1,721,014 research outputs found
Competing in Emerging Markets: Performance Implications of Competitive Aggressiveness
No full textA firm is said to have a high degree of ‘competitive aggressiveness’ if it forcefully takes a large number and a large variety of actions to outperform its competitors in the marketplace. Competitive dynamics scholars have shown that firms with a high degree of competitive aggressiveness experience better profitability and a greater market share than firms that carry out a narrow, simple repertoire of actions. Still, most empirical studies have been conducted within the marketplace of developed countries. There is a lack of evidence testing the competitive aggressiveness–performance relationship from the perspective of firms based in developed countries entering and competing in emerging economies. Given the highly competitive and rapidly changing environments that developed country-based firms have to cope with when entering certain emerging economies, various authors have recently argued the analysis of this unexplored relationship to be an apt research issue. This paper tests the competitive aggressiveness–performance relationship with a sample of 90 Italian firms entering and competing in the Chinese market within the 2001–2010 time period. The results show that there is a positive relationship between a firm’s competitive aggressiveness in an emerging economy and its performance, that this relationship is negatively moderated by the entry mode degree of control, and that the moderating effect of the extent to which the firm’s industry within the emerging economy is affected by institutional voids is not significant
Competitive Intensity
No full textCompetitive intensity refers to the extent to which firms exert pressure on one another within a given industry, by attacking each other’s competitive position to increase their own performance at the expense of others’ performance. The competitive intensity among existing firms in an industry may manifest in a variety of forms, like price discounting, new product introductions, aggressive advertising campaigns, the offering of an increasing number of complementary services, among others. The intensity of competition can have a positive effect on an economic system as a whole, since a higher intensity forces firms to do better than their rivals, for example by introducing better innovations, with the aim to maximize their performance within the competitive environment. As a result, such a phenomenon usually leads to better products and services for consumers. However, the intensity of competition among firms in an industry could undermine their ability to generate profits, and highly competitive industries might discourage new firms to enter. Understanding the intensity of competition within an industry is important for many stakeholders. For example, it is crucial for new firms that are considering entering the industry and need to assess its attractiveness in terms of profit potential. It is also important for industry incumbents who may have to decide whether to increase their resources to sustain their performance or divest and enter into new industries. Furthermore, it is essential for national authorities and regulators, who are responsible for avoiding collusive behaviors among dominant players that could undermine consumers’ purchasing power. The purpose of this article is to present key themes that aid in understanding competitive intensity and to summarize relevant research works published on this topic, primarily in the management literature. In this way, it aims to assist students and academics in navigating this subject more effectively while developing their research work. Specifically, this bibliography is organized as follows. First, it discusses how the concept of competitive intensity has been examined across various streams of literature. It is worth noting that the focus of this article is on the competitive intensity among firms within an industry, rather than among a firm’s organizational units, subsidiaries, or employees. Second, it discusses the main antecedents of competitive intensity (i.e., those factors affecting the extent to which firms compete aggressively) presented by studies in the extant literature. Third, it discusses the main outcomes of competitive intensity explored so far in the literature in terms of firms’ performance and strategic responses to competition. Finally, it presents the main measurements of competitive intensity used by scholars to examine this construct empirically
Do service firms benefit from diversification? The moderating effect of competitive intensity and firm size
No full textDespite much ado about the effectiveness of ‘product’ diversification, there is very limited knowledge about the impact of ‘service’ diversification on firm performance. By taking a resource-based perspective, this study explores the service diversificationperformance relationship. Results show a consistent inverse U-shaped relationship
between service diversification and firm performance, with the slope positive at low and moderate levels of service diversification but negative at high levels of service diversification. Moreover, results show that competitive intensity negatively moderates the relationship between service diversification and performance, while the moderating
effect of firm’s size is not significant. Hypotheses are tested with data on 52 Italian facility management firms over the 2000-2009 time period
The relationship between internationalisation and firm performance in the global automotive industry: who benefits? Who not?
No full textThis article explores the effect of internationalisation on automakers financial performance. Data on 42 automakers from 13 countries, over the 2002-2008 time period, shows that the relationship between internationalisation and automakers performance is non-linear, with the slope positive at low levels of internationalisation, negative at moderate levels of internationalisation, and positive at high levels of internationalisation. Based on these findings, implications and directions for future research are provided. Copyright © 2012 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd
Competitive dynamics in the mobile phone industry
No full textThe intersection between the competitive dynamics literature and the literature on technology and innovation management is an important area of research. Previous literature has focused on understanding the different types of innovations and how firms use these to improve their product performance. However, we are still way off from a comprehensive understanding of the competitive dynamics triggered by such decisions. This book offers various
insights into the competitive dynamics of technology intensive industries, using the mobile phone industry as a reference setting of analysis. In particular, it explores which kind of competitive moves and countermoves have been taken by mobile phone vendors such as Nokia, Samsung, Motorola and Apple, as well as emerging rivals from developing countries, to defend their competitive position over the industry life cycle, and which factors have driven these actions. The book is divided into two parts. The first part offers a general perspective on the competitive dynamics literature. The second part consists of chapters on more specific issues related to the dynamics of competitive strategy in technology intensive industries, and in the mobile phone industry in particular
Information-based imitation of university commercialization strategies : the role of technology transfer office autonomy, age, and membership into an association
Full text linkWe investigate whether university technology transfer offices, that is, divisions responsible for the commercialization of academic research, imitate their industry peers when designing their commercialization strategy. We borrow from information-based theories of imitation and the literature on academic entrepreneurship to argue that given a technology transfer office’s autonomy to strategize independently from its parent university, information from within and outside the technology transfer office affects its propensity to imitate the commercialization strategy of the “most successful peers,” that is, those with the largest live spinoff portfolio and greatest revenues from spinoffs in the industry. We contend that a technology transfer office’s experience, that is, a function of its age, represents a key internal source of information for the technology transfer office when deciding whether to imitate or not; we also consider the technology transfer office’s embeddedness in a network where the most successful peer is also a member as a key external source of information. From data on 86 British university technology transfer offices and their commercialization strategies between 1993 and 2007 that were drawn from both secondary sources and in-depth interviews with technology transfer office managers, we find that there is a negative relationship between technology transfer offices’ autonomy and their level of imitation of the most successful technology transfer office’s strategy, and that this relationship is moderated by the technology transfer offices’ age and by their membership into an association where the most successful technology transfer office is also a member
Hold or Hurry? How Firms Adjust Their Speed of Imitation in the Face of Technological Transitions
No full textThis study delves into the determinants of the pace at which firms imitate innovations introduced by rivals, particularly examining periods of technological stability compared to those of technological transition. By bridging theories of rivalry-based and information-based imitation with the existing technological change literature, we argue that during periods of technological transition the speed of imitation of rivals’ innovations is lower than during periods of technological stability. Furthermore, we explore various contingencies that influence this relationship, including the characteristics of the imitator, the imitated firm, and the imitated technology. We test our hypotheses using data on more than 9,000 mobile phone models and related technological innovations introduced from 1992 to 2019. Overall, this study contributes to the current literature on imitation and technological change
The effect of openness to external knowledge sources for innovation on SMEs’ financial performance
No full textIn today’s environment an increasing number of firms are changing the way they search for new knowledge for innovation. These firms are adopting open search strategies that involve the use of external knowledge sources. Some authors suggest that these models of “open innovation” allow firms to improve their performance. However, in the specific context of SMEs, although their internal resource constrains emphasize the importance of external sources of knowledge, the lack of substantial inhouse capacity to recognize, evaluate, negotiate, and finally adapt the knowledge available from external actors may reduce its potential. Is then external knowledge sourcing really an effective strategy for enhancing the performance of innovative SMEs? In this study we elaborate on the concept of “openness to external knowledge sources for innovation”, referring to the extent to which firms draw intensively from a wide range of different external sources of knowledge for their innovation activities, and we analyze its impact on SMEs’ financial performance. Using a sample of 281 SMEs situated in the north-east of Italy, the findings of this study show that there is an inverted U-shape relationship between the level of openness to external sources of knowledge and the financial performance
Hold or Hurry? How Firms Adjust Their Speed of Imitation in the Face of Technological Transitions
No full textThis study delves into the determinants of the pace at which firms imitate innovations introduced by rivals, particularly examining periods of technological stability compared to those of technological transition. By bridging theories of rivalry-based and information-based imitation with the existing technological change literature, we argue that during periods of technological transition the speed of imitation of rivals’ innovations is lower than during periods of technological stability. Furthermore, we explore various contingencies that influence this relationship, including the characteristics of the imitator, the imitated firm, and the imitated technology. We test our hypotheses using data on more than 9,000 mobile phone models and related technological innovations introduced from 1992 to 2019. Overall, this study contributes to the current literature on imitation and technological change
Revisiting speed of imitation from a competitive dynamics perspective
Full text linkImitation—the process of reproducing other firms’ products, processes, technologies, or strategic decisions in general—is a salient theoretical construct in the strategic management literature. Moving beyond the “one imitation strategy” assumption, some studies have focused on “how quickly” firms imitate, describing the speed of imitation (SoI) as a key source of “fast-mover advantages.” However, research on SoI has primarily developed in an isolated fashion across multiple subfields of strategic management, leading to a variety of theories, methodologies, and mixed findings that hinder the comprehensive understanding of SoI research. Against such a backdrop, this review leverages competitive dynamics research to (a) conceptualize SoI both as the velocity dimension of the imitation process and as a specific type of competitive response by identifying its necessary conditions, (b) integrate current knowledge on SoI by shedding light on its antecedents and outcomes, resulting in a process model that organizes these factors systematically, and (c) use this presented process model to identify research gaps and mixed findings in the existing literature, thus opening avenues for future research
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