Productivity and Corporate Governance in Smaller Firms

Our starting point was to argue that the entrepreneur is central to the organisation of production in smaller firms. We also contended that it was crucial to understand how differences in corporate governance structures affect productivity. This is particularly important given that many small firms have relatively unsophisticated and non-complex governance structures. Our results show positive, and significant, effects from the founding entrepreneur, the board of directors and the management team on productivity. We also find that the majority of smaller firms face increasing returns to scale. In total, our results cast serious doubts on the relevance of "black box" theories of production which exclude a role for the entrepreneur.     

Relationship Quality and Performance Outcomes: Achieving a Sustainable Competitive Advantage

As firms strive to develop a sustainable competitive advantage, the relationships formed among supply chain parties become a critical consideration. Firms seek to establish relationships that can provide the desired level of performance and competitiveness. Relationship quality provides a global measure of buyer–supplier relationships and can be used to assess the types of relationships a firm has within its supply chain. This research examines the impact of relationship quality on supply chain operational performance and satisfaction with strategic performance while considering both buyer and supplier perspectives and collaborative and arm’s length types of relationships.     

比较优势和竞争优势——发展中国家的两难选择

伴随着以知识经济和技术创新为主导的经济全球化浪潮的不断推进,国际产业结构加速调整升级,如何定位自己在国际产业链中的位置,如何使经济更快更健康的发展,发展中国家面临着比较优势和竞争优势两种理论指导思维的选择,每一种选择都存在困难和风险,但从长期的发展来看,要想更快的缩小与发达国家之间的差距,以竞争优势为主导的对外贸易及经济发展战略是最现实的选择。     

Seeking Competitive Advantage in a Deepening Crisis

ABSTRACT

This paper examines how Export Processing Zone firms in Zimbabwe have responded to the economic crisis in Zimbabwe. The study investigated how exporters are responding to dissipating competitive advantages. Data was collected from a sample of 30 firms. It was analysed through factor analysis to extract constructs considered competitive advantages or disadvantages. Results show competitive advantages pursued are centred on three key factors, i.e., production, pricing, and product. Competitive disadvantages are in the area of product quality and pricing. The two competitive disadvantages are developing a contagious effect on the remaining advantages, thus, deepening the firms into the crisis.     

哪一个更有效:比较优势抑或竞争优势

在阐述比较优势理论和竞争优势理论主要内容的基础上 ,从对外贸易战略选择这一角度出发 ,指出竞争优势更符合世界经济发展的实际 ,结合我国情况 ,论述了实施比较优势战略在未来对外贸易发展中的不适应性以及从比较优势理论导向转为竞争优势理论导向的历史必然性。     

Business Planning Practices of Family‐Owned Firms within a Quality Framework*

Study purpose is to investigate the contribution of an integrated, interfunctional approach to quality management, inclusive of family/business interface management, to the success of 572 small family firms, using multiple measures of success (congruity and business revenues). A positive customer reputation was the most important business goal for 44.6 percent of firms. Interface and business management significantly explained business revenue and congruity between business and family while controlling for owner and business characteristics. Family/business interface management explained 9.7 percent of congruity variance and 8.2 percent of gross revenue variance, whereas business management explained 3.3 percent of congruity variance and 2.2 percent of gross revenue variance.     

从比较优势向竞争优势的转变

我国经济的可持续发展需要理论的支撑,而在国际贸易上,我国传统的理论是充分利用我国的比较优势。但是,随着国际竞争的加剧,一个国家越来越重视可持续发展,重视其在国际竞争中的利益分配与地位。笔者认为,比较优势与竞争优势之间既有联系又有区别,我国要在充分利用比较优势的基础上,提高竞争优势,增强在国际市场上的竞争力。     

论服务贸易的比较优势与竞争优势

当前,世界服务贸易迅速发展,由于服务贸易不同于货物贸易,决定服务贸易的比较优势与竞争优势也与货物贸易不同。本文从服务的特征、职能和活动类型等方面出发,讨论决定服务贸易的比较优势,并探讨如何将比较优势转化为竞争优势,培育服务贸易竞争优势。     

Internationalization of Smaller Firms: Opportunity Development through Networks

This article aims to contribute toward a better understanding of the opportunity development process that rapidly internationalizing small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) undergo. Little is known about how SMEs overcome challenges in the process of recognizing and exploiting market opportunities during their rapid expansion abroad. This article presents a longitudinal case study that illustrates how a firm's relationships with business, social, and political actors enhance its opportunity development during the internationalization process. The findings highlight that conducting matching activities at different levels helps the firm overcome challenges and succeed in developing new opportunities for continued expansion abroad. This study contributes to research on rapidly internationalizing firms by broadening the empirical and theoretical understanding of the opportunity development process for smaller firms. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Competitive Actions of Small Firms in a Declining Market

Small firms, through their flexibility advantages and closeness to customers, potentially can increase their sales volume in economic downturns. The decline in U.S. housing construction (beginning in 2006) provided an opportunity to develop and test four hypotheses predicting the attributes and marketing actions associated with successful companies supplying housing markets. Smaller firms and those producing made‐to‐order products were most likely to have realized increased sales volume. These successful firms were not engaged in several marketing actions hypothesized to increase sales volume in a declining market. Small firm competitiveness was based more on working closely with customers to produce fully customized products.     

论竞争优势的系统化

本文认真分析了竞争优势理论给发展中国家留下的制定接口和竞争优势的系统化结构，指出了我国在竞争优势系统化建设中存在的问题，并提出了对策建议。     

Competitive versus Comparative Advantage

I explore the interactions between comparative, competitive and absolute advantage in a two‐country model of oligopoly in general equilibrium. Comparative advantage always determines the direction of trade, but both competitive and absolute advantage affect resource allocation, trade patterns and trade volumes. Competitive advantage in the sense of more home firms drives foreign firms out of marginal sectors but also makes some marginal home sectors uncompetitive. Absolute advantage in the sense of a uniform fall in home costs tends to raise home output in all sectors but also leads both countries to specialise less in accordance with comparative advantage.     

Globalization of Smaller Firms: Field Notes on Processes

Smaller firms have played a pivotal role in the present decade of globalization. Reduced barriers to international trade and investment coupled with the advances in information technology have accorded opportunities for smaller firms -- employing fewer than 500 persons -- to emerge as multinational. The focus of this exploratory paper is on the how of their globalization or internationalization. Information from field studies of seven firms -- three Dutch and four American -- obtained by means of personal interviews with senior managers constitutes the primary qualitative data. Considering the convenient choice of the firms and the subjective nature of the recall data the paper, without claiming to draw any inferences, offers three initial propositions, for further refinement, expansion and empirical testing.     

Turning Technology Into Competitive Advantage

Firms often think that technology is the quick way to business success, allowing them to bypass other business problems and to leap ahead of competitors. Such strategies are rarely successful. Technology can only be effective if it is fully integrated into the firm's business, stressing its commercialization. What appears to be a technological edge usually rests on an organizational structure which either enables the firm to generate successive innovations, or to handle the implementation of technology more effectively than competitors. This is the only way to generate lasting technology-related competitive advantage.     

专利竞争优势研究综述

随着我国企业经营国际化的发展,专利不仅仅是受保护的企业无形资产,还是企业获取超额利润、赢得市场领先地位、激励创新,从而获得竞争优势的重要来源。所以需从外部环境、内部资源能力基础和企业专利战略等三个方面归纳总结目前关于专利竞争优势的研究,如果仅从一个方面来分析专利竞争优势是难以解决很多现实问题,应该结合多个维度分析专利为企业带来竞争优势的途径,进而为企业制定正确完善的专利竞争战略提供理论支持。     

基于资源的企业竞争优势

基于企业资源基础论能够看出企业资源、核心资源、核心竞争力与持续的竞争优势之间的逻辑关系,企业应根据所处的环境、行业以及自身制定的企业使命、战略目标,在各种资源之中甄别出其中的核心资源,并通过对这类核心资源的积聚、转移以及增值过程,使企业获得持续的竞争优势。     

再论比较优势与竞争优势

波特提出国家竞争优势理论是比较优势的一大进步。但有人将竞争优势与比较优势并列起来作为贸易的基础，并且认为比较优势已经过时，竞争优势才揭示了贸易根源。国家竞争优势理论对于这种完全割裂二者的看法，本文提出不同的见解。