Couple competitive analysis to sales force decisions

Current approaches to competitive analysis typically provide information that is too general to be integrated into sales management decisions. This paper presents an approach to competitive analysis which uses customer evaluations of competing suppliers to generate intelligence that is tailored to the needs of sales managers. The proposed framework was developed through field research which involved nine different companies and selling situations. A case example is used to illustrate concepts central to the implementation of this approach.     

Managerial decision making and firm performance under a resource‐based paradigm

A framework is presented that connects managerial decision making to resource building and firm performance. The framework takes a behavioral view of decision making and distinguishes two distinct decision‐making processes. First there is the creative conceptualization of new resource configurations that are intended to deliver competitive advantage. Then there is the painstaking development of resources required to implement strategy. We argue that heterogeneity in the resources of rival firms arises from the interplay of these two processes: resource conceptualization and resource development. Heterogeneity spawns performance differences that can be explained ex ante from characteristics of managerial decision‐making processes. We illustrate the approach in a simulated decision‐making environment representing a highly competitive and dynamically complex industry. Results from repeated simulation experiments conducted with executive and MBA students show vast differences in performance among firms, even when they started with identical resource positions. In a departure from traditional resource‐based literature, we explain how these differences stem from path dependent accumulation of resources and spontaneous variety in the way rivals conceptualize resources. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Who competes with whom? A demand‐based perspective for identifying and representing asymmetric competition

A host of strategic management and marketing issues, including competitive analysis and strategic decision making, hinges on accurately identifying and representing competitive market structures. It is readily acknowledged that competitive market structures are typically asymmetric; namely, one firm may actively compete with another in a given market but not vice versa. However, empirical efforts to assess these competitive asymmetries have been lacking in the strategy literature. We propose a new spatial methodology to identify and represent asymmetric competitive market structures. Specifically, we devise a new stochastic multidimensional scaling procedure that is calibrated from actual consumer consideration/choice sets to estimate and uncover competitive asymmetries. The proposed methodology can be effectively employed in the analysis of appropriate data from either demand‐ or supply‐side approaches to assess competitive market structure. We illustrate our proposed methodology with survey data collected from two different commercial applications: one from the U.S. luxury automobile market and the other from the U.S. portable telephone market. We contrast the findings of the proposed methodology against traditional symmetric approaches for identifying and representing competitive market structures, and discuss the respective strategic insights. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The marketing strategy of a project-based firm: The Four Portfolios Framework

The purpose of this paper is to address the simultaneous management of multiple business relationships and multiple projects in the marketing strategy of the project-based firm. The research question is: How can the essence and interdependencies between the portfolios of relationships and projects be conceptualized as the marketing strategy of a project-based firm? We address this question by constructing a framework including two portfolios of relationships and two portfolios of projects, and by discussing how these portfolios may be interrelated. Combining the approaches of relationship management in project marketing on the one hand and the management of project portfolios on the other contributes a novel viewpoint to project marketing.     

Employing the business model concept to support the adoption of product–service systems (PSS)

Although the existing literature indicates that the business model concept can be useful to implement product–service systems (PSS), there is still a paucity of guidelines to assist companies in this respect. Therefore, this paper proposes a framework to support the adoption of PSS employing the business model concept. This framework was developed based on literature review and intends to guide the company on the analysis of their business context, on the choice of the appropriate type of PSS and on the definition of their PSS characteristics. A single case study was then performed to illustrate an application of the framework in a machine tool manufacturer and provide research insights. Overall, results indicate that the framework can provide companies with a useful reference to PSS implementation, helping on the investigation of different PSS scenarios as well as the main barriers and challenges to be overcome.     

How state influence on project work organization both drives and mitigates gendered precarity in cultural and creative industries

This article develops an understanding of gendered precarity in project work by considering how the transfer of risk from employer to worker is shaped by the contextual pressures of state policy and the organization of the industrial field. The focus is the organization of project work as a condition underpinning the shifting of this risk in a mature field of precarious employment, the cultural and creative industries (CCIs). Our empirical exploration in Film/TV in the UK and Germany, and Dance in Sweden and the Netherlands, examines the dynamic interplay between state policy domains (cultural, social and regulatory), industry-level funding bodies or ‘transaction organizers’ and the cultural processes of CCI project networks. We argue that state-led influences both drive and mitigate the transfer of risk in project work as gendered, racialized and classed. Our framework contributes to broadening employment literature on risk and the disadvantaging capacity of networks to hoard opportunities in project-based labour markets.     

The complex relationship between inventory control and organisational setting: Theory and practice

Within companies it is widely recognised nowadays that the performance of inventory systems is not only determined by the way the inventory system is planned and controlled but also by its organisational architecture. Notwithstanding its importance, the field of production and operations management still lacks however, a comprehensive body of knowledge integrating both control and organisational aspects of inventory systems. One of the reasons for this shortcoming seems to be a lack of understanding of how inventory planning interacts with its organisational embedding in practice. In this article, this interdependence is further explored. Firstly, a conceptual framework is presented. The framework has been the starting point for five case studies performed during the last years. In this article data gathered over a period of more than fifteen years concerning one company is further explored. One of the main conclusions derived from this longitudinal case study is that organisations often try to neutralise shortcomings in the inventory planning and control system by applying organisational measures. In addition to this positive congruence, negative forms of congruence were also found. Shortcomings in the inventory control system are then negatively re-enforced by its organisational setting. The findings of the case study also suggest that companies often do not apply a clear and well-defined policy regarding the organisational setting of advanced inventory planning and control systems. We end this article by arguing that objectified notions on (re)designing inventory planning and control and its organisational design often under-emphasise irrational behaviour of the parties involved. A further elaboration of the framework presented in this article integrating operations management concepts and organisational theory therefore seems to be worthwhile.     

An Options Approach to Valuing Expansion Flexibility in Flexible Manufacturing System Investments

Flexibility in manufacturing processes provides an ability to change or even reverse the decisions made in earlier periods. The traditional economic evaluation methods of investments in flexible manufacturing systems ignore the value of flexibility, which should be one of the key issues in the justification process. Options approach appears as a means of overcoming the limitations of conventional discounted cash flow methods. In this work, a methodology for valuing expansion flexibility of flexible manufacturing systems is presented. Expansion flexibility in a phased manufacturing investment can be valued by viewing an initial investment as being analogous to purchasing an option to exchange one risky asset for another risky asset within a time period from the initial investment. While keeping the option to expand is of value, a thorough analysis requires that the opportunity cost of delaying expansion be taken into account. In this paper, an analytic approximation methodology for valuing sequential American exchange options on dividend paying stocks is employed for valuing expansion flexibility. A comprehensive numerical example is presented to illustrate the approach, and sensitivity analyses are performed.     

A new productivity paradigm for competitive advantage

A decade of observed large differences in productivity driven competitive advantage cannot be explained by traditional productivity notions or conventional strategic analysis. We conclude on both empirical and theoretical grounds that most traditional sources of productivity have encountered diminishing marginal returns. Large competitive differences appear to arise from a new productivity source, nonlinear systems dynamics in business organizations. This has both theoretical and practical consequences for managing toward competitive advantage and requires a new approach to management, control, and organization.     

The Nature of Diversified Business Groups: A Research Design and Two Case Studies

Diversified business groups dominate the private sectors of most of the world’s economies. Several of these economies have undergone sudden policy changes that significantly increase domestic competitive intensity. We demonstrate how the changes in corporate scope that accompany such “competitive shocks” can be used to weigh the importance of different explanations for the existence of diversified business groups. We illustrate our reasoning by studying the restructuring of two of India’s largest business groups following a comprehensive post-1991 package of policy reforms. The case studies also elucidate aspects of the restructuring process that should inform larger-sample empirical analyses.     

Purchasers as boundary spanners: Mapping purchasing agents' persuasive orientations

This study introduces a framework of persuasive communication that is central to understanding how individual purchasers behave as boundary spanners to manage customer–supplier relationships. Drawing on the institutional theory and multiple governance approach, we assume authoritarian, competitive, and relational behavioral orientations reflect institutional logics at an individual level. Purchasers' boundary-spanner behavior thus manifests itself as individual purchasers' rhetorical orientations. In a sample of 349 purchasers, we find support for the existence of four configurations of orientations: competitive/authoritarian, relational, comprehensive, and neutral. A subsequent follow-up study of 20 interviews with the most typical representatives of each group suggests storylines that reflect the background and logic of different persuasive styles. The findings highlight purchaser persuasive orientation as one facet of a purchaser capability set making it possible to cope with the transactional versus relational paradox in buyer–seller relationship contexts.     

Athlete Pay and Competitive Balance in College Athletics

In this paper we analyze the argument—which has been used by both the National Labor Relations Board and the National Collegiate Athletic Association—that unionization and/or player pay will hurt competitive balance in college sports. We present a theoretical analysis of universities that recruit athletes and examine the assumptions that are needed for player compensation to decrease competitive balance. We also empirically illustrate the differences in balance between professional and college sports. Given the theoretical and empirical analysis, we argue that unionization and/or player pay is unlikely to hurt competitive balance.     

From collaborative community to competitive market: the quest to build a crowdsourcing platform for social innovation

Crowdsourcing presents new opportunities to generate social innovation. However, many crowdsourcing social innovation initiatives struggle with turning their promising projects into sustaining platforms. We studied how to design crowdsourcing platforms for social innovation by building and examining a platform called travel2change. We illustrate a framework of crowdsourcing platform building blocks based on the evolution of our case study from a collaborative community to a competitive market. Thriving platforms have a clear purpose, they facilitate value‐creating interactions for well‐understood actors and build a valid business model. The insights reveal design principles to guide organizations that seek to leverage crowdsourcing for social impact.     

Organizing for solutions: How project-based firms integrate project and service businesses

Project-based firms (PBFs) increasingly provide comprehensive solutions that consist of products, product systems and services. In solution businesses, long-term collaborative relationships between solution providers and customers are essential. However, little is still known about how relationship marketing activities should be integrated across organizational units, particularly at the practical level of delivering individual projects and services belonging to complete solutions. In this study, based on a case study of a project-based firm and four of its system delivery projects, we identify eight micro-level integration mechanisms for integrating the activities of the project and service business units at the level of delivering a single solution. The joint participation of both project and service business units in project and service activities over the life cycle of a single delivered system enhances the management of customer relationships between the units, and ensures the continuity of the customer relationship over the system life cycle. The identified integration mechanisms also help PBFs to integrate services into their core business and overcome the problems arising from the discontinuous nature of project business.     

A framework of ERP systems implementation success in China: An empirical study

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) system is one of the most widely accepted choices to obtain competitive advantage for manufacturing companies. However, the successful implementation rate is low and many firms did not achieve intended goals in China. This study develops an ERP implementation success framework by adapting the Ives et al. information systems (ISs) research model and DeLone and McLean's IS success model to identify both critical success factors and success measures. Qualitative case study research methodology is used to collect data and Atlas/ti program is used to facilitate data analysis. Discussion is made finally and suggested ERP systems implementation methodology is given at the end.     

Managing Technology for Competitive Advantage in Inter-industry Markets

The paper deals with the question of how a firm could develop a technological/R&D strategy to help it to maintain the initiative in its markets. The author extends Porter's analysis of competitive strategy to the R&D field and establishes the point that to remain profitable a firm must consciously manage its interfaces with its suppliers as well as its customers; it must take into account the threats and opportunities arising from such factors as the impact of existing competitors, new suppliers and competitors entering the scene and the possible appearance of substitutes for its products. A comprehensive corporate strategy would contain elements such as using technological change and R&D to raise the entry costs facing potential new rivals, inhibiting or anticipating the entry of substitutes, raising exit costs to customer and supplier by, for example, involving them in technological development.
The paper develops these possibilities in detail and concludes with a summarising checklist of practical options open to a firm to act on the conclusions the author draws from his analysis.     

The Conditions Promoting Compromise in the Workplace

A previous article developed a framework to understand workplace co‐operation. We now elaborate on the key structuring conditions (technology, product markets and institutional regulation) generating different patterns and illustrate from field research how these different workplace regimes develop. Conditions generating positive and sustainable outcomes for both capital and labour are feasible but rare; stronger ‘beneficial constraints’ are needed if they are to be made more frequent. This article provides an alternative to current interpretations of labour–management co‐operation in the industrial relations literature.     

Strategic planning: valuing and managing portfolios of real options

This article presents a value-based strategic planning framework suitable for valuing and managing portfolios of corporate real options. The proposed framework combines insights from strategic management theory with novel quantitative valuation tools from finance. Strategic planning is viewed as a process of actively developing and managing portfolios of corporate real options in the context of competitive interactions. As such, the expanded valuation framework recognizes that future growth opportunity value deriving from the firm's resources and capabilities must explicitly account for uncertainty, adaptability, and competitive responsiveness. The resulting expanded valuation framework is able to capture the value of the adaptive resources and capabilities that enable a firm to adapt and re-deploy assets, develop and exploit synergies, and gain competitive advantage via time-to-market and first- or second-mover advantages. We show how two basic metrics in this value-based framework, current profitability of assets in place and future growth option value, can be obtained from financial market data and how they can be used in active portfolio planning.     

Joint ventures and competitive strategy

A framework for using joint ventures (and other forms of cooperative strategy) within varying competitive environments is constructed, and hypotheses are developed concerning the impact of particular industry traits upon firms' options in pursuing them. Industry examples illustrate the framework's hypotheses. In this framework, demand traits suggest what types of cooperative strategies are needed. Competitor traits suggest how firms will respond to these needs for cooperation. Since joint ventures can be inherently unstable organizational forms, it is important for managers to (1) select the right cooperative strategy option and (2) modify the autonomy from (and coordination with) sponsoring firms that ventures enjoy as their industry structures evolve. Familiarity with cooperative strategy options is important because (1) as growth slows, (2) as markets shrink or become crowded, (3) as industries become global, or (4) as technological change accelerates to speeds where individual firms cannot recover their initial investments, managers will have less margin for error. If managers do not learn how to use cooperative strategies advantageously their firms may encounter difficulties in delivering adequate value to their customers, replenishing their base of skills, and/or safeguarding their abilities to increase long-term shareholder value.     

Strategies for managing a portfolio of alliances

Interorganizational relationships are recognized as an increasingly important source of competitive advantage. Hence, goal‐oriented management of the alliance portfolio—all the alliances of the focal firm—plays a decisive role in company performance. Consequently, the configuration and development of the alliance portfolio become important strategic issues. In light of that, this article develops theoretical propositions that seek to clarify what determines the configuration and evolution of an alliance portfolio, and then presents the results of a longitudinal study to illustrate the developed theoretical framework. Building on contingency theory and a coevolutionary framework, we were able to identify three distinctive types of portfolio strategies at business level and to illustrate how they interact with the development of the business strategy and the business environment. Encompassing all this, the study illustrates and explains developmental paths and patterns in the evolution of an alliance portfolio. The developmental course typically evolves from adapting to shaping and to exploiting (stabilizing), according to the state of strategic uncertainty and the firm's resource endowment. A sudden increase in exogenous strategic uncertainty, however, can lead to a strategic shift back to an exploration or hybrid strategy. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.