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1 – 10 of over 15000Wayne S. DeSarbo, Qiong Wang and Simon J. Blanchard
The paper aims to examine the nature of competition within an industry by proposing and examining three separate sources of competitive heterogeneity: the strategies that industry…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper aims to examine the nature of competition within an industry by proposing and examining three separate sources of competitive heterogeneity: the strategies that industry members use, the performance that they obtain, and how effectively the strategies are utilized to obtain such performance results.
Design/methodology/approach
To do so, a restricted latent structure finite mixture model is devised that can quantify the contribution of these three potential sources of heterogeneity in the formulation of latent competitive groups within an industry. The paper illustrate this modeling framework with respect to COMPUSTAT strategy and performance data collected for public banks in the USA.
Findings
The paper shows how traditional conceptualizations via strategic or performance groups are inadequate to fully represent intra‐industry heterogeneity.
Originality/value
This research paper proposes a new class of restricted finite mixture‐based models, which fit a variety of alternative forms/models of heterogeneity. Information heuristics are developed to indicate “best model.”
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Andrea Lanza, Antonella Pellegrino and Guiseppina Simone
The aim of the paper is to test the Heterogeneity Construct as a second‐order construct determined by dimensions expressing the resource utilization process carried out by firms…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of the paper is to test the Heterogeneity Construct as a second‐order construct determined by dimensions expressing the resource utilization process carried out by firms, and to test the different impacts of Heterogeneity sub‐dimensions on firm's performance.
Design/methodology/approach
After collecting data on the machine tools industry, two models are tested by Lisrel. The first model is a second order confirmatory model. The second one is a structural model testing the causal relations between Heterogeneity components and Performance.
Findings
It is found that Heterogeneity is a second order construct, whose dimensions differently contribute to firm performance: two of them positively and a third dimension negatively.
Research limitations/implications
Limitations of the study refer to single industry used, limited sample size, and single respondents. Even if the sample size is low, it allows to run the model and to estimates results. The single respondent bias is mitigated by interviewing managers involved in the resource utilization process. Future research could improve our comprehension of the heterogeneity construct by testing the model in other industries.
Practical implications
By discovering the different effect of the Heterogeneity dimensions on firm performance, we provide some useful implications for managers involved in the resource utilization process. To reach a competitive advantage, firms should orient their decisions to leverage on “contextuality” and “complexity”, while mitigating the effect of “intertwinedness”.
Originality/value
Studies in the strategic management field of study measure Heterogeneity by using single variables. This paper fills in this gap by providing a measure of the Heterogeneity construct on a multidimensional basis, showing the different role played by each dimension on firm performance.
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The thought and rationale of sustainable competitive advantage in strategy are significantly influenced by the Schumpeterian models of dynamic competition in IO and evolutionary…
Abstract
Purpose
The thought and rationale of sustainable competitive advantage in strategy are significantly influenced by the Schumpeterian models of dynamic competition in IO and evolutionary economics. Yet, most analytical accounts of sustainable competitive advantage fail to explain how firms' investment choices influence, and are simultaneously influenced by, the co‐evolution of “external” industry competition and “internal” firm competences. This paper aims to contribute to the development of a theory of endogenous market structure in strategy.
Design/methodology/approach
Two alternative assumptions are developed – concerning temporally heterogeneous firm investment strategy – that lie central to a proposed behavioral theory of endogenous market structure. Additionally, a theoretical description is provided of the endogeneity of the demand‐side determinants of firm investment strategy and industrial market structure. Finally, guidelines are provided for empirical application of [incorporating] the alternative assumptions and theoretical arguments.
Practical implications
It is expected that the theoretical arguments in the paper will influence strategy scholars to develop dynamic models of firm performance that render themselves amenable to sound empirical analyses.
Originality/value
The paper contributes towards developing a theory of endogenous market structure in strategy.
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This paper aims to show how proper risk management capabilities can lead to competitive advantage for a company. There is much evidence that suggests that the current very high…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to show how proper risk management capabilities can lead to competitive advantage for a company. There is much evidence that suggests that the current very high level of volatilities in the business world is going to get worse in the years and decades to come. This trend of increasing uncertainties and the resulting risks for businesses, demands a strategic‐level attention to risk management. This strategic‐level attention is warranted by the fact that proper risk management capabilities can lead to competitive advantage.
Design/methodology/approach
The work is conceptual in its approach. The paper also provides many examples from a wide range of industries, as well as the results from other research works to support the finding of the paper.
Findings
The paper first shows how firms' perspective of risk management is evolving. It then characterizes the main drivers behind the trend of increasing uncertainties in the business world which results in higher levels of risk exposure for companies. Finally, the paper characterizes four different ways through which proper risk management capabilities can lead to competitive advantage (depending on different risk categories).
Originality/value
Although the importance of risk management and its potential strategic role has been widely studied in the literature, the question of how risk management capabilities can turn into a competitive advantage has received less attention. The answer to this question might help firms to better understand the strategic role of risk management and the importance of developing a proper set of risk management capabilities. This paper tries to identify the relationship between risk management capabilities and competitive advantage under different types of risks.
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María de la luz Fernández‐Alles and Ramón Valle‐Cabrera
The aim of the paper is to review and compare traditional and new institutional postulates in order to address some of the criticism that this theory has received.
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of the paper is to review and compare traditional and new institutional postulates in order to address some of the criticism that this theory has received.
Design/methodology/approach
Throughout this paper, five interesting paradoxes are presented in management contexts of change, the creation of competitive advantages, and organizational behaviour.
Findings
Light is shed on the integration efforts that seek to combine institutional theory with transaction cost theory, the resource‐based view of the firm, and the resource dependence theory.
Originality/value
The paper reviews the Oliver contribution work done around neoinstitutional theory. The paper offers a different view of organizational change, the creation of competitive advantage, and organizational behaviour.
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Michael Morris and Corine van Erkom Schurink
Assesses the extent to which environmental turbulence is affectingthe pricing behavior of industrial marketers. Introduces a conceptualmodel, based on a review of the available…
Abstract
Assesses the extent to which environmental turbulence is affecting the pricing behavior of industrial marketers. Introduces a conceptual model, based on a review of the available literature, in which pricing behavior is the result of changing dynamics in the external environment of firms. Assumes that price itself includes multiple dimensions which combine to form an overall strategy. Describes the results of a survey of a cross‐section of firms in South Africa. Draws a number of implications for theory and practice.
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Abstract
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Michael Lewis, Alistair Brandon‐Jones, Nigel Slack and Mickey Howard
The paper seeks to analyze the evolution of competitive advantage using both “classic” and “extended” resource‐based theory (RBT). The aim is to examine the different ways in…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper seeks to analyze the evolution of competitive advantage using both “classic” and “extended” resource‐based theory (RBT). The aim is to examine the different ways in which “classic” and “extended” resource‐based advantage develops and how they might combine to create long‐term advantage.
Design/methodology/approach
A single case study method is used to examine the process by which competitive advantage has accumulated over a 50‐year period at Food Services Group Inc., a highly successful food service company based on the West Coast of the USA with an annual growth rate currently running at 10 percent.
Findings
Preliminary conclusions suggest support for the sequential, iterative, and slow‐cycle development model associated with proprietary bounded resources and, the strategic resource‐rigidity paradox. The work also highlights preliminary evidence for a faster cycle development process possible with inter‐firm resources associated with extended resource‐based theory (ERBT) and, long‐run sustainable advantage requiring synchronization and integration of both bounded and relational resources.
Originality/value
This is the first rich empirical study of the way competitive advantage evolves using both RBT and ERBT. The research provides insights into how organizations can combine both classic and extended resources in seeking to establish competitive advantage. It illustrates how unbounded external resources, such as the role of suppliers engaged in new product development, can create an initial advantage for firms who then build on this by investing in bounded resources such as specific skills within their organization.
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This chapter focuses on the empirical research on the resource-based view of the firm (RBV), and its main purpose is to analyse the use of mixed methods in this perspective. The…
Abstract
This chapter focuses on the empirical research on the resource-based view of the firm (RBV), and its main purpose is to analyse the use of mixed methods in this perspective. The recent advance of the RBV has posed new challenges, and the issue need not be quantitative versus qualitative methods, but rather how to combine the strengths of each in a mixed methods approach. This study carries out a literature review about the use of mixed methods in the RBV and provides an examination of opportunities and challenges associated with the application of mixed methods in order to improve RBV research. Moreover, the chapter seeks to introduce mixed methods research in order to familiarize to strategic management and the RBV scholars about this type of research and its terminology, procedures, designs and purposes.