Contingent influences of innovation characteristics and firm capabilities on early-mover advantage: A conceptual framework for high-tech environments

PurposeThis study aims to investigate how a firm’s sustainable competitive advantage is influenced by the combination of entrepreneurial ecological orientation, digital transformation and dynamic capabilities.Design/methodology/approachBased on the qualitative comparative analysis method, this study systematically explores the significant key conditions and configuration effects that affect the growth of sustainable competitive advantage. This study uncovers the causal relationship and complex mechanisms underlying the sustainable and unsustainable competitive advantages for new ventures, by examining the grouping effects of the above three factors – entrepreneurial ecological orientation, digital transformation and dynamic capabilities on those advantages.FindingsA single factor fails to constitute a necessary condition for sustainable competitive advantage. Three types of configurations are beneficial to sustainable competitive advantage, namely, flexible and responsive type, dynamically adjusted type and type of opportunity resource integration, whereas four types of configurations lead to the unsustainable competitive advantage of new ventures, namely, type of organizational rigidity, informal entrepreneurial type, information-blocking type and technology-deficient type.Originality/valueAccording to this study, adopting an entrepreneurial ecological orientation is a novel strategic move. This study offers an extensive review of three aspects of entrepreneurial ecological orientation, dynamic capacities and digital transformation and their mutually synergistic cascading effects on the sustainable competitive advantage of new ventures. This study investigates how three dimensions interact to achieve sustainable competitive advantage for firms, ultimately contributing to the study of sustainable competitive advantage strategies from an entrepreneurial ecosystem perspective.

Objective: This research aims to investigate the impact of differentiation strategies, market-based approaches, and artificial intelligence marketing on sustainable competitive advantage, with school image as an intervening variable moderated by school culture at Balikpapan Private Vocational Schools. Theoretical Framework: Differentiation Strategy and Sustainable Competitive Advantage; Market Driven and Sustainable Competitive Advantage; Artificial Intelligence Marketing and Sustainable Competitive Advantage; School Image as an Intervening Variable; School Culture as a Moderating Variable By using these theoretical approaches, this research aims to explore how differentiation strategies, market orientation, and artificial intelligence-based marketing can influence sustainable competitive advantage in private vocational schools in Balikpapan City, with school image as an intervention variable and school culture as a moderating variable. Method: This research was designed as research using a quantitative descriptive approach. The data analysis technique uses SEM (Structural Equation Modeling) using AMOS software. This research can also be said to be research with an inductive paradigm, namely testing from a sample which will then be generalized to the parent population. The population in this study were 12th-grade students at Balikpapan Private Vocational School. Researchers chose class 12 because students at that class level can be said to have lived for quite a long time and experienced the learning process at school since entering (class 10) and have made adjustments until they reach the final level (class 12). So, grade 12 students are students who already have self-confidence towards various components of school, be it towards teachers, friends, or the applicable rules. The population and samples were taken through school clusters with the criteria for schools that have been accredited B. Results and Discussion: The results of multivariate outlier detection based on Table 5.14 show that fourteen observations have a mahalonobis d-squared value greater than the table chi-square limit of 58.30, namely respondents number 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 17, 18, 21, 22, 23, and 28 so that these fourteen observations (respondents) were indicated as outliers, and were excluded from the analysis. Next, the data will be reanalyzed without including outliers, so the sample size will be 223 (237-14=223). This size of 223 still meets the sample size criteria explained in the previous subchapter. this research confirms the importance of differentiation, market orientation and artificial intelligence-based marketing strategies in building sustainable competitive advantages for private vocational schools in Balikpapan City, with school image as a key factor that mediates this influence. An integrated and responsive approach to market needs and the application of innovative technology will increase the school's competitiveness and reputation sustainably. Research Implications: Practical Implications: Differentiation Strategy Development: 1. Schools: Educational institutions can implement effective differentiation strategies to increase sustainable competitiveness. This includes offering unique programs, innovative teaching methods, and extracurricular activities that are different from other schools 2. Education Policy: Policymakers can encourage schools to develop their special strengths, by providing support in the form of training and resources. Improved School Image: 1. School Management: School managers must focus on efforts to strengthen the school's image, such as improving facilities, achieving high academic achievement, and building good relationships with the local community. 2. Marketing Communications: School marketing teams should leverage this positive image in their communications strategies to attract more potential students. Market-Based Approach: 1. Curriculum Strategy: Schools must continually adapt to market and industry needs, ensuring that their curriculum is relevant to today's work demands. 2. Collaboration with Industry: Partnerships with local companies and industry can help adapt educational programs to the real needs of the world of work. Application of Artificial Intelligence Based Marketing: 1. Technology Implementation: Schools should adopt AI technology in their marketing efforts to increase personalization and efficiency of communication with prospective students and parents. 2. Training and Development: Specialized training is required for marketing staff to optimize the use of AI tools. Theoretical Implications: Development of Educational Marketing Theory: This research enriches the literature on marketing strategies in vocational education, especially regarding how differentiation and market-based approaches influence sustainable competitive advantage. The Role of School Image as a Mediating Variable: The results of this study confirm the importance of school image as a significant mediating variable between differentiation strategies, market-based approaches, AI marketing, and sustainable competitive advantage. This adds to the theoretical understanding of influence mechanisms in educational contexts. School Culture as Moderator: This study also highlights the important role of school culture in moderating the relationship between AI marketing and sustainable competitive advantage, providing new insights into how cultural factors influence the effectiveness of technology marketing strategies. Affected Areas or Sectors: 1. Vocational Education Sector: Provides practical guidance for vocational schools to increase competitiveness through technology-based differentiation and marketing strategies. 2. Education Policy Development: Offers recommendations for policymakers to support differentiation and innovation initiatives in the curriculum. 3. School Management: Provides implementation strategies that can assist school management in improving the image and attractiveness of their schools. 4. Educational Marketing and Technology: Informing educational marketing practitioners about the benefits and challenges of using AI in their marketing strategies. This research, therefore, makes a significant practical and theoretical contribution, supporting the development of more effective and innovative educational policies and practices. Originality/Value: This research contributes to the literature by highlighting originality through an innovative approach in combining differentiation strategies, market-based approaches, and artificial intelligence marketing to enhance sustainable competitive advantage in the vocational education sector. The relevance and value of this research are evidenced by how the results can have a significant impact on school management practices, strengthen the image of institutions, and guide educational policies to be more responsive to market and technological needs.

Typology of Resources and Capabilities for Firms’ Performance

The authors test a model of the relationships among firm resources, firm capabilities, and sustained competitive advantage between 1971 and 1989. Sustained comparative advantage was captured by two variables: therapeutic differentiation and global NCEs. The results show that R&D and salesforce expenditures have indirect and direct effects, respectively, on sustained competitive advantage. Firm capabilities were differentiated into component and integrative capabilities. Component capabilities were captured by the firm’s internal R&D efforts and therapeutic market focus, while integrative capabilities were concerned with the firm’s ability to obtain FDA approvals and to develop radical new drugs. Findings on each of these four capabilities on therapeutic differentiation and global NCEs are mixed. The direct and indirect effects of these resources and capabilities on therapeutic differentiation and global NCEs suggest important managerial implications in the way firms coordinate and combine their assets so as to achieve sustained competitive advantage. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

This study investigates the influence of investment in key intangible resources and capabilities of firms, including intellectual capital (IC), financial capability (FC), and corporate social responsibility (CSR) on sustainable competitive advantage (SCA) and firm performance (FP) in an emerging country, Pakistan. The research model and its pertinent hypotheses are tested on a sample of 329 Pakistani small and medium enterprises (SMEs) by a structural equation model (SEM). The results exhibited a significant influence of the aforesaid factors on FP. However, SCA fully mediates the relationship between FC and FP and between CSR and FP, whereas SCA partially mediates the relationship between IC and FP. Taken together, the findings suggest the role of CSR and FC in indirectly spurring FP through SCA. Despite the limitations of this study, the results have several practical and theoretical implications for owners, managers, and policymakers.

In recent decades, particularly during the outbreak of COVID-19, businesses organizations have focused on knowledge management processes in order to attain a sustainable competitive advantage by creating human and social capital as strategic leadership capabilities. This paper aims to develop an integrated conceptual and theoretical framework that connects strategic leadership capabilities, knowledge management processes, and sustainable competitive advantage for the public and private organizations within the service industry. The model approach has been used to build a theoretical framework that predicts the relationships between the variables. To support the link between them, a systematic literature review of traditional and contemporary theoretical and empirical research studies is conducted. Through the combination of the related literature, propositions are established. This conceptual research is primarily comprised of a model and assertions concerning strategic leadership capabilities, knowledge management processes, and sustainable competitive advantage. The outcomes of this study reflect that strategic leadership capabilities can accomplish sustainable competitive advantage. They also have the greatest potential to impact sustainable competitive advantage via engaging the knowledge management processes. Particularly, there are significant implications of this study. Regarding the theoretical implication, it contributes to the resource-based view, knowledge-based view, and knowledge creation theory in supporting strategic leadership capabilities, knowledge management processes, and sustainable competitive advantage. To the practical implication, the study linked the concepts of research variables for public and private enterprises within the service industry. It can also enable strategic leaders and businesses owners to participate in real-time opportunities and determine threats for achieving a sustainable competitive advantage in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. This is a preliminary study of the sustainable competitive advantage literature that includes the concept of strategic leadership as a knowledge management processes enabler for achieving a sustainable competitive advantage. Until now, there has not been any work like it in the literature, save in the qualitative style.

The management revue is a peer-reviewed interdisciplinary European journal publishing both qualitative and quantitative work as well as purely theoretical papers that advance the study of management, organisation and industrial relations.

How do firms develop innovation strategies and capabilities during fundamental institutional transitions? To answer this question, this paper develops a theoretical framework which combines both strategy-based and dynamic capability-based perspectives. A longitudinal multiple case study of China’s telecommunications industry was conducted to verify the framework. This study offers an integrated perspective to investigate the complex and dynamic institutional interactions through which firms develop their own strategies for innovation capabilities. The comparative setting of the study between different company ownership structures – in this case, Stated-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) and private companies – identifies the strategic importance of corporate governance structure and entrepreneurial decisions in shaping innovation strategies and capabilities of firms. The finding of the study also suggest that firms’ sustained competitive advantage in institutional transitions depends more on what we referred to as the dynamic alignment of their innovation capabilities.

Abstrak: Specific Food-based cassava tape is a food that became the heritage of the ancestors and give a pride because in it’s rich in art, creativity, and ideas. Various specific food products of an area also found many specific foods made from cassava tape and done by small businesses. Therefore it is necessary to maintain the existence of processed food products so that processed food products based on cassava tape have a sustainable competitive advantage. Sustained competitive advantage can be realized by finding the resources and capabilities that become core competencies so that the resulting product is unique and different from the competitors. The purpose of this paper is to explain the resources and capabilities of small-scale cassava tape-based food businesses that are the core competencies. Research location in Jember district of East Java province. The type of research used is qualitative research. Informants are small business owners of specific cassava tape based foods. Data collection is done by in-depth interviews and in-depth observations. Data analysis using descriptive analysis. The research findings show that the resources and capabilities of firms that are core competencies include human resources, experience resources, reputation resources, expertise resources, knowledge resources, and marketing capabilities. The core competencies are managed using the four management functions discussed in this paper. Keywords: Core Competence, Management, Small business, Cassava Tape.

I examine the role of second order capabilities on capabilities- competitive advantage relationship and its influence on sustainability of competitive advantage. The concept of capabilities life cycle has been used to explicate the proposed relationship. Discussion also involves impact of velocity of environment on capabilities (operational as well as dynamic capabilities) – competitive advantage relationship. Investigation posit a mediation effect of second order capabilities on capabilities- competitive advantage relationship and they also have potential to help in attaining sustainability of completive advantage, while velocity of environment moderates capabilities- competitive advantage relationship.

I examine the role of second order capabilities on capabilities- competitive advantage relationship and its influence on sustainability of competitive advantage. The concept of capabilities life cycle has been used to explicate the proposed relationship. Discussion also involves impact of velocity of environment on capabilities (operational as well as dynamic capabilities) – competitive advantage relationship. Investigation posit a mediation effect of second order capabilities on capabilities- competitive advantage relationship and they also have potential to help in attaining sustainability of completive advantage, while velocity of environment moderates capabilities- competitive advantage relationship.

Market-based organizational learning has been identified as an important source of sustainable competitive advantage. One particular learning mechanism, benchmarking, is a widely used management tool that has been recognized as appropriate for identifying and enhancing valuable marketing capabilities. However, despite widespread admonitions to managers, the benchmarking of marketing capabilities as a route to sustainable competitive advantage has received scant empirical attention. The authors empirically examine the potential business performance benefits available from benchmarking the marketing capabilities of top-performing firms. The results suggest that benchmarking has the potential to become a key learning mechanism for identifying, building, and enhancing marketing capabilities to deliver sustainable competitive advantage.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the possible causes of the heterogeneous productivity observed in Spanish firms, finding evidence of a link between managerial capability and higher productivity in the context of family firms. Also, innovative human resource policies are much more frequently found in companies where there is a high level of management capability.Design/methodology/approachProductivity differences in Spanish family firms are, for the first time, analysed from a managerial view, and using multiple correspondence analysis (MCA).FindingsThis paper proposes a way to measure managerial capability. Innovative human resource policies are much more frequently found in companies with high levels of management capability. The authors show that sustained competitive advantage is not just a function of single or isolated components, but rather a combination of human capital elements. Besides, a clear association between high managerial capability and performance in family firms is established. Thus, better management skills enable Spanish family firms to design the necessary strategies and internal structures to facilitate their adjustment to the business environment, and, thereby, achieve operational performance gains.Originality/valueThis paper proposes a way to measure managerial capability and its association with productivity in Spanish family firms using MCA. The authors also show a clear positive association between high managerial capability and performance in family firms. Thus, better management skills enable Spanish family firms to achieve operational performance gains.

Amidst rapid technological progress and increasing regulatory demands, the Chinese video game industry has undergone rapid changes that have provided a fruitful context for examining corporate competencies. Drawing on the Resource-Based View (RBV) and Dynamic Capability View (DCV) theories, this study investigates how firm capabilities (FC) and firm resources (FR) contribute to value creation (VC), which subsequently influences firm performance (FP) and sustainable competitive advantage (SCA). A quantitative research approach was employed, utilizing the data collected from a questionnaire survey of 241 video game firms. The data analysis was conducted using SmartPLS4 software, revealing that FC/FR has a significant effect on VC, which, in turn, mediates the relationship between FC/FR and FP. This study identifies three dimensions of VC—customer value (CV), employee value (EV), and shareholder value (SV)—with EV showing stronger mediating effects than CV and SV. It then uses the BSC framework to assess FP’s intermediary role in bridging VC with SCA through the integration of both financial and non-financial performance indicators relevant to the dynamic video game industry. These results have strong theoretical and practical implications, offering valuable guidance for fostering sustainable development. Specifically, they provide actionable insights for managers to enhance value creation and firm performance while also offering policy recommendations to support regulatory compliance and promote sustainable practices in China’s dynamic video game industry.

Purpose – Capacity building is a crucial antecedent for socio-economic development. However, an enhanced capacity that is difficult to develop could quickly be eroded, because of rapid changes in competitive forces in industries and markets. Therefore, this paper intends to analyse the extant strategic management and relationship marketing (RM) literature that deal with competition. Eventually, the purpose of this paper is to develop an alternative route for capacity building process that could sustain competitive advantage in a market or industry, which encounters rapid changes in business competition. Design/methodology/approach – An inductive constructivist approach is followed to support arguments, in order to develop a synthesis from the relevant literature to reinforce the current understandings on capacity building and sustained competitive advantage. Findings – An influence of RM on strategic organisational dynamic capabilities (DCs) is recognised, which appears as significant to sustain DCs and subsequent competitive advantage. Based on this influence, this paper proposes a conceptual framework of capacity building that could survive through the “valuable, rare, inimitability and non-substitutability” test, which is fundamental to sustain competitive advantage. Some empirical insights are developed, in support of this conceptual framework. Practical implications – For research and practice, these insights will be useful to focus on specific attributes in capacity building to sustain the enhanced capacity’s competitive advantage over time, across industries and markets. Social implications – Similarly, the insights will be instrumental to sustain the benefit of capacity building to underpin socio-economic progress. Originality/value – The paper proposes a much needed initial conceptual framework for capacity building to sustain competitive advantage of a hard-earned capacity for socio-economic development.