Competitive advantage through service differentiation by manufacturing companies

This paper examines the relationship among the complexity of customer needs, customer centricity, innovativeness, service differentiation, and business performance within the context of companies that have made a service transition from pure goods providers to service providers. A survey of 332 manufacturing companies provides the basis for the empirical investigation. One key finding is that a strong emphasis on service differentiation can lead to a manufacturing firm's strategies for customer centricity being less sensitive to increasingly complex customer needs, which can increase a firm's payoff for customer centricity. In contrast, the payoff from innovativeness appears to be higher if the firm focuses its resources on either product or service innovation; that is, a dual focus does not work well. This paper discusses the implications of these findings for researchers and managers.     

Competitive advantage,private-label brands,and category profitability

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of private-label resources possessed by a supermarket retailer. Our study examines whether or not private-label products can help in the overall enhancement of product category performance. We examine the performance of a supermarket retailer in the Northeast United States that operates over 100 stores and generates a total yearly sales volume in excess of $3 billion. Data of this nature is difficult to obtain for research purposes, and this proved to be very valuable. Data obtained from the internal financial database of the supermarket was used and generated from point-of-sale information. We then developed a research model from the literature review and used structural equation modelling to analyse the data. The findings of this study indicate that a change in category private-label sales penetration and category market share had little impact on category profitability. The major implication for retailers is the necessity for category managers to focus on all brands within their respective categories and not over-emphasise a private-label brand focus.     

发挥宣传思想工作优势是保持离退休队伍和谐稳定的有效途径

我国从1999年开始进入老龄化社会.老龄化己成为21世纪不可逆转的世界性趋势.也是社会进步的表现.中国60岁以上老年人口已近1.44亿,保持企业中离退休老同志队伍稳定,宣传思想工作尤为重要.本文论述了如何更好地在离退休老同志中发挥宣传思想工作优势,为构建和谐社会而努力.     

Firm-employee relationship strength — Competitive advantage through people revisited: A commentary essay

Herington, Johnson, and Scott propose a model of firm-employee relationship strength and delineate means by which this model can be tested. This commentary focuses on the contribution [Herington Carmel, Johnson Lester W., Scott Don. Firm-employee relationship strength — a conceptual model. Journal of Business Research forthcoming.] provide in drawing from social and organizational psychology literatures and in advocating a closer look at the organizational behavior literature where trust and commitment are cornerstones of relationship building. In addition, the commentary calls for a separation of the predictors of the firm-employee relationship and the strength of the relationship itself.     

企业社会责任、关系资本与竞争优势——基于丰田"召回门"事件的分析与思考

企业社会责任要求企业不仅"做好事",更要求其不能"做坏事".当前形势下,跨国公司在华经营必须更好地履行其社会责任.这背后的逻辑是其将企业社会责任看作在华战略的一部分,运用企业社会责任来增加与各利益相关者的关系资本,从而获取竞争优势.本文提出了在华跨国公司基于企业社会责任构建竞争优势的基本框架,并以丰田"召回门"事件为案例进行了分析.     

Shanghai Jaguar Land Rover recalls ＂Discovery 3＂ models

Toyota will recall 688,314 sedans made by its two Chinese joint ventures because of a flaw in their electric window controllers. This is the largest auto recall in China since 2004, the Beijing Times reported on August 24.     

Toyota Story 2: Still Winning the Productivity Game

The main features of the Toyota Production System (TPS) have been widely publicised and discussed since the 1980s. By now, other car manufacturers might reasonably have been expected to have learned the lessons and fully caught up with Toyota's productivity levels. This has still not happened. Part of the explanation is simply Toyota's high investment in plant and equipment. This article focuses on the complementary human aspects, the subtle elements of Toyota's organisation and culture which have ensured the continuing success of the TPS.     

丰田汽车品牌体系面面观

<正>丰田作为日本汽车企业的典型代表,在行业内创造了一个又一个奇迹。思考丰田成功之道,其品牌体系的系统规划、动态管理起到了至关重要的作用。丰田汽车拥有数十个产品品牌、庞大的品牌体系,但深入分析,发现其品牌体系更具层级分明、定位明确、条理清楚、系统整合的特点。     

丰田深陷美国陷阱

香港《大公报》日前刊出文章《美借丰田危机敲打日本?》,说丰田汽车大规模召回事件及后续问题已连续多日成为美国媒体头等新闻。有不少日本媒体称美国敲打丰田的背后有美国政治情势原因。     

化比较优势为竞争优势

在中国制造源源不断地输向世界各地市场之际,一个比反倾销和一般性技术贸易壁垒更高层次的贸易保护壁垒——知识产权保护,引起的纠纷纷至沓来,知识产权竞争正成为中国出口企业面临的更高层次的竞争,知识产权成为国际贸易摩擦的新手段。中国大量出口甚至将来大量出口的机电产品如 DVD机、彩电、电池、摩托车、汽车等正全面遭受国际知识产权保护的挑战。     

Competitive advantage: A longitudinal analysis of the roles of data-driven innovation capabilities,marketing agility,and market turbulence

While data-driven innovation capabilities have received considerable attention from academics and practitioners, there is insufficient longitudinal evidence on how they might contribute to improved marketing agility and competitive advantage. In this study, we make a preliminary effort to address this gap by developing a model based on the dynamic capabilities view. We also explore the moderating effects of market turbulence on the link among marketing agility and competitive advantage. We used two-waves data (T = 677 and T+1 = 569) and the cross-lagged panel approach was utilised to analyse the longitudinal data. Our findings provide robust empirical evidence on the causal and predictive temporal impact of data driven innovation capabilities on marketing agility and competitive advantage. It also indicated that marketing agility mediates this relationship over time. Moreover, the analysis suggested that market turbulence reinforce the influence of marketing agility on competitive advantage. We provided significant implications for theory and practice.     

“丰田制造”输在责任管理不到位

被日本人引以为荣的“丰田制造”,在虎年之初遭遇“二月逆流”。 继去年9月,丰田以前排脚垫可能脱落而妨碍油门操作引发事故为由,要求380万辆汽车的用户取下脚垫;去年11月又宣布对426万辆汽车进行自主修理;今年1月再次决定针对油门踏板的隐患召回约230万辆汽车。     

论丰田生产方式中的后现代主义精神

支撑着丰田生产方式的企业理念和产业哲学,是以顾客为本位、以员工为中心、以现场持续改善活动为基石的精益生产模式,充分体现了以人为本、尊重人性、人际和谐的后现代主义的精髓.丰田生产方式坚持以怀疑与批判的态度精益求精,通过全员参与管理的民主机制充分发挥员工的智慧与创造力,从而获得了进行自我实现的动力和机会.在丰田生产方式下.人性得到尊重的员工更易于为组织的共同愿景所激励,将被动的服从转变为对组织的承诺,并以自身的才智和奉献来实现诺言.这正是丰田生产方式与后现代主义相契合后进发出的创造力.     

“王子”能拯救丰田吗？

金融危机来袭，刚登上世界第一汽车厂商王位的丰田就创下70年来最大的亏损，临危换帅，“大政奉还”，丰田章男提前上任，意味着什么？     

On the origins of comparative advantage

This paper proposes a simple theory of international trade with endogenous productivity differences across countries. The core of our analysis lies in the determinants of the division of labor. We consider a world economy comprising two large countries, with a continuum of goods and one factor of production, labor. Each good is characterized by its complexity, defined as the number of tasks that must be performed to produce one unit. There are increasing returns to scale in the performance of each task, which creates gains from specialization, and uncertainty in the enforcement of each contract, which create transaction costs. The trade-off between these two forces pins down the size of productive teams across sectors in each country. Under free trade, the country where teams are larger specializes in the more complex goods. In our model, it is the country where the product of institutional quality and human per worker capital is larger. Hence, better institutions and more educated workers are complementary sources of comparative advantage in the more complex industries.     

优势产品价值链

技术领先,产品在市场不断创新,这种产品价值优势领先比渠道优势领先更加明显。众所周之,TCL的渠道优势非常明显,再简单的产品,进入它的渠道后价格都会贵了许多。很多年来,它的优势一直都体现在优秀的营销渠道上,在这个渠道上利用品牌的优势销售,又在这个优质的渠道上放进去了     

Firm-level comparative advantage

We study the consequences of heterogeneity in factor intensity on firm performance. We present a standard Heckscher–Ohlin model augmented with factor intensity differences across firms within a country–industry pair. We show that for any two firms, each of whose capital intensity is, for instance, one percent above (below) its respective country–industry average, the relative marginal cost of the firm in the capital-intensive industry of the capital-abundant country is lower (higher) than that of the other firm. Our empirical analysis, conducted using data for a large panel of European firms, supports this prediction. These results provide a novel approach to the verification of the Heckscher–Ohlin theory and new evidence on its validity.     

华晨丰田再携手合作推出阁瑞斯

11月25日,华晨金杯汽车有限公司引进丰田技术生产的高档多功能商用车--阁瑞斯(Grace)在北京正式上市销售.随后,于11月28日在上海、12月3日在广州等经济发达地区上市.这是华晨金杯与丰田汽车继金杯海狮项目之后的再次携手合作,目标指向GL8、风行、奥德赛等高档多功能商务用车市场.