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For the innovative development of the economy of Kazakhstan, marketing strategies for promoting innovative products concentrate scientific research and become a new element in the process of managing the market activities of enterprises. The purpose of the study was to determine the place of servitisation in Kazakhstani business, measure the level of servitisation and study the attitude of participants in the industrial market to the new strategy. To achieve the goal set within the framework of this study, marketing research was carried out. Data analysis was carried out using two programmes for data analysis. Presents the basic modelling principles used to form the structure with hidden variables. The authors tested the relationship between the level of motivation of the client and the level of servitisation. The client's motivation level does not affect the servitisation level. A literature review has shown that the implementation of servitisation is a complex task that depends on previous success. Among innovative enterprises in Kazakhstan, due to the underdevelopment of the market, traditional services dominate, while such trendy services as training, utilisation, integration are rarely offered and have a weak level of prevalence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the interest in investing in Africa is rising, the know‐how of business on the continent is very limited. There have been only recently few special issues focusing on sub‐Saharan Africa in the top international business journals: "Sub‐Saharan Africa at a key inflection point" (Thunderbird International Business Review 2009); "Contemporary developments in the management of human resources in Africa" (Journal of World Business 2011); "Contemporary challenges and opportunities of doing business in Africa" (Journal of Technological Forecasting and Social Change 2016); "Critical perspectives on international business in Africa (Critical Perspectives on International Business 2016); "Strategic Management in Africa (Global Strategy Journal, 2017); and "The internationalization of African firms (Thunderbird International Business Review 2016). The aim of this special issue is to advance understanding of international business in Africa and specifically focus on how foreign firms enter African markets via acquisitions and international joint ventures and extend knowledge of these market entry strategies and performance in Africa for research and for foreign firms intending to, or currently doing business in Africa. This guest editorial provides a summary of the five articles and one book review in this special issue categorized into three broad thematic issues: International joint ventures and acquisitions as market entry strategies in Africa; cross‐border investments of African firms; and theoretical underpinnings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Causation is still poorly understood in strategy research, and confusion prevails around key concepts such as competitive advantage. In this paper, we define epistemological conditions that help dispel some of this confusion and provide a basis for more developed approaches. In particular, we argue that a counterfactual approach—one that builds on a systematic analysis of ‘what-if’ questions—can advance our understanding of key causal mechanisms in strategy research. We offer two concrete methodologies—counterfactual history and causal modeling—as useful solutions. We also show that these methodologies open up new avenues in research on competitive advantage. Counterfactual history can add to our understanding of the context-specific construction of resource-based competitive advantage and path dependence, and causal modeling can help to reconceptualize the relationships between resources and performance. In particular, resource properties can be regarded as mediating mechanisms in these causal relationships. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The resource-based view of the firm suggests that the timing of market entry by a firm depends on its resources and capabilities, but several important questions remain. First, in a high-velocity market where capabilities change quickly, how does entry timing depend on the capabilities at varying points in time? Second, how much flexibility does a firm have in altering its capabilities to achieve desirable entry timing? To answer these questions, this study sets out to develop a dynamic, refined version of the resource-based view that parameterizes a firm by its time-varying capability relevance with respect to a focal market, and makes predictions on entry timing and future growth of capability relevance. The study develops a novel approach that uses the entrants' product portfolios to infer a potential entrant's capability relevance. The results based on a panel of potential entrants show that the initial and current capability relevance each affect entry timing alone, revealing the persistent effect of the initial condition. However, given the knowledge of the current capability relevance, the initial relevance has no effect on entry timing, suggesting that the initial relevance affects entry timing through its influence on the current relevance. Firms that are in an initially unfavorable position can still achieve early entry, provided that they improve their capability relevance over time. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine the fit between a firm's product market strategy and its business model. We develop a formal model in order to analyze the contingent effects of product market strategy and business model choices on firm performance. We investigate a unique, manually collected dataset, and find that novelty-centered business models—coupled with product market strategies that emphasize differentiation, cost leadership, or early market entry—can enhance firm performance. Our data suggest that business model and product market strategy are complements, not substitutes. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the resource-based view of strategy and in evolutionary economics, complementary assets play a crucial role in explaining sustainable competitive advantages and innovations. Despite the apparent importance of complementary assets for the understanding of corporate strategy, their creation and the associated managerial problems have been much less discussed. We believe this to be a major weakness in the strategic theory of the firm. Interestingly, problems of coordination and cooperation are center stage in the contract-based theories of the firm, and we try to integrate some of their insights into a resource-based perspective. Specifically, we show how complementary assets raise the need for strategic direction by a firm's top management. Moreover, complementary assets magnify internal incentive problems, and their management has an impact on the innovativeness of a firm. Lastly, complementary assets play a crucial role in the internal appropriation of innovative rents. We demonstrate the fruitfulness of our integrated framework by relating some of our findings to the literature on corporate strategy, industry evolution, and organizational structures. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the role of network resources and examines the associated mechanisms that affect the timing of entry into an emerging product market. Linking network theory to market entry research, I analyze the pattern in the structure, relation, and composition of 517 firms' strategic alliances as the firms face the decision of whether and when to enter the networking switches market over a 13-year period from 1989 to 2001. The context for empirical testing is the voice/data convergence between telephony communications and computer networking technologies during which the industry boundary blurs. Firms that have access to information of high quality, large quantity, and compositional heterogeneity are likely to enter the newly developed market more quickly. However, network configuration lock-in and network costs may counterbalance the benefits derived from network resources. I discuss the implications of these findings for research on social networks and the timing of market entry. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study addresses a long-standing debate in the literature regarding the appropriateness and performance consequences of marketing strategy standardization vs. adaptation. Much of the relevant literature represents the headquarters' viewpoint and broadly assesses antecedents of standardization or adaptation across widely varying markets. Using strategic fit as the theoretical platform for analysis, the study investigates international marketing strategy for a specific product or line within subsidiaries of U.S., Japanese, and German multinational corporations (MNCs) operating in the U.K. The results indicate that degree of strategy standardization is significantly related to similarity between markets with respect to regulatory environments, technological intensity and velocity, customs and traditions, customer characteristics, a product's stage in its life cycle, and competitive intensity. On the critical question of performance consequences, the findings suggest that superior performance results from strategy standardization only to the extent that there is fit or coalignment between the MNC's environmental context and its international marketing strategy choice. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Empirical research on incumbent pricing responses to new entry has yielded mixed results. Some studies find that incumbents cut prices post entry, while others find that incumbents accommodate entry by leaving prices unchanged (or even raising prices). To better understand these findings, this study explores the conditions under which incumbents are more likely to cut prices when faced with entry. I argue that incumbents vary in their incentives to cut prices; incumbents with greater incentives are more likely to respond aggressively to entry. Using data on magazine subscription prices, I find that, on average, incumbent magazines do not reduce prices following entry. But, the results suggest that newer incumbents cut prices more than older incumbents, while incumbents that compete in fewer and in more competitive markets cut prices less following entry. These results help to explain inconsistent empirical results in the literature, and support a more general explanation of when firms respond aggressively to entry: incumbents respond to entry more aggressively when their incentives to do so are greater. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To help understand how firms develop and maintain dynamic capabilities, we examine the effects of the dynamics, management, and governance of R & D and marketing resource deployments on firm-level economic performance. In a sample of technology-based entrepreneurial firms, we find that a history of increased investments in marketing is an enduring source of competitive advantage. We also find that managers' firm-specific experience positively moderates the relationship between R & D deployment intensity and economic returns. In addition, institutional ownership boosts economic returns from marketing deployments by subjecting these deployments to increased scrutiny and by sending positive signals to the market about the firm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study examines the impact of firm and industry-specific factors on profitability, using census data on Greek manufacturing. At the firm level, particular attention is given to strategy effects. Based on a modification of Porter's typology, these effects are captured through different forms of both 'pure' and 'hybrid' strategies. Industry effects are represented using industry concentration, entry barriers, and growth. Hypotheses are developed taking into account both previous research and the particular idiosyncrasies of the national context. The results obtained provide important insights on specific determinants of firm profitability. With respect to strategy, results confirm the hypothesis that hybrid strategies are clearly preferable compared to pure ones. In addition, it was found that the more genetic strategy dimensions are included in the strategy mix, the more profitable the strategy is, provided that one of the key ingredients is low cost. Industry-level effects, although weaker, show strong impact of industry entry barriers. Moreover, the findings suggest that while both sets of factors significantly contribute to firm profitability, firm-specific factors explain more than twice as much profit variability as industry factory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heterogeneity among rivals implies that each firm faces a unique competitive set, despite overlapping market domains. This suggests the utility of a firm-level approach to competitor identification and analysis, particularly under dynamic environmental conditions. We take such an approach in developing a market-based and resource-based framework for scanning complex competitive fields. By facilitating a search for functional similarities among products and resources, the framework reveals relevant commonalities in an otherwise heterogeneous competitive set. Beyond its practical contribution, the paper also advances resource-based theory as a theory of competitive advantage. Most notably, we show that resource substitution conditions not only the sustainability of a competitive advantage, but the attainment of competitive advantage as well. With equifinality among resources of different types, the rareness condition for even temporary competitive advantage must include resource substitutes. It is not rareness in terms of resource type that matters, but rareness in terms of resource functionality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the first model where entry deterrence takes place through financial rather than product-market channels. In existing models, a firm's choice of financial instruments deters entry by affecting product market behavior; here entry deterrence occurs by affecting the credit market behavior of investors towards entrant firms. We find that to deter entry, the claims held on incumbent firms should be sufficiently risky, that is, equity. This contrasts with the standard Brander and Lewis (1986) result that debt deters entry. This effect is more marked the less competitive the credit market is--so more credit market competition spurs more product market competition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Strategists following the resource-based view argue that firms can generate rents through value creation. To create value, firms develop and use resources and capabilities that other firms cannot imitate, trade for, or substitute other assets for. Even a firm that has created value, however, may not capture the potential rents associated with that value. To capture rents, a firm must set the right prices for what it sells. Most views of pricing assume that a firm can readily set appropriate prices. In contrast, we argue that pricing is a capability. To develop the ability to set the right prices, a firm must invest in resources and routines. We base our argument on a study of the pricing process of a large Midwestern manufacturing firm. We show that pricing resources, routines, and skills may help or inhibit a firm in setting the right price—and hence in appropriating value created. Our view of pricing as a capability contributes to the resource- based view because it suggests that strategists should consider the portfolio of value creation and value appropriation capabilities a firm uses to create competitive advantage. Our view also contributes to economics because it suggests that strategic, decisions about pricing capabilities have important implications for a fundamental economic action, determining prices. Managers in firms without effective pricing processes may be unable to set prices that reflect the wishes of its customers, so the customers may misuse their resources. As a result, resources may be used ineffectively. Our view of pricing as a capability therefore takes the resource-based-view straight to the heart of what is perhaps the central economic question: the best use of resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Strategy implementation and performance in organizations are influenced by its market orientation. Market orientation is the collective of employee behaviors that affects strategy implementation, how an organization interacts with its environment and adjusts to change within that context. The relationship between market orientation, strategy implementation, and performance is robust across environmental contexts. This study identifies ideal behavioral profiles for organizations seeking to maximize performance by considering the scope and impact of market orientation on strategy implementation. This is accomplished by considering market orientation and strategy profiles in relation to performance in a holistic coalignment perspective, corresponding to competitive contexts characterized by varying degrees of market turbulence and competitive intensity. Important strategic and performance implications of this dynamic are revealed that should be considered by academics and practitioners alike. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on previous empirical research, size is perhaps the most powerful explanatory organizational covariate in strategic analysis. We suggest that theoretical arguments about size be examined carefully to specify models with explicit comparison sets and with mechanisms linking size and underlying processes to outcomes. We illustrate the approach here by advancing arguments about scale competition within an organizational population. In this effort, we feature a theoretical model of scale-based selection which posits that a firm's chances of survival decrease with its aggregate distance from larger competitors on a transformed size gradient. The model assumes that the appropriate comparison set consists of all-contemporaneous similar organizations competing on the basis of scale and operating in a localized geographic setting. We argue that aggregate distance of a focal firm from larger other firms (a specific form of relative position in the size distribution) reflects the extent to which it can capitalize on potential competitive advantages of scale emanating from economic, political, and social processes. Analyzing the mortality rates of large organizations across the entire histories of automobile industries in four major countries provides support for the theory. We discuss the general implications of our findings for strategic and organizational analysts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In spite of the growing interest in sustainable advantages, there has been little effort by strategy researchers to investigate market dominance. In this paper, the extent of dominance by leading firms is linked to the ability to develop and exploit their reputation as a key resource. Results from a wide spectrum of consumer product markets indicate that the advantages that stem from reputation are typically tied to specific industry characteristics. In particular, dominance is more likely to be observed in industries that offer consumer products that are purchased frequently and have lower prices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Professor Arend's critique raises fundamental epistemological issues for strategy research, particularly the concern that pragmatist philosophy forecloses access to objective truth and scientific progress. This response discusses the empiricist underpinnings of pragmatism, and addresses Professor Arend's specific concerns about the connections between competitive advantages and firm performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some strategy scholars and practitioners contend that markets have become increasingly hypercompetitive in recent years. We examine this contention by analyzing industry and business performance patterns in a broad sample of firms drawn from the Compustat Industry Segment database for the 1978-97 period. We find little support for the argument that markets have become more hypercompetitive. From the late 1970s to the late-1980s we observe decreased performance and market stability, consistent with increasing hypercompetition contentions. From the late 1980s to the mid-1990s, however, trends reverse and performance and market stability increase. For strategy research, our results suggest that hypercompetitive perspectives are important but no more so now than they were in recent years. For practice, our results suggest that managers today face markets no more dynamic and opportunities to gain and sustain competitive advantage no more challenging than in the past. Accordingly, they should continue developing a portfolio of skills to manage businesses whether conditions are increasingly stable or unstable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Managers operate in a complex, uncertain environment and tend to form simplified models in order to cope with this environment and make competitive strategic decisions (i.e., cost leadership, differentiation, or focus). In this study, we use an experimental design to examine the strategic choice decision-making process in firms located in the United States and Japan. We develop several main-effect propositions regarding managerial selection of competitive strategies, depending on the competitive forces (buyer power, threat of substitutes, threat of new firm entry, and high intensity of rivalry) they are facing. We propose a main effect due to country of origin: Japanese managers prefer a cost-leadership strategy more than American managers do. We also propose several interaction effects regarding cross-national differences in strategy selection between Japanese and U.S. managers. To test our propositions, we collected experimental data from 316 U.S. executives and 459 Japanese executives. We assessed relative impacts of the competitive forces on strategic decision-making using a multilevel regression analysis. The research findings indicated that high buyer power and high substitution threat were associated with a preference for cost-leadership strategies, and Japanese managers were significantly more likely to prefer a cost-leadership strategy than U.S. managers. We also found that, under conditions of high buyer power, U.S. managers were less likely than Japanese managers to enter a market with a differentiation or focus strategy. We found little support for other interaction hypotheses, suggesting points of similarity between U.S. and Japanese managers. We conclude with a discussion of theoretical and managerial implications of our results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the time of entry, market pioneers are known for emphasizing major product development projects. After being in the market for many years, however, do market pioneers, early followers, and late entrants maintain different product development strategies? Data from 2273 established manufacturing businesses reveal that market pioneers have the highest probability of engaging in product development, which covers product R&D spending as well as new product sales. Even so, market pioneers and early followers tend to emphasize minor projects, such as product improvements and line extensions. Late entrants are less likely to engage in product development, but those that do tend to emphasize major development efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When facing uncertainty, firms entering new markets can make initial foothold investments rather than undertake large sunk investments. Such investments are real call option purchases. They offer management flexibility, but also raise questions about whether and when to increase commitments to new markets. We present an entry timing decision criterion and discuss its application to a variety of market entry situations. Optimal timing for exercising real options depends on current dividends, possibilities for preemption, and whether the option is simple or compound, proprietary or shared. Our analysis reveals critical assumptions and new theoretical insights regarding market entry timing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, sociologists and economists have given increased attention to studying religious organizations. Their writings raise unresolved issues related to topic's within strategic management. This study brings theoretical perspectives from strategic management together with those of sociology and economics to understand the organizational and competitive aspects of religion. The initial portion of this article examines the nature of religious production, competition, and organization. Subsequent sections elaborate specific strategic management issues arising in religious organizations. Resource-based and institutional perspectives provide a foundation for analyzing the sources of sustainable competitive advantage among religious organizations. The latter portion of this article shifts to the industry level of analysis and examines the roles of political strategies and strategic alliances in shaping religious competition. This theoretical discussion generates testable propositions regarding the competitive strategies of religious organizations and opens opportunities for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Verizon HR has effectively designed and implemented a strategic management system, which is based upon the balanced scorecard model of Dr. David Norton and Dr. Robert Kaplan of Harvard Business School. The HR Balanced Scorecard was conceived with New Economy organizational dynamics in mind. The scorecard uses a broad range of "leading and lagging" indicators--overall strategy, operational processes, customer perceptions, and financials to evaluate the effectiveness of HR initiatives to the bottom line. The HR Balanced Scorecard provides the means to monitor workforce indicators, analyze workforce statistics, diagnose workforce issues, calculate the negative financial impact, prescribe solutions, and track improvements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes a study that assesses the performance implications of matching marketing strategy to business strategy. In order to conduct this study we first reviewed the literature on marketing strategy to identify its key dimensions. We then conducted a survey of 1000 senior marketing executives about the strategic marketing practices adopted in their respective firms or business units, and developed scales to describe 11 strategic marketing activities. We next performed a K-means cluster analysis using these scales to develop a taxonomy of marketing strategy types consisting of, Aggressive Marketers, Mass Marketers, Marketing Minimizers, and Value Marketers. We then observed that superior performance at the firm or SBU level was achieved when specific marketing strategy types were matched with appropriate Miles and Snow (1978) business strategy types. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Employing a sample of 180 entrepreneurial high-technology ventures based in the United Kingdom, we examine the effects of social capital in key customer relationships on knowledge acquisition and knowledge exploitation. Building on the relational view and on social capital and knowledge-based theories, we propose that social capital facilitates external knowledge acquisition in key customer relationships and that such knowledge mediates the relationship between social capital and knowledge exploitation for competitive advantage. Our results indicate that the social interaction and network ties dimensions of social capital are indeed associated with greater knowledge acquisition, but that the relationship quality dimension is negatively associated with knowledge acquisition. Knowledge acquisition is, in turn, positively associated with knowledge exploitation for competitive advantage through new product development, technological distinctiveness, and sales cost efficiency. Further, our results provide evidence that knowledge acquisition plays a mediating role between social capital and knowledge exploitation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides a conceptual model that explains how the coevolution of organizational knowledge, capabilities, and products over long time spans can result in competitive advantage through innovation and strategic linkage of products at a point in time and over time. At the heart of the model are sequences of products within and across markets, supported by an underlying system of knowledge and systems of learning. This dynamic model brings the importance of the products themselves, supported by vertical chains of activities, into the analysis of resource and knowledge-based competitive advantage. The model also suggests that we can think about the evolution of firms, and by implication the evolution of industries, not only in terms of knowledge and capabilities, but also in terms of vertical chains and products. Short company histories illustrate the workings of the model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholars' calls for an integrating view of the technical, political, and cultural (TPC) aspects of management lead to examining Tichy's TPC framework as the basis of such a view. Tichy's framework is shown to require modification to include the TPC systems of a firm's customers and competitors, and a modified TPC framework is proposed. This framework's usefulness for pattern matching to identify causes of performance is demonstrated in historical case research into a strategic group marketing IBM-compatible mainframes. A result is four testable hypotheses suggesting how firms' success marketing to organizations depends on effective integration between marketing and general management, and a potential cause of variations in performance within strategic groups and during movement between strategic groups. In addition, a method for testing and developing hypotheses by pattern matching on a modified TPC framework is demonstrated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The basic premise of the strategy implementation literature is that different business strategies require different configurations of organizational practices to achieve optimal performance. Sales force management is a key functional activity and should contribute to the successful implementation of business strategy. In this study, we examine the relationship between multiple sales force management practices and performance within each of Miles and Snow's (1978) strategy types. The explanatory power of the eight models tested is quite high (incremental adjusted R² ≥ 0.25 for six of the eight models). Thus, we find substantial support for the general proposition that the different strategy types require individualized profiles of sales force management practices for optimal effectiveness and that sales force management is important to the successful implementation of business strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Attention is increasingly focused on the potential individual career and firm-level benefits of international experience for upper level executives. This research examines the relationships between CEO international experience, CEO tenure, firm internationalization, succession events, and corporate financial performance. Results indicate a significant interactive effect between CEO tenure and outside succession on CEO international experience. In addition to a relation- ship with CEO international experience, there are two additional interactive effects in the examination of corporate financial performance: (1) CEO international experience and the degree of firm internationalization, and (2) CEO international experience and CEO succession. These interactive effects are evident in accounting and market indicators of corporate financial performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global procurement of services has been receiving an increasing amount of managerial attention in recent years. Service firms seem to have begun sourcing part of their service activities from abroad in much the same way as manufacturing firms have sourced components and finished goods in the past 30 years. However, little is known about the nature of service sourcing strategy. In this study, we employ a modified transaction--cost analysis to examine empirically the locational (domestic vs. global sourcing) and the ownership (internal vs. external sourcing) aspects of service sourcing strategy. In addition, performance implications on both the locational and ownership aspects of service sourcing are investigated. The results show that, similar to components and finished goods procurement, supplementary services are sourced globally, either internally or externally. Furthermore, the relationship between asset specificity and internal sourcing of supplementary services is moderated by the level of inseparability and transaction frequency. Finally, internal sourcing and foreign sourcing of supplementary services are negatively related to a service's market performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors test a model of the relationships among firm resources, firm capabilities, and sustained competitive advantage between 1971 and 1989. Sustained comparative advantage was captured by two variables: therapeutic differentiation and global NCEs. The results show that R&D and salesforce expenditures have indirect and direct effects, respectively, on sustained competitive advantage. Firm capabilities were differentiated into component and integrative capabilities. Component capabilities were captured by the firm's internal R&D efforts and therapeutic market focus, while integrative capabilities were concerned with the firm's ability to obtain FDA approvals and to develop radical new drugs. Findings on each of these four capabilities on therapeutic differentiation and global NCEs are mixed. The direct and indirect effects of these resources and capabilities on therapeutic differentiation and global NCEs suggest important managerial implications in the way firms coordinate and combine their assets so as to achieve sustained competitive advantage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In our study, we argue that product quality may enhance competitive advantage, leading to increased returns but a reduction in variance in returns. More specifically, based on our analyses of strategy-related theories, we propose a model in which a positive relationship is predicted between relative product quality and relative market share and between relative product quality and returns. An inverse association is predicted between quality and both systematic variance and unexplained variance in returns. Finally, relative product quality is expected to indirectly lower the variance in returns but enhance returns through the link between product quality, market share, and direct costs. Our findings are generally supportive of the model's stipulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study of firms' entries into and exits from each other's markets, we link research on multipoint competition to the emerging action-oriented, dyadic approach to interfirm rivalry by specifying market interdependencies between pairs of firms that condition their potential for rivalry over time. Our dynamic analysis of competitive interactions between pairs of commuter airlines in California reveals the idiosyncratic and asymmetric market microstructures that characterize dyadic competitive relationships and helps explain why firms grapple vigorously with some of their competitors while being passive toward others. We show that there is an inverted U-shaped relationship between firms' rates of entry into and exit from each other's markets and the level of multimarket contact in competitor dyads. We also show how this basic curvilinear effect varies from dyad to dyad as a function of relative levels of multimarket contact with competitors in other dyads and the relative sizes of competitors in a focal dyad. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the basic question of whether manufacturing-based relatedness between business units within a multibusiness firm serves as a basis for a competitive advantage at the business unit level. We developed a system for describing manufacturing relatedness that combines the study of value chain activities with 4-digit SIC codes, then we assessed presence of manufacturing synergies. We found no evidence that, on average, organizations involved in manufacturing-related businesses are reaping financial benefits from shared resources in manufacturing. However, some firms, through explicit commitment to coordination, do realize performance benefits from such involvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Strategy researchers now recognize that distinctive competencies are critically important for sustained competitive advantage. The processes by which such competencies are acquired, however, has only started to be examined. Connections between macro-industrial system level properties and micro-developments in proprietary technology at the firm level need to be made. This paper argues that system-wide properties, such as long-standing elementary and opposing logics in societal forces like governments and markets, and micro-developments, such as the firm's capacity to search for talent, technology, and ideas and to harmonize what it learns internally, can contribute in significant ways to the creation and acquisition of new competencies. Based on the case of pollution prevention in electric generation, it shows how the system-wide properties channel and direct the paths that the acquisition of new competencies take and how they interact with micro-developments at the firm level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reflects upon and updates our prize-winning paper, `First-mover advantages,' which was published in SMJ 10 years ago. We discuss the evolution of the literature over the past decade and suggest opportunities for continuing research. In particular, we see benefits from linking empirical findings on first-mover advantages with the complementary stream of research on the resource-based view of the firm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses price competition in the case of monopoly and duopoly considering cost function under the minimum money expensed with demand probability and shows the existence of pure strategy Nash equilibrium of a Bertrand game. It also finds price strategies of two firms to earn maximum profits in a Bertrand game. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As human resource organizations transform, staff competency requirements alter significantly. The question is: to what? The present study attempts to answer this question using data gathered within a single firm and employing a unique future-oriented, role-focused methodology. The results suggest a competency model with three parts: a relatively small number of core competencies, an even smaller number of leverage competencies applicable to half or more (but not all) of the roles, and a much larger number of competencies that are role-specific. This methodology can be readily replicated in an abbreviated form in virtually any organization. INSET: Appendix: Definitions of Role Competencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This case study explores issues in building and implementing competency-based development tools for an HR organization in the midst of fundamental change. The case includes a realistic appraisal of the critical design decisions, marketing strategies, and implementation success factors required for using competencies to articulate and foster understanding of a change effort. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the 1980's many organizations gained competitive advantage through downsizing and financial restructuring. The 1990s confront us with the need to get back to basics. Large organizations are searching for a competitive advantage by being faster than their competitors in satisfying customer needs. These competitive organizations are capable of ongoing adaptation to environmental demands. In this article the authors speculate on the way these "self-renewing" organizations are organized, the managerial processes that enable them to capitalize on speed, and the characteristics of the leaders who manage them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent research has emphasized the strategic focus that human resource management must have in order for an organization to fully utilize its human resources in a competitive market. However, few empirical studies have been done to date regarding how human resource planning should be linked to strategy. An extensive in-depth study of four large, complex, and very successful companies supports the widespread belief that human resource management can be a powerful tool to enhance competitiveness when policies and practices are logically driven by a firm's strategy and by the key environmental factors it faces. This article describes that study and looks at how the areas of selection, appraisal, reward, and development are handled by these firms. Based on both the specific policies and the actual practices as perceived by middle managers (those that implement the policies), the article presents a contingency framework which offers guidelines as to how certain HRM practices should be implemented to gain competitive advantage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The first stage of a two-stage research project on the relationship between human resource management (HRM) and strategic business planning (SBP) is described. Based on data collected from senior human resource executives in 10 Cleveland area companies, a typology of HRM-SBP linkages is developed. Factors which appear to influence the extent of HRM-SBP integration are identified and discussed. An agenda for future research is provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This field study explores the nature of entrepreneurial strategy making (ESM) and its relationship with strategy, environment and performance. In the first phase, we assess the independence of entrepreneurially oriented strategy-making processes through factor analysis. The second phase, using moderated hierarchical regression analysis, investigates the relative predictive power of two approaches for exploring the ESM-performance relationship: contingency and configuration. Findings from a sample of 32 firms competing in a wide variety of industries indicate that configurational approaches that align ESM, strategy, and environment have greater predictive power than contingency approaches. However, not all high performing configurations are consistent with normative theory. Thus, alternate theories linking entrepreneurial strategy making to competitive advantage should be developed and tested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While cooperative buyer-supplier relations are an important source of sustainable competitive advantage, noncooperative behavior persists widely. This paper tests a model incorporating noncooperative behavior within a context of formal commitment, using data from the U.S. auto industry. This 'close, but adversarial' model appears to be reasonably well supported by the data, suggesting that even within professed cooperative buyer-supplier relationships adversarial behavior persists. In contrast, a small but significant minority of the relationships were found to be characterized by high levels of trust as well as informal commitment. The results suggest specific strategies for developing cooperative supplier relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses issues of global innovation in multinational corporations by examining the patterns of communication and control in international R&D operations. Using a sample of 110 international R&D units from 15 multinational corporations, we identify three types of R&D unit role (local adaptor, international adaptor, international creator). We show that: (1) each type of R&D unit is managed primarily through a different mode of control; (2) local and international adaptors both focus their communication on their internal corporate network; and (3) international creators have strong internally and externally oriented networks of relationships. The implications for the management of global innovation are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much of the prior research on interorganizational learning has focused on the role of absorptive capacity, a firm's ability to value, assimilate, and utilize new external knowledge. However, this definition of the construct suggests that a firm has an equal capacity to learn from all other organizations. We reconceptualize the firm-level construct absorptive capacity as a learning dyad-level construct, relative absorptive capacity. One firm's ability to learn from another firm is argued to depend on the similarity of both firms' (1) knowledge bases, (2) organizational structures and compensation policies, and (3) dominant logics. We then test the model using a sample of pharmaceutical-biotechnology R&D alliances. As predicted the similarity of the partners' basic knowledge, lower management formalization, research centralization, compensation practices, and research communities were positively related to interorganizational learning. The relative absorptive capacity measures are also shown to have greater explanatory power than the established measure of absorptive capacity, R&D spending. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Building on Thompson's (1967) typology of long-linked intensive, and mediating technologies, this paper explores the idea that the value chain, the value shop, and the value network are three distinct generic value configuration models required to understand and analyze firm-level value creation logic across a broad range of industries and firms. While the long-linked technology delivers value by transforming inputs into products, the intensive technology delivers value by resolving unique customer problems, and the mediating technology delivers value by enabling direct and indirect exchanges between customers. With the identification of alternative value creation technologies, value chain analysis is both sharpened and generalized into what we propose as a value configuration analysis approach to the diagnosis of competitive advantage. With the long-linked technology and the corresponding value chain configuration model as benchmark, the paper reviews the distinctive logic and develops models of the value shop and the value network in terms of primary activity categories, drivers of cost and value, and strategic positioning options. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a comment on the paper "Entry Into New Market Segments in Mature Industries: Endogenous and Exogenous Segmentation in the United States Brewing Industry," by A. Swaminathan. The article focuses on testing ecological predictions in order to learn how market segments are created, specifically in the American brewing industry. It also discusses how changes in the market environment can result in industrial change and lead organizational change. Finally, the paper examines some of the characteristics of business capabilities. In reviewing Swaminathan's paper, the author finds that firms who have become specialized in the U.S. brewing industry (microbreweries), are the result of outside changes from things like tastes, technology, and industrial regulation.

An emerging subfield of strategic management is that dealing with the natural environment as it affects corporate strategy. To analyze this we organize the literature on environmental regulations and corporate strategy into a new managerial framework Next we develop a resource-based view of the interaction between firm-level competitiveness and environmental regulations, including the conditions for the use of green capabilities. Finally, we analyze the green capabilities of multinational enterprises within a standard international business model, using firm-specific advantages (FSAs) and country-specific advantages (CSAs). We then use this FSA/CSA configuration to explore hypotheses on environmental regulations, competitiveness, and corporate strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]