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The purpose of the research is to develop a mechanism of process management of ensuring the enterprise competitiveness of the enterprise in terms of the economic processes informatization. The following general scientific and applied research methods were used in the research process: analysis and synthesis, deduction and induction were used in the process management of determining the methodological basis of the process management of ensuring the enterprise competitiveness; systematization and generalization in the process of clarifying the purpose, object and subject of the process management of ensuring the enterprise competitiveness; the method of abstraction and formalization — to substantiate the conceptual provisions of the process management mechanism of ensuring the enterprise competitiveness in terms of the economic processes informatization; monographic methods — for in-depth study of the tasks; abstract-logical methods — for theoretical generalization of research results and formulation of conclusions and suggestions. The suggested mechanism for the process management of ensuring the enterprise competitiveness in terms of the economic processes informatization allows to determine the level of resource potential and a better choice of the optimal competitive strategy of the enterprise development, and decision making will more precisely justify specific measures to strengthen the market position. The practical significance of the study is, first of all, to build a scheme for the process management of ensuring the enterprise competitiveness of in terms of the economic processes informatization, which creates prerequisites for a responsible and sound policy to improve the management of competitiveness. Originality lies in substantiating the structural elements of the process management of ensuring the competitiveness of the enterprise in terms of the economic processes informatization that affect and determine measures to improve the management of the enterprise competitiveness, which combines the study of active business processes, financial support and information support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The wine industry is significantly affected by globalization and changes in consumption habits and shifts in lifestyle, which lead to changes in the market environment and intensity of competition in the wine markets. Overall, wine cooperatives have a market share of more than 40 % in Europe. In Germany, they account for around one third of the total wine production. The decreasing number of wine cooperatives and their members leads to the assumption that wine cooperatives have difficulties adapting to the different market environment and though, need to select and implement competitive strategies. The aim of this paper is to identify and develop competitive strategies for wine cooperatives in the German wine industry. Therefore, the external forces affecting competitive rivalry in the wine industry are being evaluated for wine cooperatives in Germany. A qualitative approach has been applied including in-depth interviews with managing directors and chairmen of the board (n=15). Data were transcribed verbatim and content analysed. Results showed that the intensity of rivalry among existing competitors is high. Bargaining power of wine cooperatives towards buyers and suppliers strongly depends on their size. However, generally the bargaining power of retailers is high, although this depends on the retail channel (discounters, food retail, specialized retail, specialized wholesale, gastronomy). Five main strategy dimensions emerged: (1) the cost leadership and cost focus strategy, (2) the differentiation and differentiation focus strategy, (3) collaboration among producers, (4) offering additional services, and (5) options for improved membership relations and increased youth involvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Education Research (1680-6360) is the property of Angle Publishing Co., Ltd. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Because of its on-demand feature and flexible pay-as-you-go mechanism, cloud service dramatically reduces the up-front information technology expenses that may deter many clients from implementing on-premises software. The associated security risks and low customization capability, however, create challenges for the adoption of cloud service. We study the competitive implications of security risks and customization capability on consumer purchase choices and vendors' pricing and investment strategies. Although cloud services are perceived to be more vulnerable to cyberattack, our results demonstrate that in high-security-loss environments, using cloud service yields a lower average expected loss for consumers as compared with on-premises software. By endogenizing vendors' investment decisions, our investigation highlights that the cloud vendor does not necessarily economically benefit from investing in addressing cloud security, especially in low-security-loss environments. We also find that the on-premises vendor's security and customization investments act as strategic substitutes in low-security-loss environments and, under certain conditions, complement in high-security-loss environments. We further examine welfare-maximizing security investments and find that the socially optimal investment requires greater effort to improve cloud security in low-security-loss environments and to improve on-premises software security in high-security-loss environments. Cloud computing services are transforming business and government at an ever-increasing rate. The associated security risk and low customization capability, however, create challenges for the adoption of cloud services. In this paper, we construct a game-theoretical model that involves two vendors—one that provides cloud service on a pay-per-use basis and the other that sells on-premises software at a one-time licensing fee—and consumers who are heterogeneous in their usage frequencies in an environment in which negative security externalities are present. We study the competitive implications of security risk and product customization capability on consumer purchase choice and vendors' pricing and investment strategies. Although it is generally believed that cloud services are more vulnerable to security breaches, our results demonstrate that in high-security-loss environments in which consumers incur a large loss per use if struck by attacks, using cloud service yields a lower average expected loss for consumers compared with on-premises software. By endogenizing vendors' investment decisions on security and customization, our investigation highlights that in low-security-loss environments, the cloud vendor has no incentive to invest effort in reducing security risk, but the on-premises vendor will increase security investment when the probability of attacks on its product becomes higher. We also find that the on-premises vendor's security and customization investments act as strategic substitutes in low-security-loss environments and, under certain conditions, complements in high-security-loss environments. We further examine welfare-maximizing security investments and find that the socially optimal investment requires greater effort to improve cloud security in low-security-loss environments and to improve on-premises software security in high-security-loss environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the widely acknowledged existence in practice, the theoretical literature on persuasive advertising is generally vague about exactly how such advertising could affect consumer preferences, except for the general assumption that persuasive advertising affects consumer willingness to pay or simply "shifts demand." This paper proposes a theoretical framework for characterizing different ways that persuasive advertising may affect consumer utility in a vertically differentiated marketplace. Firstly, persuasive advertising could simply raise consumers' reservation price for the product category. Secondly, persuasive advertising could enhance consumers' perception about the product quality offered by the advertising firm. Thirdly, persuasive advertising could increase consumers' willingness to pay for quality increment. Preliminary evidences from lab studies are presented to support the existences of the proposed effects. Using a game-theoretic approach, we study two firms' decision in the adoption of persuasive advertising of a particular effect and the associated price competition. Findings from the theoretical model analyses indicate that factors influencing a firm's decision in persuasive advertising include consumer heterogeneity, degree of product differentiation, the effectiveness and the cost of such advertising. In a vertically differentiated competitive marketplace, persuasive adverting is a more desirable strategic tool for firms of higher-quality products to further establish a competitive advantage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Strengthening of competition, the policy of state order for training specialists, changing the behavior and requirements of consumers of educational services and other environmental factors increase the attention of top managers to the competitive strategies of the higher educational institution. The article discusses the theoretical foundations of marketing strategies, presents the components that form the marketing strategy of the higher educational institution. The study used methods of analysis and synthesis. The purpose of the research was to study and analyze the competitive strategies of higher educational institution in target markets to achieve competitive advantages. The approaches to defining the key concepts of the research have been analyzed: strategy, marketing strategy, competition, competitiveness. Attention have been focused on the fact that the system of competitive strategies of the higher educational institution should be based on the concept of holistic marketing, which makes it possible to determine the direction and content of activities in each strategic area of educational services and direct the activities of the university to ensure sustainable competitive positions in the market, ensure and support long-term competitive goals. The specificity of educational marketing has been characterized, which consists in the development and implementation of a strategy for the formation and growth of the value of an individual, in meeting his/her need for development. The dependence of the efficiency of the system of functioning of the higher educational institution, its competitiveness on the implementation of the actual and demanded concept of holistic marketing has been substantiated. The components of the competitive strategies of the higher educational institution, competitive advantages, ways to achieve competitive advantages have been considered; a modified system of competitive strategies of a higher educational institution has been presented. Competitive strategies can provide a sustainable advantage over competitors and solve pressing strategic problems. The prospect of further research is to study the internal environment of the higher educational institution in order to determine the level of its competitiveness and develop a set of measures to ensure the formation of its competitive advantages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, strategic management has become indispensable for organizations where there is an intense competitive environment. Organizational strategy and structure determined by organizations according to changing environmental conditions constitute two important pillars of strategic management. Although there are many studies investigating the relationship between organizational strategy and organizational structure in the strategic management literature, less studies investigating the relationship between Michael Porter's competitive strategies typology and the types of organizational structure of Tom Burns and G. M. Stalker reveal the need for studies in this area. Based on this need, the main purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between organizational strategy and organizational structure and to present a general framework for Porter's competitive strategies in relation to the organizational structure types of Burns and Stalker. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Espacios is the property of Talleres de Impresos Oma and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Food waste is a vital concern for many hotel firms with significant implications for developing competitive strategies, implementing environmental practices, and highlighting corporate social responsibility efforts. Drawing on these three approaches, this study investigates how hotels manage food waste. To this end, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 32 hotel employees and managers in Orlando, Florida. After ensuring reliability and validity of preparation of interview questions, data collection, and analysis, the research findings suggest that food waste occurs mostly during the preparation and consumption stages. The main factors accounting for food waste include excessive food ordering by guests, errors in inventory management, staff errors in food preparation, and food safety practices. Possible strategies for reducing food waste include training employees, using proper equipment, better menu planning practices, accurate forecasting of demand, and implementing efficient storage practices. Educating customers with attractive, informative, and innovative portion guides can also help reduce food waste from excess ordering and consumption. This is one of the first studies in the hospitality field offering empirical findings on, and discussions of, food waste reduction in hotels. Specific theoretical and practical implications are discussed, and suggestions for future research are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past two decades, numerous empirical studies have been conducted on the contribution of information technology (IT) to productivity and other measures of firm performance. However, few theoretical studies have attempted to explain the contingencies under which IT investments may or may not be valuable to a firm in a competitive market. This research proposes a duopoly competition model to study the impacts of IT investments on firm performance and productivity. We show that the extent to which a profit-maximizing firm benefits from IT investments is a function of, among other things, market sensitivities to the price and quality of the products and services offered by the firm and its competitor. We demonstrate that, under duopolistic competition, the effects of IT investments are not as deterministic as under monopolistic competition. We further show that the effect of IT investments on productivity, in a duopoly market, are contingent on market sensitivities to changes in the price and quality of products and services offered by the firm and its competitor, as well as on fixed and overhead costs being sufficiently large in relation to market size--an important condition in a monopoly market. Especially, the price sensitivity has a positive effect on the impact of IT investments on productivity and quality sensitivity has a negative effect. We submit that firms are better off making efficiency-enhancing IT investments if the market in which they operate is more price sensitive than quality sensitive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In strategic management such well-known models as Porter five powers, Porter competitive strategies, Ansoff matrix have been used for decades. This article adapts models of strategic management to retail. After the example of international retailers the author shows which strategies are used to attain global success. The impact of Porter five powers on industry was assessed. Store formats were provided and the author identified which strategies they correspond to: differentiation, focusing and cost leadership. Examples of strategies on Ansoff matrix that are used by retailers were shown. Two types of pricing strategies, i. e. EDLP and high-low were analyzed.

Conducting meetings using Group Decision Support System (GDSS) applications, as a method for brainstorming and decision-making sessions in organizations, has not yet been disseminated and adopted by the majority of either businesses or public sectors. Observations and statistics from the field indicate that organizations have scant interest or no perception at all of this approach for decision-making process. This paper is devoted to investigate the reasons behind the lack of GDSS supported meetings' adoption and, therefore, dissemination by both private and public organizations. It, also, suggests solutions for overcoming challenges encountering GDSS supported meetings’ industry. The paper reports on the results of a field study of 22 semi-structured intensive interviews conducted with users of GDSS meeting software, experienced facilitators, technical support experts and managers of GDSS meeting facilities. The research took place in real business environmental settings with interviewees whom used ‘FacilitatePro’, ‘MeetingSphere’ and "Spilter" GDSS meeting software.

Civil aircraft industry market is а complex multistage system of manufacturers and consumers, which affects countries all over the world. The globalization and world economic growth caused inevitable merger of national markets into one system where the key role belongs to few corporations. In the article the author analyze peculiarities of civil aircraft industry global market shaping. Main reasons of aircraft industry centers appearance are considered through socio political and economic development of the industry. Factors that caused national specialization of manufacturing countries are examined along with peculiarities of Boeing leadership. The main stages of the industry development are described starting from the beginning of the 20th century up to the present day. The author highlights specific characters of European manufacturers development and their merger into one multinational conglomerate. Besides, modern market status is examined through benchmark study of the main competitors. Main tendencies of the industry are segmentation and new aviation industry clusters appearance. Key actors of regional aviation are described, which are Embraer and Bombardier. Reasons of their appearance and development are analyzed. Main pretenders for the aviation industry global market entrance are outlined.

The advantages of corporations in terms of the ability to accumulate resources for their development have been emphasized. In the light of the globalization tendencies, the issue of efficient use of the intangible resources of industrial corporations has been actualized. The resource potential of an industrial enterprise with the allocation of intangible resources (IR) has been structurized, including the main components. It has been reasoned that their development should be carried out for the implementation of different types of competitive strategies and in accordance with the principles of complementarity and emergence. An authors’ own interpretation of both the resource and market synergies in the context of the corporate strategy has been provided. Activities of domestic actors of innovation activity in the creation of industrial property has been analyzed, leading to the conclusion that existing tendencies in the industrial sector are unfavorable for companies to pursue competitive strategies, based on innovative monopoly. It has been underlined that solution to this problem requires the concerted development of the totality of IR, which will create an organizational space within the company with the high variation capacities in the combination of resources and processes, contributing to the achievement of resource and market synergies.

Abstract The auto parts sector plays an important role in the national economy and has the need to become more competitive in face of some difficulties in the current context. In this scenario, it is considered of great importance the alignment of the production strategy and its contribution to the competitiveness of the sector in the country. Thus, the research aims to analyze, based on methods proposed in the literature, the degree of internal alignment of the production strategy in two segments of one company in the auto parts sector. The method adopted was the case study, being the research of combined character that makes use of the qualitative and quantitative approach. Among the main results, it can be seen that, although the organization analyzed has more control over the production process technologies for products that serve the commercial vehicle market, there are efforts to reduce the product portfolio and standardize the products offered in the market. with cost as the competitive priority emerging.

Copyright of Contaduría y Administración is the property of Facultad de Contaduria y Administracion-Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In the globalization era, international universities have started a severe competition to spread the Islamic science and culture. In this regard, Islamic Universities such as Mohammad bin Saud, Umm al-Qura and Al-Madinah in Saudi Arabia, the University of Islamic Sciences in Malaysia and the General Assembly of Al-Azhar in Egypt have adopted widespread competitive strategies to spread the Islamic science and culture. The Shi'a organizations and centers that are active in the field of Islamic sciences and culture require an appropriate and comprehensive understanding of the direction of the competitive strategies of the aforementioned universities to be able to foresee appropriate measures. To this end, the question that we need to answer is that "what are do competitive strategies of international scientific and cultural organizations in the Muslim world?" The purpose of this study is to identify the direction of competitive strategies of the abovementioned universities in the field of Islamic sciences and culture. Referring to existing documents, their strategies were examined through content analysis (thematic network). After analyzing the content of their competitive strategies, 40 Basic themes were found, categorized in the form of 12 organizing themes, and ultimately represented in five comprehensive strategies (core strategies) called "Ideological hegemony", "promotion", "scientific authority", "skill training" "and "ground setting". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents a qualitative study of rapidly and gradually internationalising Polish firms. It compares these two types of firms with a special attention to their competitive strategies. The results show that there are more similarities than differences between the two groups of firms from emerging markets. These findings, based on case studies and interviews must be interpreted with a lot of caution, because the similar strategic behaviour of gradually internationalising firms to rapidly internationalising firms may stem from the fact that the former want to quickly reduce the distance to their counterparts in highly developed countries and thus take some strategic actions similar to rapidly internationalising firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Venezolana de Gerencia (RVG) is the property of Revista de Filosofia-Universidad del Zulia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Gestao & Producao is the property of Gestao & Producao and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Revista Ciencia Administrativa is the property of Universidad Veracruzana and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Innovation is considered to be one of the most important research areas in the field of science and technology policies in recent years and it is seen as the main driving force of economic growth and welfare increase. In today's competitive global economy, a firm's product innovation capability determines its competitiveness and effectiveness in national or international production and trade networks. Companies that follow a cost leadership strategy can mainly compete at a lower price, which they can do by reducing their costs through efficient resource/production/distribution and scale economies The sustainability of the companies in this competitive environment with sustainable profitability depends on the determination of the competitive strategies to be put into practice and the strategy they implement in the most rational way. In this study, 383 white collar (engineer) employees were surveyed. The factor analysis (explanatory and confirmatory) and reliability analysis of the scales was conducted using SPSS 25 and AMOS Program. The correlation and regression analysis, and sobel and Hayes process tests were performed to examine the effect of mediator variable. The results showed that there is a statistically positive and meaningful relationship between technology orientation and product innovation. In addition, it was found that the cost leadership and differentiation strategies have a mediation effect in this relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The advent of low-cost carriers has dramatically changed the competitive landscape of the airport industry and diminished the monopoly power that airports once enjoyed. Today, major airports compete directly with periphery airports, which are becoming the apparent choice of low-cost carriers. In fact, contracting with low-cost airlines has become a determinant factor in airport strategies, and airports now face a strategic decision to position themselves towards either low-cost or full-service (legacy) airline, or both. This paper examines the impact of these competitive strategies on airport financial performance. Building on the strategic purity premise, we hypothesise that being either a low-cost-oriented or legacy-oriented airport (pursuing a pure strategy) is associated with superior financial performance, in comparison with combining the two (a hybrid strategy). Moreover, the benefit of pure strategies increases with the intensity of competition among nearby airports. The paper supports these hypotheses with findings drawn from the U.S. airport industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We show how genetic algorithms can be used to evolve strategies in oligopolistic markets characterized by asymmetric competition. The approach is illustrated using scanner tracking data of brand actions in a real market. An asymmetric market-share model and a category-volume model are combined to represent market response to the actions of brand managers. The actions available to each artificial brand manager are constrained to four typical marketing actions of each from the historical data. Each brand's strategies evolve through simulations of repeated interactions in a virtual market, using the estimated weekly profits of each brand as measures of its fitness for the genetic algorithm. The artificial agents bred in this environment outperform the historical actions of brand managers in the real market. The implications of these findings for the study of marketing strategy are discussed.

This paper analyzes competitive strategy of late followers in auto industry in the case of Hyundai Kia Auto Group (HKAG). The global economic crisis has had a strong impact on the leaders in auto industry. HKAG took advantage of the crisis and increased sales and global market share at the expense of the leaders in the industry. We found that during the crisis the company achieved excellent results thanks to innovative marketing and sales strategies combined with top quality, product design and productivity. Growing competition and changes in business environment in the post-crisis period jeopardized the future growth of the company. The company reacted to the changes in business environment by shifting the focus to the luxury segment and green vehicles, by launching independent luxury brand Genesis and by scaling up investment in R&D.

The problem of strengthening the innovation component in strategic management of industrial enterprises under conditions of globalization has been actualized. The essence and features of innovative development of enterprise structures in the context of their competitiveness have been considered. The attention is focused on the fact that the innovative development should ensure an increase in the enterprise ability to create products having customer value. On the basis of the analysis of the essence and direction of innovative activity of industrial enterprises it has been proved that its results do not create conditions for their innovative development. It has been determined that by the nature of ongoing changes the innovative development is a revolutionary transformation altering its system attractor according to a new phase of the operation. This increases the viability of enterprises in the context of economic activities making them more flexible, able to adapt in the long run. It is emphasized that this increases the level of heterogeneity of enterprises in terms of factors of resources, processes and preferences. The relationship between the heterogeneity of economic resources and choosing by the enterprise management certain types of competitive strategies is shown. It is argued that the choice of a competitive strategy depends on the ability of the enterprise to recombine resources and processes. There made a suggestion about the expediency of changing approaches to the organization of the enterprise innovative activity to improve its efficiency in terms of resource recombination. It is noted that this can be achieved through the implementation of the concept of “diversity management”. The conceptual framework of the implementation of diversity management has been described. It is asserted that its organizational basis is the management decentralization expanding the motivational basis for innovative research participants.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the foundations of SMP process in the LCBs being adopted in 2007. An interpretive approach was chosen to address the research questions posed. In order to address the research objectives the survey strategy has chosen to answer the research questions. The triangulation of qualitative, quantitative techniques and archival data suggested by the interpretive philosophy and deductive approach is used for the reasons given above. The descriptive statistic analysis is used to analyse the structured questionnaires, and the pattern matching and coding analysis is utilised in order to analyse the semi-structured interviews. The major findings in this research are: comprehensive strategic plans are in place, but that the processes by which they are created have significant limitations. In addition, SMP in the LCBs is still evolving and that it is, currently, in growth. In terms of marketing lifecycle, marketing in LCBs is in its infancy stage, it was found, contrary to expectations that marketing departments have only been established recently. For this reason a number of barriers to SMP were found.

The article examines the features of formation of competitive advantages, the depth of theoretical and methodological basis for the formation of competitive advantages at an enterprise. The author has reviewed the approaches to the formation of stable and long-term competitive advantages. The author has also overviewed the requirements which are to be met by competitive advantages of a company and the factors that affect the possibility of competitive advantages. The author develops her own approach to the definition of «competitive enterprise strategy», suggests to understand the concept as the perspective of company development, the way of achieving the goals a company sets for itself guided by its policy, using internal and external competitive advantages. The author implements the model of strategic management of enterprise development based on competitive advantage creating. The suggested model will take into account the maximum possible factors that impact on the development and implementation of strategies. Due to the model risks will also be reduced. The paper determines that the important stage of enterprise development strategic management based on competitive advantage creating is the management of changes and the management of resistance to changes caused by the influence of factors of external and internal environment.

Copyright of Bouhouth is the property of London Research & Consulting Center and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

THE INCREASING COMPLEXITY OF THE FINANCIAL ACTIVITY OF THE COMPANY IN THE CONDITIONS OF THE EXPANSION OF THE COMPETITIVE ECONOMY HAS PROFOUND IMPLICATIONS IN THE PROCESS OF ADOPTING THE MANAGERIAL DECISIONS THAT OBLIGE THE ABANDONMENT OF THE ROUTINE AND THE USE OF SCIENTIFIC METHODS BASED ON KNOWING THE REALITY, IN ORDER TO ESTABLISH THE CAUSAL LINKS BETWEEN THE ECONOMIC PHENOMENA AND THE FINANCIAL SITUATION OF THE COMPANY. IN THE CURRENT PERIOD, COMPANIES ARE FACING INCREASINGLY COMPLEX, COMPLICATED AND DIFFICULT PROBLEMS TO APPROACH AND SOLVE. LARGE-SCALE CHANGES ARE MANIFESTED IN TODAY'S SOCIETY, STRONG COMPETITION AND GLOBALIZATION REQUIRE MANAGERS TO MOBILIZE THE SUPPORT OF ALL AVAILABLE RESOURCES, TO BE ABLE TO ADAPT TO THE NEW CONTEXT IN THEIR CARE. ORGANIZATIONS EVERYWHERE ARE FACING INCREASINGLY COMPLEX PROBLEMS, MORE COMPLICATED AND MORE DIFFICULT TO TACKLE AND SOLVE. THE LARGE AMPLITUDE CHANGES MANIFESTED IN TODAY'S SOCIETY, THE STRONG COMPETITION AND GLOBALIZATION REQUIRE MANAGERS A SUSTAINED MOBILIZATION OF ALL AVAILABLE RESOURCES IN ORDER TO ADAPT TO THIS NEW CONTEXT IN WHICH THE BUSINESS IS CONDUCTED. MANKIND IS GOING THROUGH AN ERA WHEN NOT SO MUCH THE QUANTITY OF RESOURCES, BUT ESPECIALLY THE QUALITY OF THE MANAGEMENT AND THE STRATEGIES ELABORATED AND IMPLEMENTED BECOMES DECISIVE FOR THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL PROGRESS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In present scenario, industries play a vital role in the development of any economy. Different types of industries having various specialties in their fields are growing fast and adapting it with the latest changes occurring in various sections in their concerned industry. Tourism industry is a valuable pillar in all available industries alternatives. It is the age of competition and one can survive only if it has competitive advantage over its competitors. Competitive advantage is a condition or circumstance that puts an entity in a favorable or superior business position. There is a great need of maintaining sustainable competitive advantage. For achieving favorable long-term position over competitors, individual attention must be given on the various sources of competitive advantage e.g. people, organizational culture and structure, processes and practices, products and intellectual property, capital and natural resources, technology etc. Practical implication of competitive strategies may open new avenues for better understanding of the said concept. A harmonious coordination among cost leadership, differential strategy and focus strategy results progressive stages of advantages for tourism industry. Porter's five forces and SWOT analysis provide macro-analytical and micro-analytical tool respectively for interpreting the various dimensions of the said one. Inter and intra-competitive advantages may provide broad and comprehensive outlook of the concept. It can provide a sound platform to grab the opportunities taking into account the outcome of analysis and interpretation of strengths. By getting the nerve of weaknesses and threats, preparation for handling future unwanted or contingent situations can be identified and responded accordingly. Enrichment in tourism industry will also foster the growth of other interrelated industries. There is a need of continuous study of prevailing business environment to match the requirements of various new alternatives taking birth in tourism industry i.e. rural tourism, spiritual tourism, ecotourism and agro-tourism. For achieving the longterm goal of getting the advantages of positioning and marketing management, internal factors and components of business environment affecting the competitor's entity must also be taken into account. A sound correlation among the various factors affecting the spirit of competitive advantage can positively contribute in the development of said industry result a strong foundation for the growth and development of an economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Ciencia Administrativa is the property of Universidad Veracruzana and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Journal of Management & Economics Research is the property of Journal of Management & Economics Research and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Using structural equation modeling, the current study aims to examine the relationship between organizational structure, competitive strategies and organizational performance with respect to the interaction between structure and competitive strategy in the engineering consulting firms. This orientation is determined with respect to the desired approach (contingency or resource based view). The study population included all engineering consulting firms in Tehran district. Partial least squares (PLS) was used for analysis of data. After collecting the questionnaires, the data were analyzed using VisualPLS software. The statistical findings indicate that the resource-based model has more explanation power to express relationships between structure, competitive strategy and firm performance. Therefore, the traditional approaches in which organizational structure is considered as a lateral variable and is dependent on corporate strategy can be regarded lass, instead the resource based view- in which the structure is considered as an important source of competitive advantage for strategies- can be placed in the context of our explanations.