knitted apparel and clothing accessories. The other competing nations hold better export competitiveness over China in specific categories. However, that is not sufficient to be the “Next China.”

The study has important implications for different stakeholders of the global apparel industry, such as governments, industry officials, policymakers, investors, researchers and students. The study’s limitations arise from using product categories as competitiveness indicators, notably relying on a macro level approach for measurement while the micro level perspective is not analyzed, which constitutes a significant limitation of the study.

This research thoroughly analyzes the competitive position of the top ten apparel-exporting countries in the global market.

This work sought to analyze targeted innovation strategies used during the pandemic to maintain companies’ competitiveness.

The methodology was a systematic literature review, analyzing how these factors can be used as leverage in decision-making and suggesting a framework tool.

As a result, nine factors were identified as drivers to stimulate competitiveness, bringing insights to structure actions in times of crisis to support agribusiness.

With this work, it is possible that other companies can base themselves and use the strategic drivers of innovation evidenced to remain competitive in the market during a period of crisis. As this is a systematic review of the literature, the application of a case study, for example, is a limitation, which could be a continuation of the work.

As this is a systematic review of the literature, the application of a case study, for example, is a limitation, which could be a continuation of the work.

This work has high value because it brings insights into strategic drivers of innovation that tend to leverage or maintain the competitiveness of agribusinesses in times of crisis. With the discussion carried out on the data obtained, it is possible that agribusinesses or other types of companies can be based for decision-making in a crisis scenario from innovative actions that generate competitive advantage.

It is critical for small and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) to review and monitor sustainability performance indicators across three dimensions: economic, environmental and social to attain long-term competitiveness. SMEs lack a holistic perspective on sustainability; they are frequently hindered from contemplating environmentally favorable investments beyond what is legally needed. The purpose of this paper is to present a joint Decision-making trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) and NK methodology for developing a process model for introducing and implementing sustainable competitiveness practices for SMEs.

This study addresses the issue by adopting a sustainable competitiveness practices framework and applying a novel method that integrates DEMATEL and NK model for evaluating and developing the implementation path model for Indian manufacturing SMEs.

This paper also demonstrates that not only the relational practice itself but also the order in which the relational practices are implemented can be related to performance. According to the authors' preliminary findings, organizations in this study should first implement a social dimension, which includes sustainable leadership, knowledge sharing, etc., then an economic dimension like quality, sustainable innovations, etc., and finally environmental dimensions like green marketing, solid waste reduction, etc., with their management for competitiveness.

These findings offer some preliminary information as well as advice for managers and policymakers looking to integrate sustainable efforts.

This study asserts that not only the interdependent practice but also the sequence of implementation is important and can relate to the performance. The path result shows that the organization develops first sustainable design and product development (economic), sustainable leadership (social) and solid waste reduction (environmental) practices.

There is no such study that develops a process model for introducing and implementing sustainable competitiveness of SMEs which assesses and analyzes the interdependencies across relational behaviors, to the best of authors’ knowledge. The novelty of this work lies in integrating DEMATEL-NK model approach.

This study aims to conduct a pertinent assessment of the concept of business competitiveness and how Portugal can progress in that field, for the sake of becoming a more sustainable and wealth-creator economy.

The research was elaborated with 65 in-depth interviews with expert persons from the Portuguese business ecosystem, who were asked to reflect on the state of the economy and competitiveness of the country.

There is much room for improvement in almost all areas of activity, in particular by promoting an innovative, value-adding and exporting private sector and a lighter and more efficient public sector. The conclusions point to modernisation of the Portuguese economy as a way of making it more competitive in a highly competitive and demanding global scenario.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, it is the first time that a reflection with experts of the local Portuguese economy has been carried out, especially after a difficult period of COVID.