The Effects of Outsourcing in Logistics Services to Competitive Advantage

2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
pp. 233 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mert KILIÇ ◽  
Ayşe GÜNSEL ◽  
Hülya GÜNDÜZ ÇEKMECELİOĞLU
Keyword(s):  
Competitive Advantage ◽  
Superior Performance ◽  
Fixed Costs ◽  
Manufacturing Companies ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
The Past ◽  
Logistics Services

As the competitive business landscape has dramatically changed in the past ten to fifteen years, firms have to face the fact that they should take the necessary steps to decrease the fixed costs and increase the quality for the long-term success and survival. Accordingly, the logistics in general, for the manufacturing companies in particular, becomes more and more important. Numerous companies, providing outsource services such as logistics, have emerged to answer this growing demand. Accordingly, in this study, we aim to reveal the effects of Outsourcing In Logistics Services (OILS) on firm competitiveness and success through Semi-structured interviews conducted on the logistics managers of 7 companies. The findings mainly demonstrate that; i) Companies attach a great deal of importance on OILS and ii) OILS contribute obtaining and sustaining competitive advantage which ultimately results in superior performance.

scholarly journals Transition in successors’ behavior and mindset while managing long-lived small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises: a qualitative study

F1000Research ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 285
Author(s):  
Hiroo Suzuki ◽  
Yasunobu Kino
Keyword(s):  
Early Stage ◽  
Manufacturing Companies ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Manufacturing Enterprises ◽  
Double Loop Learning ◽  
Initial Stage ◽  
Core Category ◽  
Stable Employment

Background: There have been many studies conducted on succession, which can be considered as the most important issue in family businesses. However, most of these previous studies have focused only on the early stage of succession, uncovering the role of the predecessor and the successor. Only a few studies have made efforts to examine the total lifecycle of succession. The purpose of this study is to explore the process of the transition in successors' behavior and mindset while managing long-lived small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises throughout the lifecycle of succession. Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with six successors of small and medium-sized manufacturing companies who are more than half a century old. Their answers were analyzed using the Modified-GTA method to construct a hypothetical model. Results: In total, 46 concepts, four categories, 17 subcategories, and one core category were generated. An analysis result diagram using all concepts and categories was formed. From the observation of this diagram, the successors gained confidence in management through the dilemma between autonomy and constraint in the early stage of succession, which was found in previous research. Following the initial stage, the successors responded to the crisis caused by market constraints and created autonomous strategies in their businesses. Conclusions: By experiencing repetitive crises, the successors tend to acquire new perspectives toward the naturally occurring crises. This change of premise by the successors is considered as the process of double-loop learning. Relationships inside and outside the company influence the generation of this viewpoint. From a long-term perspective, a sense of unity with employees, stable employment, and the pursuit of enjoyment constitute the successors' own values in this model.

scholarly journals The Google Car: Driving Toward A Better Future?

2013 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sharon L. Poczter ◽  
Luka M. Jankovic
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Competitive Advantage ◽  
Automobile Industry ◽  
Integrated System ◽  
The Past ◽  
Additional Challenge ◽  
Competitive Forces ◽  
Car Driving

Googles dramatic ascent and subsequent domination in the past fifteen years of the technology and information industries has financially enabled Google to explore seemingly unrelated projects ranging from Google Mail to the Google Car. In particular, Google has invested a significant amount of resources in the Google Car, an integrated system that allows for the driverless operation of a vehicle. While initial reports indicate that the Google Car driverless automobile will be more safe and efficient than current vehicles, the Google Car is not without its critics. In particular, the existential threat that the car presents to several large industries, including the insurance, health care and construction industries, creates an additional challenge to the success of the Google Car well beyond the standard competitive threats from other established car manufacturers in the automobile industry, which begs the question, Can the Google Car be successful? With so many challenges above and beyond the competitive forces typically threatening long-term profitability, will the Google Car be able to create and sustain a competitive advantage for Google in the driverless car space?

Knowledge Assets and Value Creation Dynamics

2011 ◽  
pp. 30-49
Author(s):  
Karim Moustaghfir ◽  
Giovanni Schiuma
Keyword(s):  
Competitive Advantage ◽  
Value Creation ◽  
Superior Performance ◽  
Sustainable Competitive Advantage ◽  
Knowledge Assets ◽  
Product Cycles ◽  
Continuous Innovation ◽  
Organisational Capabilities ◽  
Strategic Resources

Today’s business landscape is increasingly complex and turbulent, forcing firms to develop their capabilities in order to be able to face macro-forces such as globalization, hyper-competition, reduced product cycles and continuous innovation. In such a competitive scenario, firms have to identify and manage the crucial resources and sources for competitive advantage. The management literature has identified knowledge assets as critical drivers of performance and value creation. However, the understanding of how these strategic resources contribute to shape the organisational value creation dynamics still remains a concern to be fully disclosed. Especially the dynamic nature of knowledge assets and how they contribute to firm performance need to be clarified. This chapter, on the basis of a systematic literature review, aims to define a theoretical framework to explain how knowledge asset define the pillars to shape organisational capabilities and provide firms with a sustainable competitive advantage and long-term superior performance.

Past and present land reform in Cuba (1959–2020): from peasant collectivisation to re-peasantisation and beyond

Rural History ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Elisa Botella-Rodríguez ◽  
Ángel Luis González-Esteban
Keyword(s):  
Significant Role ◽  
Land Reform ◽  
Political Agenda ◽  
The Political ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Land Reforms ◽  
Global Era ◽  
Secondary Sources ◽  
The Past

Abstract Cuba is a paradigmatic case where the term and concept of the peasantry remains of lived importance. Cuban peasants had a significant role in the past as they did return to the political agenda after the Revolution with particular emphasis under Raul Castro’s administration. However, the Cuban case has not been significantly explored from a long-term perspective that connects the old debates and dimensions of land reforms under developmentalist states to the new agrarian questions in the global era. Based on secondary sources, semi-structured interviews and updated data on land structures, this article explores the long-term process of land reform in Cuba.

scholarly journals Transition in successors’ behavior and mindset while managing long-lived small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises: a qualitative study

F1000Research ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 285
Author(s):  
Hiroo Suzuki ◽  
Yasunobu Kino
Keyword(s):  
Early Stage ◽  
Manufacturing Companies ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Manufacturing Enterprises ◽  
Double Loop Learning ◽  
Initial Stage ◽  
Core Category ◽  
Stable Employment

Background: There have been many studies conducted on succession, which can be considered as the most important issue in family businesses. However, most of these previous studies have focused only on the early stage of succession, uncovering the role of the predecessor and the successor. Only a few studies have made efforts to examine the total lifecycle of succession. The purpose of this study is to explore the process of the transition in successors' behavior and mindset while managing long-lived small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises throughout the lifecycle of succession. Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with six successors of small and medium-sized manufacturing companies who are more than half a century old. Their answers were analyzed using the Modified-GTA method to construct a hypothetical model. Results: In total, 46 concepts, four categories, 17 subcategories, and one core category were generated. An analysis result diagram using all concepts and categories was formed. From the observation of this diagram, the successors gained confidence in management through the dilemma between autonomy and constraint in the early stage of succession, which was found in previous research. Following the initial stage, the successors responded to the crisis caused by market constraints and created autonomous strategies in their businesses. Conclusions: By experiencing repetitive crises, the successors tend to acquire new perspectives toward the naturally occurring crises. This change of premise by the successors is considered as the process of double-loop learning. Relationships inside and outside the company influence the generation of this viewpoint. From a long-term perspective, a sense of unity with employees, stable employment, and the pursuit of enjoyment constitute the successors' own values in this model.

scholarly journals Ageing Entrepreneurs and Business Transfer Challenges in Croatia

2020 ◽  
Vol 66 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-22
Author(s):  
Petra Mezulić Juric ◽  
Mirela Alpeza ◽  
Sunčica Oberman Peterka
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Values ◽  
Transfer Process ◽  
Business Owners ◽  
Research Topic ◽  
Financial Security ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Commercial Activity ◽  
The Past ◽  
Successful Business

AbstractBusiness transfer as a research topic awakened the interest of researchers in the past few decades. Business transfer is defined as a change of ownership of any firm to another person or legal entity assuring the continuous existence and commercial activity of the enterprise, and it encompasses different kinds of transfers both to family and non-family members. Ageing and consequently retirement are often mentioned as the reasons for entrepreneurs’ exits from the companies and intention to initiate the business transfer process. A successful business transfer process is one of the key prerequisites for long-term sustainability of small and medium-sized enterprises. There is a significant number of ageing business owners in Croatia who will exit their companies in the coming years. Considering the number of these entrepreneurs and the influence their exits can have on company stakeholders and national economy in general, it is of great importance to better understand the factors that can influence the choice of their exit strategies. The aim of the paper is to provide an understanding of the dilemmas that the ageing entrepreneurs face when considering different exit modes. The data for the study was collected through in-depth, semi-structured interviews conducted with six ageing business owners. The analysis of the interviews enabled the identification of the challenges that ageing entrepreneurs face in the business transfer process: emotional attachment to the firm, strong preference for family succession and concerns about financial security after retirement. Some of these challenges are a result of the undeveloped business transfer ecosystem, strong tradition and cultural values that imply family succession as the only acceptable exit strategy for retiring company owners in Croatia.

Agency and stewardship attitudes of chief financial officers in private companies

2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin R. W. Hiebl
Keyword(s):  
Active Role ◽  
Chief Financial Officers ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Manufacturing Companies ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Stewardship Behavior ◽  
Term Management ◽  
Privately Held

Purpose – This paper aims to explore the differing attitudes of salaried chief financial officers (CFOs) that can be associated with agency theory and stewardship theory. CFO attitudes are investigated because CFOs typically face additional agency conflict in their roles as overseers of the financial and accounting functions that are responsible for the production of numerical information used as a basis for incentive compensation. Design/methodology/approach – A qualitative field study of 14 large privately held Austrian manufacturing companies was conducted. The findings rely on information retrieved from 18 semi-structured interviews conducted with individuals from these companies. Findings – The findings reveal a number of contextual factors that influence stewardship and agency attitudes of salaried CFOs. CFOs, who mainly report formally to owners, perceive more control in the hands of the owners. Short-term management appointments appear to facilitate agency-like behavior, whereas the existence of owner–managers and the typical CFO's maturity in terms of age and wealth seem to nurture stewardship behavior. Research limitations/implications – Further (quantitative) research is needed to corroborate the findings in this study, which are derived from a qualitative research approach. Further research on agency and stewardship behavior should also include the view of principal with respect to agent actions, as this paper shows that principal opinion strongly affects the way agents perceive control. Practical implications – The findings suggest that the behavior of company owners can influence and change a manager's agency or stewardship attitude. Owners who desire a culture of stewardship should set long-term goals and facilitate long-term management appointments. Moreover, owners can lower a manager's perceived level of owner control by adopting an active role in management. Originality/value – This paper is the first to analyze stewardship and agency attitude of salaried CFOs in privately held companies. It, therefore, adds to the current literature on the role of the CFO, as well as to the literature on governance issues in privately held firms.

scholarly journals Mining the Past: History Scripting Strategies and Competitive Advantage in a Family Business

2021 ◽  
pp. 104225872110465
Author(s):  
Bingbing Ge ◽  
Alfredo De Massis ◽  
Josip Kotlar
Keyword(s):  
Family History ◽  
Competitive Advantage ◽  
Family Business ◽  
Family Firms ◽  
Past History ◽  
Superior Performance ◽  
Rhetorical History ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Family ◽  
History Of

History is increasingly recognized as a distinctive source of competitive advantage for family businesses. Taking a rhetorical history perspective, we study how a family business leveraged the family’s three generations long history of entrepreneurship to sustain profitable growth over 16 years. Through our analysis, we identify three history scripting strategies—embedding, elaborating, and building family history—that created important sources of competitive advantage for the family business, facilitating acceptance by broader communities, building a reputation of continuity, and inspiring innovation through tradition. These findings advance the history-informed understanding of family firms’ idiosyncratic sources of superior performance.

scholarly journals Assess the lean performances in Vietnamese companies – a multi-case study in manufacturing firms

2013 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 25-36
Author(s):  
Hung Nguyen Bui ◽  
Luong Phuoc Le ◽  
Dang Thi Hong Nguyen
Keyword(s):  
Cost Reduction ◽  
Labor Cost ◽  
Manufacturing Firms ◽  
Manufacturing Companies ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Standard Operations ◽  
Production Change ◽  
Better Than

This study is conducted to assess the Lean performances of 10 Vietnamese manufacturing companies in terms of 13 factors proposed by Hirano (2009). Managers of 6 large companies and 4 small and medium ones are invited to participate in semi-structured interviews to assess their own company’s Lean performances and raise the ideas for their assessments. The research results show that large companies perform better than the small and medium ones in all 13 factors. As a whole, the studied companies apply Lean at acceptable levels for their operations in terms of awareness revolution, the 5S’s, multi-process operations, labor cost reduction, visual control, quality assurance, standard operations, maintenance and safety. These companies have to effort much more in flow production, Kanban, leveled production, change-over, and human automation. To survive in the context of today Vietnam economy, these companies should focus on long-term strategies to take advantages of Lean philosophy for their future development.

The Strategic Approaches for a New Typology of Firm Patent Portfolios

2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (02) ◽  
pp. 1650012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qin Yang ◽  
Marcel C. Minutolo
Keyword(s):  
Competitive Advantage ◽  
Economic Value ◽  
Dynamic Environments ◽  
Superior Performance ◽  
Uncertain Environments ◽  
Firm Level ◽  
Technological Diversification ◽  
True Values ◽  
Patent Portfolios

Patents play an important role for companies to achieve competitive advantage. There is an increased recognition of the importance of patent portfolios as a key to achieve competitive advantage as opposed to any one patent. Hence, some researchers suggest that the true values of patents lie in the aggregation of some related patents rather than their individual worth. In addition, as firms increase their technological diversification so too do their patent portfolios. On the basis of portfolio theory, we build a typology of four types of patent portfolios characterized on the dimensions of technology coherence and synergistic economic value: black, cloud, star and constellation portfolios. Then, according to the characteristics of each type of portfolio, we propose that different strategic approaches should be applied to manage them to achieve superior performance. Further, we suggest that different types of patent portfolios have different effects on firms’ long-term and short-term performances in dynamic environments. Our paper enriches our understanding of the role that patent portfolios play to achieve superior firm performance by linking the management of firm-level resources to value creation in uncertain environments; and also provides important insights into future trends in the patent portfolios strategy in dynamic environments.

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