Influence of Organizational Culture, Sustainable Competitive Advantages, and Employees’ Commitment on Strategic Human Resources Management in the Banking Sector of Saudi Arabia

The rising trend of “strategic human resource management practices” is significantly leading the way to enhance the performance and competitive advantages of the banking sector. Thus, the banking sector in developing countries still using traditional HRM practices to sustain the competitive advantages and to achieve the business goals. The current study investigates the influence of organizational culture, employees’ commitment, and sustainable competitive advantages on the strategic human resource management practices in the banking sector of Saudi Arabia. We applied a resource-based view to achieve the research objectives. “Structural equation modelling-partial least square” (SEM-PLS) technique were applied to investigate the relationship among constructs under study. A cross-sectional method was applied to collect data from 181 employees working in different banks in Saudi Arabia. We found organizational culture significantly influence employees’ commitment and sustainable competitive advantages. Hence, employees’ commitment does not influence strategic human resource management practices; merely, sustaining competitive advantages significantly influence strategic human resource management practices. Additionally, employees’ commitment not mediates the relationship between organizational culture and strategic human resource practices. Thereby, sustainable competitive advantages mediate the relationship between organizational culture and strategic human resource management practices. Finally, the present study will help the banking sector to unearth the best implication of strategic human resource management practices as they can sustain the competitive advantages and achieve the business goals.

АНАЛІЗ КОНКУРЕНТОСПРОМОЖНОСТІ МАЛИХ ПІДПРИЄМСТВ НА ПРИКЛАДІ ТОВ «МЕДІГРАН»

The article is an attempt to provide argument towards the need to rethink changes in the management framework of a business entity associated primarily with modern manifestations of competition and the lack of an effective competitive environment, as well as weak competitive edge and poor innovation capacity. Based on the Medigran company, the study explores key stages of competitiveness development in small businesses along with suggesting the following successive development phases: basic financial planning, forecast-based planning, planning focused on the external environment, strategic management, company internal monitoring. The hypothesis of the study is to offer insights and evaluate competitiveness development stages as well as efforts to its enhancing subject to the external and internal environment specifics. The purpose of the study is to explore the nature and assess the Medigran competitiveness, and to identify its core advantages to gain the company competitiveness in modern business settings. An in-depth analysis of management practices has enabled to identify an effective tool to manage the Medigran’s competitiveness based on the use of a situational approach. It is argued that successful implementation of administrative technologies in the context of strategic management of the company competitiveness, sales boosting policies, developing technical support, and creating competitive advantages will ultimately provide a synergistic effect. The findings demonstrate that to gain sustainable competitive advantages, it is critical to identify their priority sources, create promising opportunities, add value and build new fundamental competencies, as well as employ benchmarking, overcome organizational inertia, timely detect and update outdated knowledge, skills and processes.

Leveraging Smart Contract in Project Procurement through DLT to Gain Sustainable Competitive Advantages

Project delivery on time, with agreed quality and assigned budget, is the desire of project-based companies. Time, quality, and cost are determinants of project success; however, organisations suffer from achieving these three success criteria at the same time. Failures in project delivery cause the loss of the competitive advantage. The recent digital technologies introduce smart contracts to supply chain (SC) operations for improving SC processes. Project procurement is the area for smart contract implementation to deliver successful projects and gain sustainable competitive advantages. The aim of this study was in explaining how smart contracts benefit project organisations through project procurement. Qualitative research design guided this research with phenomenology. Semi-structured interviews generated the data. The obtained research data were analysed with thematic, textual, and discourse analysis. Published industry reports were used to triangulate the data. This study demonstrated an integrated relationship model to answer the research question. The research findings initially identified the fact that smart contracts improve procurement efficiency through cost, time, and quality. Secondly, smart contracts build a trust-less platform where reliability is delivered and reinforced with transparency, traceability, and security. This study found that enhanced procurement efficiency and reliability meet requirements to gain sustainable competitive advantages. This study intends to contribute to industry practices and future research. The correlation of project procurement management success, smart contracts, and sustainable competitive advantages are expected to guide feature research and business practices.

SUSTAINABLE COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGES OF COUNTRIES IN THE CONTEXT OF THE EVOLUTION OF THEORETICAL APPROACHES TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF WORLD TRADE

В статье рассмотрена эволюция теоретических подходов, обосновывающих преимущества стран применительно к этапам развития мировой торговли. Показано, что современная доминирующая концепция устойчивых конкурентных преимуществ стран отражает эволюцию теоретических концепций, позволяет сформировать системное, целостное обоснование для понимания современной промышленной и торговой политики государств.

Sustainable competitive advantages for a nascent wine country: an example from southern Sweden

Purpose The purpose of this study is to discuss the opportunities for and challenges faced in the development of a wine sector in a nascent wine country, as well as the necessary requirements for the creation of sustainable competitive advantages (SCA), using Sweden as an example. Design/methodology/approach Content analysis of previous research based on secondary data; a SWOT analysis of the wine sector in the nascent wine country, Sweden, is provided in connection with a conceptual framework for SCAs. Findings In a nascent wine country such as Sweden, factors such as climate or technical issues regarding wine production are important factors in respect of SCA, but in themselves, do not present insurmountable obstacles to their creation. In reality, structural challenges such as the alcohol monopoly in the retail market, various other legal regulations and restrictions, the lack of marketing and promotion capabilities, limited viticulture knowledge and limited experience of cooperation with the local enterprise are all far more problematic in that they lead to relatively limited demand for Swedish wine. In this context, a marketing management approach becomes a key factor in changing attitudes and approaches. Clearly, it is important to provide potential markets and consumers with relevant marketing information about the nascent wine country and its products. Originality/value Previous research generally focused on the SCA in the established wine countries; the focus of this study is on the SCA in a nascent wine country, a country without any tradition of commercial wine production. This study contributes to the discussion of a new conceptual framework for understanding SCA in the context of nascent wine countries. Furthermore, it suggests that the remaining state alcohol retail monopoly in Sweden provides not only challenges but also opportunities for the development of the wine sector. These findings are valid not only for Sweden but also for other nascent wine countries.

Ensuring sustainable development of the company based on strategic competitive advantages

Исследованы вопросы создания и развития стратегических конкурентных преимуществ компании, а также использования их для обеспечения устойчивого развития компании в рыночной среде. Изложены научно-теоретические основы разработки стратегии развития, обеспечивающие устойчивое развитие компании в условиях конкуренции. Показано, что основной функцией стратегического управления компанией является создание и сохранение ее конкурентных преимуществ. По результатам обобщения существующих мнений ученых-экономистов на основе системного подхода предложена концепция определения сущности стратегий. На основе методов системного анализа и ситуационного управления установлено, что основные предпосылки успеха компании зависят от того, насколько оперативно компания приспосабливается к изменению окружающей экономической и социально-политической среде. Проанализированы основные подходы к разработке стратегии развития компании, определены и охарактеризованы их преимущества и недостатки. Приведены основные результаты исследования инструментов, которые используются при формировании и развитии конкурентных преимуществ компании. Изучены и раскрыты инструменты дифференциации материальных товаров, производимые и реализуемые компанией, и дифференциации оказываемых услуг компанией, а также инструментов дифференцирования персонала, имиджа компании и дифференцирования издержек. Сформулированы рекомендации к выбору подходов и созданию ценности за счет улучшения имиджа компании и выпускаемых товаров. Результаты исследования могут быть полезными для использования на практике, для создания и развития устойчивых конкурентных преимуществ компании с целью обеспечения ее устойчивого развития. Ключевые слова: устойчивое развитие, устойчивое управление, конкурентное преимущество, ресурсосбережение, модели обеспечения устойчивого развития, рыночная экономика, конкуренция, стратегия, стратегическое управление, подходы разработки стратегии. Issues of creation and development of strategic competitive advantages and their use to ensure sustainable development of the company in the market environment are investigated. The scientific and theoretical foundations for the development of a development strategy that ensure the sustainable development of a company in a competitive environment are stated. It is shown that the main function of the company's strategic management is to create and maintain its competitive advantages. Based on the results of generalizing the existing opinions of economists on the basis of a systematic approach, a concept for determining the essence of strategies is proposed. Based on the methods of system analysis and situational management, it has been established that the main prerequisites for the company's success depend on how quickly it adapts to changes in the surrounding economic, socio-political environment. The main approaches to the development of the company's development strategy are analyzed, their advantages and disadvantages are identified and characterized. The main results of the study of the tools that are used in the formation and development of the company's competitive advantages are presented. The essence of the tools for differentiating material goods produced and sold by the company, and differentiating the services provided by the company, as well as tools for differentiating personnel, the company's image and differentiating costs, have been studied and disclosed. Recommendations are formulated for the choice of approaches to creating value by improving the image of the company and its products. The research results can be useful and used in practice to create and develop sustainable competitive advantages of the company in order to ensure its sustainable development.

Management of innovation in the companies of the manufacturing industry of the Valle del Cauca / Gestión de la innovación en las empresas de la industria manufacturera del Valle del Cauca

Currently the enterprises are located in a dynamic and turbulent environment; they evolve as the universe does. This business development requires that managers constantly seek for administrative management strategies that allow the efficient usage of the company resources and in turn they provide the sources of sustainable competitive advantages that enable the survival of the company, the improvement of the productivity and finally the achievement results. An Administrative Management strategy that is also source of sustainable competitive advantage, is the Management Innovation. According to the scholars of contemporary administration, this strategy is important for achieving good business results. The principal aim of this research has been to identify the characteristics of the Management Innovation of companies from the Manufacturing Industry of Valle del Cauca, Colombia.