Showing papers on "Competitive advantage published in 2011"
01 Jan 2011
TL;DR: In this paper, Amabile et al. define innovation as the successful implementation of creative ideas within an organization and define it as a starting point for innovation; the first is a necessary but not sufficient condition for the second.
Abstract: As reported by Amabile et al. (1996:1154): “All innovation begins with creative ideas. We define innovation as the successful implementation of creative ideas within an organization. In this view, creativity by individuals and teams is a starting point for innovation; the first is a necessary but not sufficient condition for the second". As creativity is an important source of organizational innovation as well as competitive advantage (Amabile, 1988, 1996; Oldham & Cummings, 1996), organizations are increasingly seeking to foster it. Different managerial practices influence the work environment, which is one of the major factors impacting on creativity within business organizations (Couger, 1995). Therefore, managers face the challenge of creating the right context and conditions for creativity to flourish (Shalley, Gilson & Blum, 2000).
1,538 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a model is constructed to link the relationship between greening the supply chain, green innovation, environmental performance and competitive advantage in order to encourage companies to implement green supply chain and green innovation.
Abstract: Recently, many companies have recognized the concepts of green supply chain management or supply chain environmental management. However, relatively little research attention has been devoted to the consideration of relations between greening the supply chain, green innovation, environmental performance and competitive advantage. Hence, this paper aims to bridge this gap by providing empirical evidence to encourage companies to implement green supply chain and green innovation in order to improve their environmental performance, and to enhance their competitive advantage in the global market. A model is constructed to link the aforementioned constructs. Data were collected through a questionnaire-based survey across 124 companies from eight industry sectors in Taiwan. The data are analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling and the results from the final measurement model are used to evaluate the structural model that verifies the significance of the proposed relationships. A prominent result of this study is that greening the supplier through green innovation contributes significant benefits to the environmental performance and competitive advantage of the firm.
832 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors analyze the creation and capture of private and social value by firms that adopt corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies, defined as any responsible activity that allows a firm to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage, regardless of motive.
722 citations
Book•
27 Aug 2011TL;DR: The major efforts to arrive at a relevant framework are surveyed and the focus then turns to the major research issues in understanding the impact of information technology on competitive strategy.
Abstract: The use of information technology (IT) as a competitive weapon has become a popular cliche; but there is still a marked lack of understanding of the issues that determine the influence of information technology on a particular organization and the processes that will allow a smooth coordination of technology and corporate strategy This article surveys the major efforts to arrive at a relevant framework and attempts to integrate them in a more comprehensive viewpoint The focus then turns to the major research issues in understanding the impact of information technology on competitive strategy
660 citations
TL;DR: A novel method to measure explicit learning is used, and the learned content of six technology-based ventures from three diverse countries as they internationalize is tracked, highlighting the rationality of heuristics as strategy, capability creation as the cognitive transition from novice to expert heuristic, and simplification cycling as a critical dynamic capability for sustaining competitive advantage.
Abstract: While much research indicates that organizational processes are learned from experiences, surprisingly little is known about what is actually learned. Using a novel method to measure explicit learning, we track the learned content of six technology-based ventures from three diverse countries as they internationalize. The emergent theoretical framework indicates that firms learn heuristics. These heuristics have a common structure centered on opportunity capture and are learned in a specific developmental order. This results in a deliberately small, yet increasingly strategic, portfolio of heuristics. Broadly, we contribute to the psychological foundations of strategy by highlighting the rationality of heuristics as strategy, capability creation as the cognitive transition from novice to expert heuristics, and simplification cycling as a critical dynamic capability for sustaining competitive advantage. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
603 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors use panel data constructed from the responses of repeatedly surveyed top managers at 261 companies regarding their firm's market orientation, along with objective performance measures to investigate the influence of market orientation on performance for a nine-year period from 1997 to 2005.
Abstract: The authors use panel data constructed from the responses of repeatedly surveyed top managers at 261 companies regarding their firm’s market orientation, along with objective performance measures, to investigate the influence of market orientation on performance for a nine-year period from 1997 to 2005. The authors measure market orientation in 1997, 2001, and 2005 and estimate it in the interval between these measurement periods. The analyses indicate that market orientation has a positive effect on business performance in both the short and the long run. However, the sustained advantage in business performance from having a market orientation is greater for the firms that are early to develop a market orientation. These firms also gain more in sales and profit than firms that are late in developing a market orientation. Firms that adopt a market orientation may also realize additional benefit in the form of a lift in sales and profit due to a carryover effect. Market orientation should have a more pronounced effect on a firm’s profit than sales because a market orientation focuses efforts on customer retention rather than on acquisition. Environmental turbulence and competitive intensity moderate the main effect of market orientation on business performance, but the moderating effects are greater in the 1990s than in the 2000s.
600 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a structural equation modeling (SEM) method was used to explore the positive effect of corporate environmental ethics on competitive advantage in Taiwanese manufacturing industry via the mediator: green innovation performance.
Abstract: This study utilizes structural equation modeling (SEM) to explore the positive effect of corporate environmental ethics on competitive advantage in the Taiwanese manufacturing industry via the mediator: green innovation performance. This study divides green innovation into green product innovation and green process innovation. The empirical results show that corporate environmental ethics positively affects green product innovation and green process innovation. In addition, this study verifies that green product innovation mediates the positive relationship between corporate environmental ethics and competitive advantage, but green process innovation does not. Therefore, corporate environmental ethics can not only affect competitive advantage directly, but also influence it indirectly via green product innovation in the Taiwanese manufacturing industry. Taiwanese manufacturing companies can increase their corporate environmental ethics and green product innovation to enhance their competitive advantages.
596 citations
TL;DR: The manuscript develops an integrated sustainability framework, illustrating the integration of human, supply chain, and IT resources to enable firms develop sustainability capabilities, which help firms deliver sustainable values to relevant stakeholders and gain sustained competitive advantage.
Abstract: Sustainability has increasingly become important to business research and practice over the past decades as a result of rapid depletion of natural resources and concerns over wealth disparity and corporate social responsibility. Within this realm, the so-called triple bottom line seeks to evaluate business performance on its impacts on the environment and interested stakeholders besides profitability concerns. So far, Management Information Systems research on sustainability has been somewhat constrained in the realm of green IT, which focuses mostly on the reduction of energy consumption of corporate IT systems. Using the resource-based view as the theoretical foundation, the manuscript develops an integrated sustainability framework, illustrating the integration of human, supply chain, and IT resources to enable firms develop sustainability capabilities, which help firms deliver sustainable values to relevant stakeholders and gain sustained competitive advantage. Particularly, the role of automate, informate, transform, and infrastructure IT resources are examined in the development of sustainability capabilities. The work calls for a bold new role of IT in sustainability beyond energy consumption reduction. Implications for future research and management practice on IT and sustainability are also discussed.
571 citations
TL;DR: The concept of reverse innovation as mentioned in this paper refers to the case where an innovation is adopted first in poor (emerging) economies before "trickling up" to rich countries, and it raises interesting theoretical questions, such as what kinds of innovation emerging economies are likely to spawn, why such innovations might diffuse to richer countries, what competitive advantages local and foreign firms enjoy in this process, and how it affects the global strategy and organization of established MNEs.
Abstract: ‘Reverse innovation’ refers to the case where an innovation is adopted first in poor (emerging) economies before ‘trickling up’ to rich countries. Although examples of reverse innovation are still rare, it raises interesting theoretical questions, such as what kinds of innovation emerging economies are likely to spawn, why such innovations might diffuse to rich countries, what competitive advantages local and foreign firms enjoy in this process, and how it affects the global strategy and organization of established MNEs. Research on reverse innovation can enrich and extend mainstream theories of innovation, internationalization, MNE management, and FDI spillovers.
527 citations
Book•
15 Sep 2011TL;DR: The origins of competitive advantage may lie in the ability to identify and respond to environmental cues well in advance of observing performance-oriented pay-offs as discussed by the authors, which is a performance-enhancing organizational practice.
Abstract: This paper begins to reconcile competing perspectives on the origins of competitive advantage by examining the adoption of ‘science-driven’ drug discovery, a performance-enhancing organizational practice. Science-driven drug discovery diffused slowly, allowing us to disentangle alternative theories of organizational heterogeneity. Adoption is driven by initial conditions, time-varying internal and external environmental conditions, and convergence (firms positioned least favorably adopt most aggressively). While accounting for initial conditions is critical, managers are sensitive to idiosyncratic environmental cues. The origins of competitive advantage may therefore lie in the ability to identify and respond to environmental cues well in advance of observing performance-oriented pay-offs. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
521 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors focus on the internal process through which market orientation influences performance in export markets, and develop a model of market orientation-marketing capabilities-competitive advantages-performance relationships.
Abstract: Our study focuses on the internal process through which market orientation influences performance in export markets, and develops a model of market orientation–marketing capabilities–competitive advantages–performance relationships. Using survey data of 491 export ventures based in China, we find that marketing capabilities mediate the market orientation–performance relationship, while competitive advantages partially mediate the marketing capabilities–performance relationship. Moreover, coordination mechanism strengthens, and cost leadership strategy weakens, the effects of market orientation on new product development and marketing communication capabilities, respectively. Market turbulence attenuates the effect of market orientation on new product development capability while competitive intensity strengthens this effect.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors analyze the organizational culture that fosters or inhibits organizational innovation and imitation strategy and find that organizational culture is a clear determinant of innovation strategy and that adhocracy cultures foster innovation strategies and hierarchical cultures promote imitation cultures.
Abstract: Purpose – Innovation is crucial for attaining a competitive advantage for companies. Innovation, versus imitation, motivates companies to launch new products and become pioneers on markets. Many factors have been shown to be determinants for supporting an organizational innovative orientation. One of them is organizational culture. The objective of this paper is to analyze the organizational culture that fosters or inhibits organizational innovation and imitation strategy.Design/methodology/approach – The paper uses a sample of 471 Spanish companies for examining the hypotheses. Using hierarchical multiple regression analysis, it relates the effect of organizational culture with an innovation strategy.Findings – The results confirm the hypotheses. The paper finds that organizational culture is a clear determinant of innovation strategy. Moreover, adhocracy cultures foster innovation strategies and hierarchical cultures promote imitation cultures.Research limitations/implications – The main limitations are...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explore how individual-level phenomena underpin isolating mechanisms that sustain human capital-based advantages but also create management dilemmas that must be resolved in order to create value.
Posted Content•
TL;DR: This work argues that routines are a critical source of operations capabilities and investigates operations capabilities by means of their underlying routines, and empirically measures the two capabilities as second-order latent variables and estimates their effects on a set of operational performance measures.
Abstract: A typical approach to studying capabilities in the operations management literature is to assess the intended or realized competitive operational performance and their contribution to business and organizational objectives. While it is crucial to identify the operational performance that helps create competitive advantage, it is equally important to understand the means for delivering the needed performance at the operational level. Drawing on the resource-based view (RBV), we argue that routines are a critical source of operations capabilities and subsequently investigate operations capabilities by means of their underlying routines. Because a common problem to studying capabilities is the ambiguous and confusing definitions, we conduct an extensive literature review to address the semantic confusion among various definitions of capabilities and delineate it from other related terms. We identify improvement and innovation as two critical plant level capabilities, each consisting of a bundle of interrelated yet distinct routines. We then empirically measure the two capabilities as second-order latent variables and estimate their effects on a set of operational performance measures. The results suggest that routines form internally consistent bundles which are significantly related to operational performance. This supports our notion of “capabilities as routine bundles” that are difficult to imitate and thus a source of competitive advantage.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors propose that retail business models are best viewed as changes in three design components: (1) the way in which the activities are organized, (2) the type of activities that are executed, and (3) the level of participation of the actors engaged in performing those activities.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors review a number of the eco-industrial initiatives taken in China and compare them using a common graphical representation with comparable efforts taken in the West and elsewhere in East Asia and make the argument that China might be capturing latecomer advantages through its systematic promotion of eco industrial initiatives within a circular economy framework.
Abstract: Summary
Eco-industrial initiatives, which close industrial loops by turning wastes at one point in a value chain into inputs at another point, are attracting growing interest as a solution to the problem of sustainability of industrial systems. Although Germany and Japan have made important advances in building recycling incentives into their industrial systems and sought competitive advantage from doing so, China is arguably taking the issue even further (in principle) through its pursuit of a circular economy, now enshrined in law as an official national development goal. In this article, we review a number of the eco-industrial initiatives taken in China and compare them using a common graphical representation with comparable initiatives taken in the West and elsewhere in East Asia. Our aim is to demonstrate some common themes across the case studies, such as the transformation from the former linear economy to a circular economy and the evolutionary processes in which dynamic linkages are gradually established over time. We discuss the drivers of these eco-industrial initiatives as well as the inhibitors, setting the initiatives in an evolutionary framework and introducing a notion of Pareto eco-efficiency to evaluate them. We make the argument that China might be capturing latecomer advantages through its systematic promotion of eco-industrial initiatives within a circular economy framework.
Book•
01 Jan 2011
TL;DR: In this article, the authors address the basic principles that guide the development of a powerful operations organization, and describe how a company's operating and technological resources can be applied to create a sustainable competitive advantage in today's "new" (global and IT-intensive) economy.
Abstract: This book addresses the basic principles that guide the development of a powerful operations organization, and describes how a company's operating and technological resources can be applied to create a sustainable competitive advantage in today's "new" (global and IT-intensive) economy. Achieving a competitive advantage through superior operations is what the authors refer to as the "operations edge."
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine the relationship among the complexity of customer needs, customer centricity, innovativeness, service differentiation, and business performance within the context of companies.
TL;DR: This study facilitates the improvement of collaborator relationships and the management of potential suppliers to help increase product development capability and quality, reduce product lifecycle time and cost, and thus increase product marketability.
TL;DR: Chintagunta et al. as mentioned in this paper showed that the challenger can reap superior business returns (i.e., more positive attitudinal and behavioral outcomes) among consumers who had participated in its CSR initiative, relative to those who were merely aware of the initiative.
Abstract: This research builds on the complementary corporate social responsibility (CSR) literatures in strategy and marketing to provide insight into the efficacy of CSR as a challenger's competitive weapon against a market leader. Through an investigation of a real-world CSR initiative, we show that the challenger can reap superior business returns (i.e., more positive attitudinal and behavioral outcomes) among consumers who had participated in its CSR initiative, relative to those who were merely aware of the initiative. Specifically, participant consumers demonstrate the desired attitudinal and behavioral changes in favor of the challenger, regardless of their affective trust in the leader, whereas aware consumers' reactions become less favorable as their affective trust in the leader increases. Furthermore, participant consumers, but not aware ones, form a communal, trust-based bond with the challenger.
This paper was accepted by Pradeep Chintagunta and Preyas Desai, special issue editors.
This paper was accepted by Pradeep Chintagunta and Preyas Desai, special issue editors.
TL;DR: Wang et al. as mentioned in this paper examined the benefits and barriers in applying green strategies in the process of housing development and facilities management, including project plan and design, construction, and operation and management stages.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors developed a market-oriented sustainability framework that incorporates sustainability into market orientation, and the goal of strategic alignment of sustainability with marketing strategies is achieved to create a competitive advantage.
Abstract: Utilizing Resource-Advantage Theory as the underlying theoretical foundation and drawing on literature from a variety of disciplines, we develop a market-oriented sustainability framework. By incorporating sustainability into market orientation, the goal of strategic alignment of sustainability with marketing strategies is achieved to create a competitive advantage. Three constructs identified in the model are DNA, stakeholder involvement, and performance management. These three constructs are the drivers of sustainability. DNA is used as an extended metaphor to clarify and illustrate the workings of an organization and how sustainability may be implemented. This construct includes core ideology, dynamic capabilities, and societal engagement. The firm’s DNA is communicated to both internal and external stakeholders, and stakeholders’ concerns should be an influence on strategic marketing planning. Performance management is the third major construct in the model and includes corporate social performance and corporate financial performance metrics. Within the model explication, we offer propositions to support market-oriented sustainability research and provide directions for sustainability theory, research, and practice.
Posted Content•
TL;DR: It is suggested that competitively significant capabilities often rest on managerial practices that in turn rely on relational contracts (i.e., informal agreements sustained by the shadow of the future), and one of the reasons these practices may be difficult to copy is that effective relational contracts must solve the twin problems of credibility and clarity.
Abstract: A large literature identifies unique organizational capabilities as a potent source of competitive advantage, yet our knowledge of why capabilities fail to diffuse more rapidly — particularly in situations in which competitors apparently have strong incentives to adopt them and a well developed understanding of how they work — remains incomplete. In this paper we suggest that competitively significant capabilities often rest on managerial practices that in turn rely on relational contracts (i.e., informal agreements sustained by the shadow of the future). We argue that one of the reasons these practices may be difficult to copy is that effective relational contracts must solve the twin problems of credibility and clarity, and that while credibility might in principle be instantly acquired, clarity may take time to develop and may interact with credibility in complex ways, so that relational contracts may often be difficult to build.
TL;DR: In this article, a review of selected literature has been undertaken on some of the SME characteristics and new strategies, techniques and technologies that can provide a competitive advantage and sustainability in the global market and operations.
Abstract: A small- or medium-sized enterprise (SME) is normally a company that employs about 50–200 people. Because of the globalisation of market and operations, and technological advances, the competition among SMEs has radically increased over the years, and their survival is increasingly dependent on a number of factors including resilience of SMEs to refocus some of their strategies and technologies. In this article, a review of selected literature has been undertaken on some of the SME characteristics and new strategies, techniques and technologies that can provide a competitive advantage and sustainability in the global market and operations. Based on the literature review, a framework has been developed with key factors/enablers that determine the resilience and competitiveness of SMEs. This framework has been empirically studied by collecting data from SMEs. It involves a sample of 40 SMEs in the Southcoast of Massachusetts and provides further insight into the key characteristics associated with resilienc...
TL;DR: In this paper, a review of sustainable practice in the construction industry and the relationship between sustainability performance and business competitiveness is presented, where a framework for implementing sustainable construction practice to improve contractors' competitiveness is introduced to help contractors develop their sustainable strategies for meeting a changing competition environment.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine how firms' multiplex network ties in business groups represent one important source of capability acquisition, and they provide an original contribution to the capabilities literature by utilizing a stochastic frontier estimation to rigorously measure firm capabilities, and demonstrate the value of this approach using longitudinal data on business groups in emerging economies.
Abstract: While strategy researchers have devoted considerable attention to the role of firm-specific capabilities in the pursuit of competitive advantage, less attention has been directed at how firms obtain these capabilities from outside their boundaries. In this study, we examine how firms' multiplex network ties in business groups represent one important source of capability acquisition. Our focus allows us to go beyond the traditional focus on network structure and offer a novel contingency model that specifies how different types of network ties (e.g., buyer-supplier, equity, and director), individually and in complementary combination, will differentially affect the process of R&D capability acquisition. We also offer an original analysis of how other aspects of network structure (i.e., network density) in business groups affect the efficacy of network ties on R&D capability. Empirically, we provide an original contribution to the capabilities literature by utilizing a stochastic frontier estimation to rigorously measure firm capabilities, and we demonstrate the value of this approach using longitudinal data on business groups in emerging economies. We close by discussing the implications of our supportive results for future research on firm capabilities, organizational networks, and business groups. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors developed an original framework of green organizational identity to explore the positive effects of environmental organizational culture and environmental leadership on green competitive advantage through the partial mediator -green organizational identity.
Abstract: Purpose – This study aims to develop an original framework of green organizational identity to explore the positive effects of environmental organizational culture and environmental leadership on green competitive advantage through the partial mediator – green organizational identity.Design/methodology/approach – This study proposes an original concept – green organizational identity – to develop an integral framework to enhance green competitive advantage. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) is applied to verify the research framework.Findings – The results showed that environmental organizational culture and environmental leadership are positively associated with green organizational identity and green competitive advantage. Green organizational identity had a partial mediation effect on the positive relationships between two antecedents – environmental organizational culture and environmental leadership – and green competitive advantage. Companies should enhance their environmental organizational cultur...
TL;DR: In this article, the relationship between environmental uncertainty, supply chain flexibility, and firm performance through a survey of German manufacturing companies is investigated. And the authors present evidence that in uncertain environments companies with highly flexible supply chains perform better than companies with less flexible supply chain while in certain environments the opposite holds.
TL;DR: Findings show that collaboration, as a dynamic capability, mediates the conflict resulting from functional orientations, and improves performance, providing insight into how firms can exploit interfirm resources for competitive advantage.
Abstract: The resource-based view of the firm argues the essence of decision making is to determine how firm and supply chain resources can be configured to achieve inimitable advantage and superior performance. However, combining resources found among diverse members of a supply chain requires higher levels of coordination than exist at most companies. Manifest cross-functional and interorganizational conflict impedes the relational advantages of collaboration. This research employs a multimethod—survey and interview—approach to evaluate collaboration's influence on operational and firm performance. Our findings show that collaboration, as a dynamic capability, mediates the conflict resulting from functional orientations, and improves performance. Specific structural enablers to enhance an organization's collaborative capability are identified and described, providing insight into how firms can exploit interfirm resources for competitive advantage.