COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE introduces a whole new way of understanding what a firm does. Porter's groundbreaking concept of the value chain disaggregates a company into 'activities', or the discrete functions or processes that represent the elemental building blocks of competitive advantage. Now an essential part of international business thinking, COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE takes strategy from broad vision to an internally consistent configuration of activities. Its powerful framework provides the tools to understand the drivers of cost and a company's relative cost position. Porter's value chain enables managers to isolate the underlying sources of buyer value that will command a premium price, and the reasons why one product or service substitutes for another. He shows how competitive advantage lies not only in activities themselves but in the way activities relate to each other, to supplier activities, and to customer activities. That the phrases 'competitive advantage' and 'sustainable competitive advantage' have become commonplace is testimony to the power of Porter's ideas. COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE has guided countless companies, business school students, and scholars in understanding the roots of competition. Porter's work captures the extraordinary complexity of competition in a way that makes strategy both concrete and actionable.

Competitive advantage: creating and sustaining superior performance

Theorists in various fields have discussed characteristics of top managers. This paper attempts to synthesize these previously fragmented literatures around a more general “upper echelons perspective.” The theory states that organizational outcomes—strategic choices and performance levels—are partially predicted by managerial background characteristics. Propositions and methodological suggestions are included.

Upper Echelons: The Organization as a Reflection of Its Top Managers

The primary purpose of this article is to clarify the nature of the entrepreneurial orientation (EO) construct and to propose a contingency framework for investigating the relationship between EO and firm performance. We first explore and refine the dimensions of EO and discuss the usefulness of viewing a firm's EO as a multidimensional construct. Then, drawing on examples from the EO-related contingencies literature, we suggest alternative models (moderating effects, mediating effects, independent effects, interaction effects) for testing the EO-performance relationship.

Clarifying the Entrepreneurial Orientation Construct and Linking It To Performance

It is argued that (a) social identification is a perception of oneness with a group of persons; (b) social identification stems from the categorization of individuals, the distinctiveness and prestige of the group, the salience of outgroups, and the factors that traditionally are associated with group formation; and (c) social identification leads to activities that are congruent with the identity, support for institutions that embody the identity, stereotypical perceptions of self and others, and outcomes that traditionally are associated with group formation, and it reinforces the antecedents of identification. This perspective is applied to organizational socialization, role conflict, and intergroup relations.

Social Identity Theory and the Organization

计量经济分析 = Econometric analysis

Celebrating the “Essential:” The Impact of Performance on the Functional Favoritism of CEOs in Two Contexts

Critics of Ang Lee9s gay-themed Western may or may not condone homosexuality, but they agree on one point:this movie of cowboys in love is well made.The essay unpacks what this perception implies about Lee9s craft, as an art of reticence and a politics of neutrality.

On the Universality of Brokeback

From Private Virtue to Public Vice

Innovation is conceptualized in different ways from firm to firm. While some firms tend to accept a more conservative approach towards innovation, other firms approach innovation from a more entrepreneurial perspective. A conservative model of innovation and an entrepreneurial model of innovation are presented, considering such firm characteristics as environmental variables, information processing variables, structural variables, and decision making variables. The methodology for the study includes data collected via questionnaire from 52 diverse firms in the Montreal region; these firms represent a variety of industries, including broadcasting, food, electronics, chemicals, and publishing, to name a few. The data were analyzed using both a correlational analysis and curvilinear regression analysis to better understand the influence of the respective variables for each model. The findings indicate that innovation within conservative firms correlates positively to the aforementioned variables. Within conservative firms, innovation occurs when 1) environmental challenges and instabilities are present; 2) these instabilities are made explicit to and analyzed by the management team; and 3) financial and structural resources are available for innovation to occur. Entrepreneurial firms also exhibit positive correlations with environmental and structural variables; however, negative correlations are also observed regarding information processing, decision making, and structural integration. Innovation occurs on an extreme level within entrepreneurial firms except in cases when information processing systems, as well as analytical and strategic planning processes and structural integration devices, warn the management team of the risks associated with extreme innovation. The results indicate that a balance between the extremes of conservativism and entrepreneurship must be considered. (AKP)

Innovation in Conservative and Entrepreneurial Firms: Two Models of Strategic Momentum

The argument that leaders substantially affect organizational outcome is presented. In order to better understand the leader/strategy/environment interface, however, the question of what leaders do has to be supplemented with why they are doing it. It is argued that the assessment of a leader's preoccupations will make for more effective human resource planning by facilitating the match between leader and organization. Unfortunately, the accurate assessment of a leader's preoccupations is still in its infancy. To fill the gap, this paper proposes a research methodology based on the clinical concept of transference, i.e., repetitive, consistent patterns of interaction which are unique to each individual. The applicability of the Strategic Relationship Interview Method (a derivative of the Core Conflictual Relationship Theme Method as developed by Luborsky and his collaborators) is explored as potentially a relatively simple way to capture the essence of leadership. Using the Strategic Relationship Intervie...

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Danny Miller

Papers

Celebrating the “Essential:” The Impact of Performance on the Functional Favoritism of CEOs in Two Contexts

On the Universality of Brokeback

From Private Virtue to Public Vice

Innovation in Conservative and Entrepreneurial Firms: Two Models of Strategic Momentum

Understanding the Leader-Strategy Interface: Application of the Strategic Relationship Interview Method