Strong Competitive Advantage Research Articles

The mediating role of job satisfaction and competitive advantage between quality management practices and sustainable performance: Case of hospitals in Guangxi, China

BACKGROUND: Ensuring medical quality and safety is the perpetual focus of healthcare management. Hospitals must prioritize quality management for sustainable growth. However, the complexity of quality management in hospitals, coupled with evolving practices, presents challenges. Achieving the integration of economic, environmental, and social benefits for high-quality development remains difficult. While quality management practices are acknowledged as strategic tools, their impact on job satisfaction, competitive advantage, and sustainable performance is not yet fully understood. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this research was to empirically demonstrate the relationship between quality management practices, job satisfaction, competitive advantage, and sustainable performance. METHODS: The study uses a quantitative research method. A questionnaire survey was conducted in Guangxi, China, among 171 quality management executives in secondary and tertiary hospitals, and the proposed research model was validated using PLS-SEM. RESULTS: The results showed that quality management practices have positive direct and indirect effects on sustainable performance, confirming the partial mediating role of job satisfaction, and competitive advantage in the relationship between quality management practices and sustainable performance. CONCLUSIONS: This study addresses a gap in quality management literature by exploring the relationship between quality management practices, job satisfaction, competitive advantage, and sustainable performance. Findings reveal that higher implementation of quality management practices correlates with increased job satisfaction, stronger competitive advantage, and enhanced sustainable performance in hospitals. These results suggest that implementing quality management practices can boost job satisfaction, enhance competitive advantage, and promote sustainable performance, offering valuable insights for hospital leaders.

Entrepreneurial leadership: key to sustainable innovation and competitiveness in Islamic insurance companies in Jordan

Purpose This study delves into the significant impact of entrepreneurial leadership (EL), organizational innovation (OI) and competitive advantage (CA) on the sustainability of organizations in the Jordanian Islamic insurance sector. This study aims to unravel the intricate dynamics among these pivotal factors, highlighting their collective role in the sustained success and resilience of Islamic insurance companies in Jordan. By examining the synergistic interplay between EL, OI and CA, the research seeks to offer invaluable insights into cultivating a sustainable future for these institutions. Design/methodology/approach This study adopts a positivist, quantitative approach to investigate the relationships between EL, OI, CA and organizational sustainability (OS). Data collection was achieved through questionnaires in a cross-sectional analysis of these variables. Convenience sampling yielded 389 valid responses, an 81% response rate, ensuring a thorough understanding of the dynamics within this framework. Findings The findings from the study on Jordanian Islamic insurance companies highlight the critical role of EL in influencing organizational dynamics. The research establishes a positive relationship between EL and both OI and OS. Furthermore, it identifies a significant positive correlation between EL and CA, underscoring the importance of leadership in securing a competitive edge. This study also emphasizes the vital role of OI in bolstering OS and confirms that a strong CA enhances OS, reinforcing the interconnectivity of these essential organizational components. Practical implications This study provides important insights for professionals in the insurance sector, especially those within the Jordanian Islamic insurance industry. It emphasizes the crucial role of EL in fostering innovation, competitiveness and sustainability. By understanding the significance of EL, companies can adopt more dynamic and effective strategies in leadership, organizational development and strategic planning, thereby enhancing their overall performance and resilience. Originality/value By conceptualizing EL and OS as second-order constructs, this study seeks to provide a detailed understanding of how EL catalyzes OI, CA and sustainability in an organizational context. This approach contributes significantly to the broader discussion on EL and OS, particularly within the Arab region and specifically in Jordan, offering nuanced insights into their roles and interrelations in shaping organizational dynamics.

Big Data Analytics: Future of Database

Abstract: Big data analytics is a revolutionary method for processing massive and complicated datasets, analysing them, and drawing important conclusions from them. Big data's introduction has caused a paradigm change in data management and analysis, giving businesses previously unheard-of opportunity to gain insightful information and make informed decisions. This study explores how big data analytics affects how well organization’s function, concentrating on the methods and tools applied across a range of sectors. We undertook an empirical analysis of case studies from businesses in the retail, healthcare, and financial sectors after conducting a thorough assessment of the literature. According to our research, using big data analytics leads to better decision-making, increased operational effectiveness, and a stronger competitive advantage. Data quality, analytics tools, and corporate culture are the main success determinants. However, issues with data privacy and the necessity for qualified data experts make the effective application of big data analytics difficult. This study adds to our understanding of big data analytics' revolutionary potential and offers useful information for practitioners and decision-makers who want to use data to their advantage.

An adaptive differential evolution algorithm based on archive reuse

In recent years, differential evolution algorithms based on archives have achieved significant success because archives can increase population diversity and balance the exploration and exploitation of algorithms. However, insufficient utilisation of archives has led to an imbalance between exploration and exploitation. Herein, a new archive-reuse-based adaptive differential evolution (AR-aDE) algorithm framework is proposed that can be applied to (L)SHADE and its variants. It comprises three main strategies. First, a new external archive update method based on a cache mechanism is proposed, in which the archive size is the same as the population size, eliminating the need to adjust its size. Second, influenced by knowledge transfer in multitasking optimisation, we designed a new method of reusing the archive to better utilise the information in it. Finally, the classic parameter adaptation method was improved. The experimental results for the CEC2020 and CEC2021 competition problem sets show that the KR-aDE has a strong competitive advantage.

Optimization of ticket pricing for high-speed railway considering full competitive environment

The rapid development of high-speed railways (HSR) worldwide has provided a fast, convenient, safe, and comfortable mode of transportation. It is also an important public transportation tool for green travel, contributing to the reduction of carbon emissions. HSR has a strong competitive advantage in long-distance passenger transportation, but it faces significant competition from the aviation industry. Airlines attract passengers with discounted fares and differentiated pricing strategies, apart from shorter travel times. Therefore, it is necessary for railway enterprises to enhance their competitiveness through differentiated pricing methods for HSR. In this study, we focus on optimizing a long-distance origin-destination (OD) pair and creating a competitive market environment by considering all operating trains and flights for the selected OD pair. We aim to improve the realism of the study by considering passengers’ fully rational travel choice behavior. To reduce the complexity of variables, passengers are grouped based on their expected departure time and income level. A mixed integer linear programing model is developed to address the problem, aiming to minimize overall travel costs for passengers while ensuring that the income of the railway enterprise does not fall below a specified value. By setting this specific value, the maximum revenue of HSR train tickets can be obtained.

Achieving Seconds‐to‐Hours Duration‐Tunable Organic Long Persistent Luminescence from Carbon Dots‐Based Exciplex Systems by Energy Gaps Regulation†

Comprehensive SummaryDuration‐tunable afterglow materials have garnered considerable attention in various applications. Herein, carbon dots (CDs)‐based long persistent luminescence (LPL) composites with a tunable duration in an ultrawide range of seconds‐to‐hours levels were designed and prepared for the first time. In contrast to the established CD‐based afterglow materials, we reported that CD‐based composites exhibit LPL in the form of exciplexes and long‐lived charge‐separated states, enabling the LPL to be prolonged from several seconds to over one hour, exceeding the typical regulation range (limited to 1 min). Further studies revealed that the relationship between the excited and charge‐transfer states of CDs plays a pivotal role in activating the LPL and regulating its duration. Furthermore, these composites exhibited high photoluminescence (PL) quantum yields of up to 60.63%, and their LPL was robust under ambient conditions, even in aqueous media. Their robust and superior LPL performance endows these composites with a strong competitive advantage in dynamic display systems, such as tags for time‐resolved data encryption and displays of the remaining time of takeaways. This study offers an approach to preparing CDs‐based LPL composites with tunable durations and may provide new insights for the development of rare‐earth‐free LPL materials.

KCA/Na2SiO3/PNIPAm hydrogel with highly robust and strong solar modulation capability for thermochromic smart window

Thermochromic smart windows have strong competitive advantages in the realm of building energy conservation. However, achieving thermochromic smart window with a lower critical solution temperature (LCST), high solar modulation (ΔTsol), and excellent visible light transmittance (Tlum) remains a great challenge. Here, a novel composite hydrogel based on polydiisopropylacrylamide (PNIPAm) doped with carrageenan (KCA) and Na2SiO3 was developed for high-performance smart window. The lower LCST of PNIPAm was precisely tuned in a range from 25 °C to 28 °C by controlling the content of added Na2SiO3. The inclusion of KCA diminishes agglomeration within the gel system and enhances both Tlum and ΔTsol. As a result, the KCA/Na2SiO3/PNIPAm exhibits a high Tlum (87.37 %), ΔTsol (69.65 %), a lower LCST (27.2 °C), and a high atmospheric window emissivity (0.962). The smart window achieves temperature drop of 12.3 °C under direct sunlight, and keeps highly stable even after 100 cycle tests high and low-temperature durability due to its robust solar modulation capability. This work offers valuable insights for developing high-performance and robust thermochromic smart windows and holds promising applications in building energy conservation.

Tropical bloom-forming mesoalgae Cladophoropsis sp. and Laurencia sp.-responses to ammonium enrichment and a simulated heatwave.

Algal blooms are increasing worldwide, driven by elevated nutrient inputs. However, it is still unknown how tropical benthic algae will respond to heatwaves, which are expected to be more frequent under global warming. In the present study, a multifactorial experiment was carried out to investigate the potential synergistic effects of increased ammonium inputs (25 μM, control at 2.5 μM) and a heatwave (31°C, control at 25°C) on the growth and physiology (e.g., ammonium uptake, nutrient assimilation, photosynthetic performance, and pigment concentrations) of two bloom-forming algal species, Cladophoropsis sp. and Laurencia sp. Both algae positively responded to elevated ammonium concentrations with higher growth and chlorophyll a and lutein concentrations. Increased temperature was generally a less important driver, interacting with elevated ammonium by decreasing the algaes'%N content and N:P ratios. Interestingly, this stress response was not captured by the photosynthetic yield (Fv/Fm) nor by the carbon assimilation (%C), which increased for both algae at higher temperatures. The negative effects of higher temperature were, however, buffered by nutrient inputs, showing an antagonistic response in the combined treatment for the concentration of VAZ (violaxanthin, antheraxanthin, zeaxanthin) and thalli growth. Ammonium uptake was initially higher for Cladophoropsis sp. and increased for Laurencia sp. over experimental time, showing an acclimation capacity even in a short time interval. This experiment shows that both algae benefited from increased ammonium pulses and were able to overcome the otherwise detrimental stress of increasingly emerging temperature anomalies, which provide them a strong competitive advantage and might support their further expansions in tropical marine systems.

Research on the Opportunities for Chinese Domestic Cosmetics to Advance into High-end Products

In recent years, with the rapid growth of China's economy, domestic cosmetics brands have emerged; With the improvement of domestic people's living standards and the improvement of market purchasing power, China has become the third largest luxury consumer in the world, after the United States and Japan. As the entry-level industry of luxury goods, high-end cosmetics still occupy the main market by European and American international brands. This paper will take China's domestic cosmetics brands as the research object. This paper will mainly use the methods of qualitative analysis, general analysis, and case analysis, and analyze the development status of the domestic cosmetics market from the overall market and individual manufacturers through data analysis and chart analysis. SWOT analysis was used to analyze the market environment of domestic cosmetics brands of the Revised Group from macro and micro market environment and summarized the advantages and disadvantages, opportunities and hidden dangers at the present stage. It focuses on analyzing how to position domestic cosmetics brands and discusses how to carry out brand marketing around the target market. Finally, it summarizes the main factors that promote the success of brand positioning. Brand development planning is the soul of a product, especially high-end cosmetics, which determines whether a brand can gain a competitive advantage in a complex environment to strive for a larger market share. In the face of fierce competition and continuous development of the cosmetics market, domestic cosmetics only take the brand road, shape the brand image, strengthen the brand characteristics, and establish a strong competitive advantage, enterprises can continue to develop.

Quality control analysis of chiffon cake pandan in Holland Bakery

The advancement of business development affects economic competition. Companies with strong competitive advantages must compete with other companies in the same field. One way to compete with the same competitors is to favor the quality of the products produced. Holland Bakery is one of the cake and bread manufacturers. Holland Bakery continues to strive to produce quality products, but there is still damage that exceeds the standard limit by 2.13% in 2022 with the standard limit set, which is 2%. One way to do quality control is to use the Statistical Quality Control (SQC) method. This study aims to analyze the quality of one of Holland Bakery's products, namely Chiffon Cake Pandan Sponge Cake, which is still within the tolerance limit or not, and what types of damage occur most often. This research was conducted from September 21 - October 20, 2023, with the results obtained that the level of damage is still within the tolerance limit. However, there is still damage exceeding the UCL line on the 10th day of production by 10% due to burning, the 19th day by 6.67% due to non-standard shape, the 23rd day by 11.11% due to burning, and the 29th day by 10% due to burning. The most dominant damage is due to burning as many as 16 pieces. Then, the cause-and-effect diagram shows that damage factors occur due to humans (man), environment (environment), and methods (method). Improvements from various aspects such as humans, environment, and methods can be made to minimize damage so that quality is always maintained. It is expected that Holland Bakery can review the production method of Chiffon Cake Pandan, monitor the condition of workers, and add air ventilation in the production room.

Abstract C057: Delineating tissue-specific oncogene selection with autochthonous CRISPR activation screening

Abstract Background: While the genetic landscapes of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) and non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) are well described, the contribution of individual genes and transcriptomic programs to tumor initiation, progression and metastasis remain incompletely understood. To quantify the oncogenic potential of individual genes and identify transcriptomic programs that drive progression and metastasis, we have developed a platform for in vivo CRISPR activation (CRISPRa) screening that allows us to delineate tissue-specific oncogene selection. Material and Methods: Our platform consists of a conditional, CRISPRa-competent, murine tumor model (PPKS; P53(F/F), Kras(LSL-G12D/+), R26(LSL-SAM), coupled with targeted delivery of Cre-recombinase/sgRNA library encoding lentivirus [1]. We designed a CRISPRa screening library targeting 452 of the most commonly amplified and mutated genes across human adenocarcinoma. Using this library, we generated pancreatic and lung tumors, and harvested tissues and metastatic lesions at multiple time points (6 days, 4 weeks, 8 weeks, and endpoint). The change in guide distribution over time was then determined using NGS and bioinformatic analysis. To confirm the oncogenic potential of the most highly enriched genes, single gene-activated tumors were compared to non-targeted controls. Results: We found that essentially all guides (99.9%) were represented in vivo at the 6-day time point. The degree of guide selection increased over time and was significantly higher in the pancreas relative to the lung, indicating a higher degree of parallel tumor evolution in the lung. Lung samples were characterized by Egfr, Sox2 and Myc displaying gradually increasing enrichment over time and Egfr displayed the highest level of enrichment in endpoint lung tumors. In stark contrast, pancreas samples were almost completely dominated by Myc activation at the 4-week timepoint, with increased enrichment in the later timepoints, indicating a strong competitive advantage of Myc-activation, specifically in the pancreas. To confirm the pro-tumorigenic role of Myc in the pancreas, we analyzed the survival and phenotype of Myc-activated PPKS tumors, which revealed accelerated tumor progression relative to controls. Conclusions: We present one of the first implementations of autochthonous in vivo CRISPR activation screening, allowing for direct observation and quantification of oncogene selection and competition in vivo. Our results replicate tissue-specific differences in oncogene selection and indicate a dominant role of Myc-activation in pancreatic oncogenesis. Our platform has the potential to be used to address a wide range of inquiries into tumor biology, including drivers of progression, metastasis and resistance to targeted therapies.

Competition in the international cherry market: A competitiveness analysis of the developing country

This research assesses the competitiveness of Chilean cherry exports, with a specific focus on the Chinese market, identifying sectoral challenges and opportunities. Implementing quantitative, descriptive and non-experimental methodologies based on previous studies (Montes Ninaquispe et al., 2023), it utilizes the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI) for market diversification, the Trade Competitiveness Index (TC), and the Revealed Comparative Advantage Index (RCA) based on previous studies (Arbulú Ballesteros et al., 2024). The analysis reveals a significant concentration of exports to China, representing over 88 percent of Chile’s total cherry exports from 2018 to 2022, despite market volatility and a general trend of growth in both volume and value. The HHI indicates a high concentration risk due to dependency on the Chinese market, while the TC and RCA highlight a strong competitive and comparative advantage in this sector. The study concludes the need for market diversification to reduce dependency risks, suggesting the exploration of new markets like Thailand, South Korea, and Ecuador, alongside improvements in marketing strategies. Additionally, it recommends enhancing corporate innovation and operational efficiency via advanced production technologies and optimizing logistics and supply chain management to sustain the competitive advantage of Chilean cherry exports.

Analysis of total quality management (TQM) implementation in the biotechnology industry

Over the past two decades, the relevance of the Total Quality Management (TQM) model has increased significantly. TQM is becoming increasingly popular as organizations focus more on improving the quality of their products, services, and internal operations to increase customer value and gain competitive advantage. Organizations from the biotechnology sector play a significant role in the development of the national economy, the social sphere and employment. In such a situation, they face strong competitive advantages of competitors from all over the world, such as low costs and high productivity. The change in the amount of added value alone over the last 10 years leads to an increase of 35.2% per year. In 2009 is BGN 12 million, and in 2019 is BGN 208 million. That is why it is critical for them to improve their organizational performance through the Total Quality Management (TQM) approach. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the individual components of TQM in organizations from the field of biotechnology and food industry and to determine its model in terms of engineering activities. Pre-designed questionnaires were used as a data collection instrument in the present study. Conducting semi-structured interviews with team leaders in a biotech manufacturing organization provides insight into the impact of TQM on competitiveness. These elements, leadership skills and supplier/customer relationships have been found to play an important role in improving overall performance.

Ekspor Teh Hitam Indonesia ke Jepang: Struktur Pasar dan Daya Saing

Indonesian tea export to international market is dominated by black tea. Japan becomes the black tea export destination with big untapped export potential, but has volatile export value, thus hinders the optimization of black tea export potential to Japan. This study aims to analyze the market structure and competitiveness as well as determine the Indonesian black tea market expansion to Japan. This study employs Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI), Concentration Ratio (CR4), Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA), Revealed Symmetric Comparative Advantage (RSCA), Export Product Dynamic (EPD), and X-Model Potential Export Products. The results show that the packaged and bulk black tea market structure in Japan is oligopoly. Indonesian bulk black tea gains comparative advantage, whereas Indonesian packaged black tea lacks comparative advantage in Japan market. Besides that, Indonesian bulk black tea has stronger competitive advantage over Indonesian packaged black tea. Furthermore, Indonesian bulk black tea is able to become the focus of export expansion to Japan at the moment.

Analysis of Enterprise Valuation and Future Development Trends of BYD Company

Due to the depletion of fossil fuels required by traditional vehicles and a series of environmental problems, new energy vehicles have gradually entered the public's vision with the advantages of low pollution, low price and high comfort. In recent years, BYD's new energy vehicles have occupied a place in China's new energy market with strong competitive advantages. This paper selects BYD as the research object, conducts valuation research on BYD enterprise, and provides suggestions for the development of new energy automobile enterprises. We mainly analyze BYD's financial performance from four aspects: profitability, debt paying ability, operating ability and development ability. Subsequently, the BYD's financial data is used to calculate WACC, FCFF in the next 3-5 years, and finally uses DCF method to evaluate the enterprise. According to the analysis, BYD's core competitiveness continues to improve, its financial performance is high, and its enterprise value in the next 3-5 years is still increasing, which is worthy of investment. This is of great significance to the research of the future development trend of new energy.

Distinct pathways of adaptive evolution in Cryptococcus neoformans reveal a mutation in adenylyl cyclase with trade-offs for pathogenicity

Pathogenic fungi populate a wide range of environments and infect a diversity of host species. Despite this substantial biological flexibility, the impact of interactions between fungi and their hosts on the evolution of pathogenicity remains unclear. We studied how repeated interactions between the fungus Cryptococcus neoformans and relevant environmental and mammalian host cells-amoeba and mouse macrophages-shape the evolution of this model fungal pathogen. First, using a collection of clinical and environmental isolates of C.neoformans, we characterized a range of survival phenotypes for these strains when exposed to host cells of different species. We then performed serial passages of an environmentally isolated C.neoformans strain through either amoeba or macrophages for ∼75 generations to observe how these interactions select for improved replication within hosts. In one adapted population, we identified a single point mutation in the adenylyl cyclase gene, CAC1, that swept to fixation and confers a strong competitive advantage for growth inside macrophages. Strikingly, this growth advantage in macrophages is inversely correlated with disease severity during mouse infections, suggesting that adaptation to specific host niches can markedly reduce the pathogenicity of these fungi. These results raise intriguing questions about the influence of cyclic AMP (cAMP) signaling on pathogenicity and highlight the role of seemingly small adaptive changes in promoting fundamental shifts in the intracellular behavior and virulence of these important human pathogens.

Analysis of Essential Industries and Other Fundamentals as Well As Financial Competitiveness in Driving Economic Growth in Medan City

Economic growth is an indicator of economic development in the process of economic growth. The benchmark economists use to look for signs of economic growth in a country or region is regional gross domestic product (GDP). This study's goal is to evaluate which industries are included in the primary and non-primary sectors and how economic competitiveness accelerates economic growth in Medan City. This study uses quantitative research methods with class analysis tools Location Question (LQ), Shift Share and Typology.The results of the study based on the results of location inquiry analysis show that there are 12 basic sectors, namely: the field of water supply, waste treatment, waste and recycling; Construction; wholesale and retail trade, repair of cars and motorcycles; transportation and storage, provision of shelter and food; Information and Communication; financial and insurance services; Housing; business services; Education services, health services and social services and other services as well as five other economic sectors are non-core sectors of Medan City. The results of the Shift Share analysis show that almost all economic sectors in Medan City have a positive Differential Shift value, meaning that these economic sectors have strong competitiveness or high competitive advantages compared to the same industry in the Sumatran economy

A Bibliometric Analysis of a Four-Construct Framework: Innovation Management, Competitive Advantage, Agility and Organizational Performance

Abstract In a globalized economy, innovation is a priority of ensuring the competitive advantage and organizational performance of agile companies, competitiveness being the core of the development in any economic activity. Consequently, the purpose of this research is to provide an overview regarding the connections between four main constructs, respectively innovation management, competitive advantage, agility and organizational performance, through performing a bibliometric analysis by using the VOSviewer visualization tool. The information has been selected from the Web of Science Core Collection database (WoS) during February 2023. This preliminary study aims to grant relevance to the potential research areas prone to be exploited when discussing the matter of innovation management in relation to organizational performance, competitive advantage achievement and agility. The main premise is that every company has its particularities and acts accordingly to stay competitive through innovating its business model and through an articulate innovation management, also encompassing agility, with a view to reach organizational performance and strong competitive advantage. In terms of findings, the bibliometric analysis conducted confirms the existence of compelling relationships between constructs, thus supporting further scrutiny in this direction.

A Bibliometric Analysis of four Constructs Interconnections: Innovation, Competitive Advantage, Agility and Performance

Abstract In a globalized economy, innovation is a priority of ensuring the competitive advantage and organizational performance of agile companies, competitiveness being the core of the development in any economic activity. Consequently, the purpose of this research is to provide an overview regarding the connections between four main constructs, respectively innovation, competitive advantage, agility and (firm) performance, through performing a bibliometric analysis by using the VOSviewer visualization tool. The information has been selected from the Web of Science Core Collection database (WoS) during February 2023. This preliminary study aims to grant relevance to the potential research areas prone to be exploited when discussing the matter of innovation in relation to performance, competitive advantage achievement and agility. The main premise is that every company has its particularities and acts accordingly to stay competitive through innovating its business model and through an articulate innovation management, also encompassing agility, with a view to reach organizational performance and strong competitive advantage. In terms of findings, the bibliometric analysis conducted confirms the existence of compelling relationships between constructs, thus supporting further scrutiny in this direction.

The concept of lean manufacturing in the management of a medical clinic. How to beat the competition through lean manufacturing

The introduction of the concept of lean manufacturing in a medical clinic allows you to quickly achieve a strong competitive advantage by increasing the efficiency of resource management, including reducing labor costs, the efficiency of space and capacity, downtime to normalized KPIs, increase overall customer satisfaction and loyalty (NPS). The introduction of the lean manufacturing concept at the first stage does not require significant organizational efforts or investments. But it allows you to achieve results due to industry novelty: so far, SMEs and large clinics in Russia are not seriously engaged in studying and debugging life cycles, limiting themselves to individual sections, for example, promotion.