Effect Of Competitive Pressure Research Articles

Effects of competitive pressure and habitat heterogeneity on niche partitioning between Arctic and boreal congeners

The rapidly changing climate in the Arctic is expected to have a major impact on the foraging ecology of seabirds, owing to changes in the distribution and abundance of their prey but also that of competitors (e.g. southerly species expanding their range into the Arctic). Species can respond to interspecific competition by segregating along different niche axes. Here, we studied spatial, temporal and habitat segregation between two closely related seabird species: common guillemot Uria aalge (a temperate species) and Brünnich’s guillemot Uria lomvia (a true Arctic species), at two sympatric sites in Iceland that differ in their total population sizes and the availability of marine habitats. We deployed GPS and temperature-depth recorders to describe foraging locations and behaviour of incubating and chick-rearing adults. We found similar evidence of spatial segregation at the two sites (i.e. independent of population sizes), although segregation in environmental space was only evident at the site with a strong habitat gradient. Unexpectedly, temporal (and, to a limited extent, vertical) segregation appeared only at the least populated site. Overall, our results show complex relationships between the levels of inferred competition and that of segregation.

AMBIDEXTROUS INNOVATION IN STATE-OWNED ENTERPRISES IN INDIA: THE ROLE OF NEW ENTRANTS, TECHNOLOGICAL DISCONTINUITY, AND KNOWLEDGE NETWORKS

This study examines the effects of competitive pressure by new entrants and technological discontinuity on the strategic innovations adopted by incumbent state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in India. Due to government ownership, these firms are dominant players domestically and their market leadership is challenged by new entrants. Technological discontinuity challenges technology leadership. Incumbent firms develop knowledge networks by working with partners, suppliers, and buyers. The incumbent firms must strike a balance between the exploitation of current technology and the exploration of new technology. This study aims to understand the effect of new entrants and technological discontinuity on the exploitation and exploration strategies of Indian SOEs in the manufacturing sector. The quantitative analysis is carried out using partial least squares structural equation modeling. For Indian SOEs, the technological discontinuity does affect exploitation and exploration, but new entrants have no such effect. The study confirms the moderating effect of knowledge networks on exploitation.

Competitive Pressure and Business Performance in East Java Batik Industry

This study aims to assess the impact of competitive pressure and innovation capability on business performance in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the batik industry in East Java, Indonesia. Furthermore, this study explores the impact of competitive pressure on business performance through innovation capability as a mediating variable. This research was quantitative using primary data with questionnaire as a method of sampling collection. The measurement of the variables was captured using Likert scale. The respondents were small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the batik industry in East Java Province, Indonesia. The sample totaled 254 subjects. The data analysis was done using SEM-PLS. The results of the study show that: 1) there was a positive direct impact of competitive pressure on business performance; 2) competition pressure positively influences innovation capability; 3) innovation capability positively influences business performance; and 4) innovation capability has a partial mediating role in the effect of competitive pressures on business performance. The findings of this study suggest that managers in SME's batik industry should increase their effort to cope with the high competitive pressure to increase the innovation capability, so that they can have an advantage to face successfully competitors, leading to higher business performance.

Outsourcing vs. In-House Production: A Strategic Decision to Increase a Firm’s Product Innovation and Internationalization

The purpose of this study is to analyze manufacturing firms’ choice of production as a strategic decision to increase their product innovation and internationalization using firm-survey data collected from Korea. The independent and moderating variables are derived from the transaction cost perspective, industry-based perspective and institution-based perspective. By bringing together the three (3) perspectives, this research attempts to investigate the extent to which outsourcing strategy decisions of the firms and the environmental context in which the firms operate determine the level of innovation and internationalization performance. With a sample of 164 manufacturing firms form Korea, the data was tested using logistic and linear (OLS) regression analysis to analyze the effects of outsourcing, competitive pressure and property right protection on product innovation and internationalization. The findings show that outsourcing helps firms to reduce the resources required to manufacture existing products and enable a firm capacity to utilize those saved resources on core competencies needed to create innovation. Furthermore, the study observes a negative moderating effect of competitive pressure on the relationship between outsourcing and innovation, indicating that in a highly competitive environment, firms should seriously consider internal production to prevent potential knowledge spillovers to other competitors. Finally, this study finds that the strength of the property right has a significant moderating effect towards firm’s export capacity. Through the results of this research, implications for managers and policy makers on how to increase product innovation and internationalization can be derived.

Product market competition and debt choice

Motivated by prior research on the informational and monitoring role of product market competition, we examine how competitive pressure affects firms' choice between bank debt and public debt. Using a sample of 3675 U.S. firms over the period 2001–2013, we find that competitive pressure from the product market leads firms to rely less on bank debt financing. In a natural experiment setting, we also find that there is a significant decrease in firm reliance on bank debt after large import tariff reductions. In additional analyses, we show that the effect of competitive pressure on debt choice is more pronounced for firms with greater exposure to competition, higher financial constraints, and weaker governance practices. Moreover, we find that product market competition is associated with long-term maturity debt. Taken together, our study generates the important insight that external governance pressure from the product market acts as an alternate governance mechanism for bank debt monitoring.

"Procurement Relations, Alternative Suppliers and Managerial Knowledge"

This paper explores how procurement projects are influenced by the inter- and intra-organizational relations and knowledge of managers, and on the effect of competitive pressure on the use of relat...

B2B in Translation Studies

This article adopts a meta-theoretical and meta-academic perspective. It takes a critical look at how academic research in translation studies (as in other fields) is increasingly dominated by market forces as the world of higher education is drawn more and more into the sphere of neoliberal action and ideology. The paper acknowledges the positive effects of competitive pressures on scholarship – including increased research output, greater innovation and more efficient communication – but it also considers their adverse effects. More specifically, it is argued that the relentless pressure to innovate is having a negative impact on the intellectual rigour of our research by leading to needless fragmentation and ultimately undermining quality-control mechanisms. The paper concludes by making a number of recommendations to counterbalance the forces of the market.

The Effect of Competition on Process and Outcome Quality of Hospital Care in the Netherlands

We examine the impact of competition on outcome and process indicators of hospital quality. While earlier literature on the relationship between competition and hospital quality mainly focused on outcome indicators, we argue that the inclusion of process indicators in the analysis can provide supplementary information about the effect of competitive pressure on hospitals’ incentives. In particular, these indicators are less noisy than outcome indicators and are important as a management tool. Our panel dataset covers all Dutch general and academic hospitals in the period 2004–2008, during which the transparency of hospital quality information increased substantially due to the disclosure of hospitals’ quality indicators. We find that competition among hospitals located within the hospital catchment area explains differences in several process indicators, but fails to explain differences in outcome indicators. The results suggest that hospitals facing more competition organize diagnostic processes more efficiently; however, they have more operation cancellations at short notice and more delays of hip fracture injury operations for elderly patients. This suggests that competition affects the allocation of hospital personnel efforts even when outcomes have not been affected.

Trade Policy, Competition and Productivity: The Impact of EU Harmonization in the Dutch Food Processing Industry

Evidence broadly confirms that European Union (EU) harmonization of food regulations can be considered as a trade-promoting and market-integrating instrument in the Single Market. However, little is known on how this particular trade liberalization measure may impact total factor productivity (TFP). One of the general presumptions is that trade liberalization has a positive impact on productivity through the effect of competitive pressures to which domestic firms are exposed. For instance, as a result of lowering or removing regulatory barriers to trade, a decline in entry costs of foreign and domestic competitors leads to more competitive pressures which have a downward effect on prices and markups and higher TFP through a better reallocation of inputs. The overall evidence shown in this paper leads to the conclusion that the impact of EU harmonization on various TFP measures occurs through a markup mechanism: more EU harmonization results in more competition (lower markups) and greater TFP growth. We also investigate the impact of assumptions relating to market structure and the production function. We empirical test and refute the assumptions of perfect competition and constant returns to scale in our sample. The analysis is carried out at the level of Dutch food processing firms for the 1979–2005 period. We extend and built upon a new database on EU harmonization of regulations in the food industry. The product classification of this database follows the detailed Combined Nomenclature classification that codes the relevant harmonization initiatives of technical regulations at the product level.

Firm Entry, Competitive Pressures and the US Inflation Dynamics

This paper studies the effect of competitive pressures on inflation dynamics. To this end it derives and estimates a New Keynesian Phillips curve in a model with endogenous firm entry. The number of active firms is inversely related to their market power. By taking into account the number of competitors, the pass-through of real marginal cost on inflation is separately identifiable from the effect of endogenous desired markup fluctuations. Estimates with US data suggest that the effect of real marginal cost on inflation is stronger than that found in the empirical test of the standard model. The estimated elasticity of the desired markup with respect to the number of firms implies that an increase of 10% in the number of active firms would lower annual inflation by 1.4% in the short run.

Effects of competitive pressure on expert performance: Underlying psychological, physiological, and kinematic mechanisms

Although it is well established that performance is influenced by competitive pressure, our understanding of the mechanisms which underlie the pressure-performance relationship is limited. The current experiment examined mediators of the relationship between competitive pressure and motor skill performance of experts. Psychological, physiological, and kinematic responses to three levels of competitive pressure were measured in 50 expert golfers, during a golf putting task. Elevated competitive pressure increased putting accuracy, anxiety, effort, and heart rate, but decreased grip force. Quadratic effects of pressure were noted for self-reported conscious processing and impact velocity. Mediation analyses revealed that effort and heart rate partially mediated improved performance. The findings indicate that competitive pressure elicits effects on expert performance through both psychological and physiological pathways.

Toward a Longitudinal Model of e-Commerce: Environmental, Technological, and Organizational Drivers of B2C Adoption

Despite the important benefits for firms of commercial initiatives on the Internet, e-commerce is still an emerging distribution channel, even in developed countries. Thus, more needs to be known about the mechanisms affecting its development. A large number of works have studied firms' e-commerce adoption from technological, intraorganizational, institutional, or other specific perspectives, but there is a need for adequately tested integrative frameworks. Hence, this work proposes and tests a model of firms' business-to-consumer (called B2C) e-commerce adoption that is founded on a holistic vision of the phenomenon. With this integrative approach, the authors analyze the joint influence of environmental, technological, and organizational factors; moreover, they evaluate this effect over time. Using various representative Spanish data sets covering the period 1996–2005, the findings demonstrate the suitability of the holistic framework. Likewise, some lessons are learned from the analysis of the key building blocks. In particular, the current study provides evidence for the debate about the effect of competitive pressure, since the findings show that competitive pressure disincentivizes e-commerce adoption in the long term. The results also show that the development or enrichment of the consumers' consumption patterns, the technological readiness of the market forces, the firm's global scope, and its competences in innovation continuously favor e-commerce adoption.

Economic pressure, multi‐tiered subcontracting and occupational health and safety in Australian long‐haul trucking

PurposeThe purpose of this research is to analyse the relationship between economic pressure, multi‐tiered subcontracting and occupational health and safety (OHS) outcomes for employee and owner/drivers in long‐haul trucking, using Australian evidence.Design/methodology/approachThe analysis is based on direct interviews with 300 long‐haul drivers, using a structured questionnaire along with an examination of documentary records, statistics and government reports. Qualitative and quantitative data were gathered on self‐reported acute and chronic injuries, the incidence of occupational violence, truck crashes, indicators of illicit drug use, hours of work/fatigue and psychological distress.FindingsVariations between owner/drivers and employees working for small and large firms were investigated. Overall, owner/drivers reported worse OHS than small fleet and, more especially, large fleet drivers. Evidence also indicated a connection between economic pressure, the expansion of contingent work and negative OHS outcomes.Research limitations/implicationsFurther longitudinal and comparative research is needed to test the hypothesized link between competitive pressures, supply chain rationalization and OHS outcomes. Research to investigate these issues in other countries is required in order to compare findings with those for Australia and to assess the effectiveness of new enforcement initiatives.Practical implicationsFindings suggest the need for policy interventions aimed at improving OHS to address commercial practices, including elaborate subcontracting chains, more explicitly than is currently the case with road transport regulation. Recent moves in this direction are identified.Originality/valueUnlike manufacturing, healthcare and the public sector, there have been few studies of the OHS effects associated with contingent work arrangements in transport. In addition to helping to fill this gap the paper provides evidence on the effects of competitive pressure and supply chains on work practices and OHS.

Linking organizational context with structure: a preliminary investigation of the information processing view

Although the effects of many environmental and contextual variables on organizational structure have been studied extensively, the relationships of these variables among themselves and with organizational structure remain largely inconclusive. Based on the information-processing (IP) view of organization, this study builds and tests an integrated model to investigate the factors that are likely to be associated with an organization's information intensity. The model includes two organizational contextual variables: competitive pressure and organizational innovativeness, two IP-related variables: information intensity and information technology (IT) importance, and two dimensions of organizational structure: centralization and formalization. Based on data collected in Taiwan, the results show the significant role of information intensity in mediating the effects of competitive pressure and innovativeness on IT importance and structures, thus lending strong support to the IP view of organization.

The effect of competitive pressure on charity: Hospital responses to price shopping in California

Since higher charges to private patients are a major source of financing for hospital care to the uninsured, increased price shopping by private payers may mean that hospitals are less able to provide such care. I study the effect of increased price shopping on California hospital markets over the 1984–1988 period. I find that there was a large fall in net private revenues and net income in the least concentrated hospital markets in the state after the advent of price shopping. Perhaps as a result, care to the uninsured fell dramatically in these markets as well, relative to more concentrated markets.