Modelling inter-firm competitive rivalry in a port logistics cluster: a case study of Melbourne, Australia

PurposeThe paper models the effect of spatial clustering on various dimensions of inter-firm competitive rivalry among port logistics firms using Porter's five forces model.Design/methodology/approachA survey-based quantitative approach is adopted to collect data from logistics firms, which are directly or indirectly dependent on the Port of Melbourne in Australia. A structural equation modelling (SEM) technique is used to examine the theorised relationships between various dimensions of inter-firm competitive rivalry and the tendency of spatial clustering of logistics firms in the vicinity of Port of Melbourne.FindingsThe results indicate that the inter-firm competitive rivalry increases significantly when logistics firms are spatially clustered. This effect is further augmented when they cluster around the port. Co-location of firms near the port tends to increase “bargaining power of buyers”, whilst indirectly affecting “competitive rivalry” via “threats of substitutes”. This indicates that co-location enhances the bargaining power of buyers through the greater availability of substitute services that in turn promotes competitive rivalry among firms. However, co-location has an insignificant effect on “barriers to entry” and “bargaining power of suppliers”. Low entry barrier thus favours high competitive rivalry among firms. Hence, this paper validates the Porter's cluster and five forces models that confirm the positive effect of port logistics clusters (PLCs) on bargaining power of buyers and indirect effect on competitive rivalry partially mediated through threats of substitutes.Practical implicationsThis study provides empirically grounded evidence for firms to evaluate co-location decision choices and help buyers and sellers to devise business strategies to enhance inter-firm competitive rivalry and bargaining power.Originality/valueThis is the first systematic attempt to empirically validate Porter's five forces model in the context of PLC. Furthermore, the conceptualisation of PLC concept both as spatial and functional constructs (i.e. dependency on port) is novel. This study thus has broadened the meaning of cluster from a geographic entity to a more useful functional construct to reflect inter-firm dependencies.

Social Capital and Entrepreneurship

This chapter presents a social capital point of view of entrepreneurship and how the assets and value embedded in entrepreneur social relations could support the success of the enterprise, especially small ones. Social connections are unique in nature, are personal and stable in the long run. These features make them very unique and difficult to imitate. Therefore, if used properly, based on the position of the entrepreneur in the social hierarchy, it can generate or at least behave as a very unique and inimitable source of competitive advantage. Capitalizing on such resources could be of help to entrepreneurs especially in times of high competitive rivalry.

Uncertainty in World Politics: New “Normality” or New “Abnormality”

In the conditions of turbulent transformations of the world order, life itself, with its contradictions, difficulties and surprises, extremely actualizes the problems associated with unforeseen risks and challenges to world development. The coronavirus pandemic has created a new “normality” or, more precisely, a new “abnormality” in which countries find themselves regardless of their geopolitical status and place in the international hierarchy. The global coronavirus crisis has exacerbated the already growing uncertainty in global political processes. Uncertainty and the associated strategic instability is a breeding ground for preserving acutely problematic nodes of global politics and delaying the search for constructive solutions that bring them closer to a mutually acceptable model of the coming world order. The phenomenon of apolarity is becoming more and more complicated and has been linked in recent years with the growing weight and influence of new geopolitical players and centers of power — China, India, Latin America states. The international positions of Russia have significantly strengthened, which has acquired a full-fledged role in global politics. In the context of the current geopolitical confrontations and competitive rivalry, the experience of understanding uncertainty in the scientific and expert communities of Russia acquires special practical and political significance.

Baa, Baa, Black Sheep Have You Any Wool? Developing the RBV Through a Study of the New Zealand Merino Clothing Industry

<p>This thesis explores how the traditional approaches to researching the Resource-Based View (RBV) do not fully address the heterogeneity within the participants of the research. Traditional approaches assume similar levels of knowledge, prioritisation, and value (awareness) are held across the participants. This thesis proposes that this similarity may not exist for every industry. Focused on the New Zealand merino clothing industry, this research employed two studies to determine the key characteristics and perceptions of the main players in the industry. Initially an industry profile is formed from secondary data sources, which covers the 30 years since the inception of the New Zealand merino clothing industry. This profile forms the basis for the interview sample and provides comparison for interview findings. Through the use of open-ended questions and a semi-structured interview process this thesis carried out interviews with the CEOs of thirteen New Zealand based merino clothing firms from throughout New Zealand. These interviews offered the participants the opportunity to express their perspectives on the resources they deem to be most important. The outcomes of these interviews are surprising; with the results questioning more assumptions of RBV research than just the similarity of awareness. Drawing together the analysis of the industry profile and the findings of the interviews, these two studies highlight a number of key findings. Most significantly, it is apparent that the majority of the interviewees do not perceive themselves as competing, though the industry profile indicates that the industry has a high level of competitive rivalry. Additionally, the firms do not appear to be differentiating themselves from one another, with few unique approaches utilised by the interviewees in regards to product, design, and business practice. Lastly, this thesis illustrates that these differences in perception between the industry profile analysis and the interview findings could be due to the ambition and future perspectives of the CEOs.</p>

Baa, Baa, Black Sheep Have You Any Wool? Developing the RBV Through a Study of the New Zealand Merino Clothing Industry

<p>This thesis explores how the traditional approaches to researching the Resource-Based View (RBV) do not fully address the heterogeneity within the participants of the research. Traditional approaches assume similar levels of knowledge, prioritisation, and value (awareness) are held across the participants. This thesis proposes that this similarity may not exist for every industry. Focused on the New Zealand merino clothing industry, this research employed two studies to determine the key characteristics and perceptions of the main players in the industry. Initially an industry profile is formed from secondary data sources, which covers the 30 years since the inception of the New Zealand merino clothing industry. This profile forms the basis for the interview sample and provides comparison for interview findings. Through the use of open-ended questions and a semi-structured interview process this thesis carried out interviews with the CEOs of thirteen New Zealand based merino clothing firms from throughout New Zealand. These interviews offered the participants the opportunity to express their perspectives on the resources they deem to be most important. The outcomes of these interviews are surprising; with the results questioning more assumptions of RBV research than just the similarity of awareness. Drawing together the analysis of the industry profile and the findings of the interviews, these two studies highlight a number of key findings. Most significantly, it is apparent that the majority of the interviewees do not perceive themselves as competing, though the industry profile indicates that the industry has a high level of competitive rivalry. Additionally, the firms do not appear to be differentiating themselves from one another, with few unique approaches utilised by the interviewees in regards to product, design, and business practice. Lastly, this thesis illustrates that these differences in perception between the industry profile analysis and the interview findings could be due to the ambition and future perspectives of the CEOs.</p>

The Coca-Cola Company/Coca-Cola Beverages Africa Merger: Lessons for Robust Regional Competition Enforcement

This article uses the Coca-Cola Company/Coca-Cola Beverages Africa merger to illustrate the important role that competition policy should continue to play in the regional and continental integration agenda. The case provides an illustrative example that the structure and reach of firms play a pivotal role in the dynamics of value chains, as well as on the extent to which market power can potentially be exerted within and across countries. Competitive rivalry is necessary for innovation and lower prices, but the playing field needs to be leveled in order for entrants and smaller rivals to make and realize investments, build capabilities, and participate effectively. Competition reforms that take a bottom-up approach and account for the varying levels of development of countries play an integral role in opening up markets for entrants and small rivals, which in turn allow for the objectives of the African Continental Free Trade Area to be realized.

A Kraljic and competitive rivalry perspective on hospital procurement during a pandemic (COVID-19): a Dutch case study

Purpose Procurement professionals widely use purchasing portfolio models to tailor purchasing strategies to different product groups’ needs. However, the application of these approaches in hospitals and the impact of a pandemic shock remain largely unknown. This paper aims to assess hospital purchasers’ procurement strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic, the effects of factor-market rivalry (FMR) on strategies and the effectiveness of purchasing portfolio categorizations in this situation. Design/methodology/approach This qualitative study of hospital purchasing in the Netherlands is supported by secondary data from official government publications. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 13 hospital purchasers at large hospitals. An interpretative approach is used to analyze the interviews and present the results. Findings The findings reveal that product scarcity forces purchasers to treat them as (temporary) bottleneck items at the hospital level. The strategies adopted largely aligned with expected behavior based on Kraljic’s commodity management model. Adding the FMR perspective to the model helped to further cluster crisis strategies into meaningful categories. Besides inventory management, increasing supply, reducing demand and increasing resource coordination were the other common strategies. An important finding is that purchasers and governments serve as gatekeepers in channeling FMR, thereby reducing potential harmful competition between and within hospitals. Social implications The devastating experience of the COVID-19 pandemic is unveiling critical weaknesses of public health-care provision in times of crisis. This study assesses the strategies hospital purchasers apply to counteract shortages in the supply chain. The findings of this study emphasize the importance of gatekeepers in times of crisis and present strategies purchasers can take to assure the supply of resources. Originality/value No research has been conducted on purchasing portfolio models and FMR implications for hospitals during pandemics. Therefore, the authors offer several insights: increasing the supply risk creates temporary bottleneck strategies, letting purchasers adopt a short-term perspective and emphasizing the high mobility of commodities in the Kraljic commodity matrix. Additionally, despite more collaboration uncovered in other studies regarding COVID-19, strong rivalry arose at the beginning of the pandemic, leading to increased competition and less collaboration. Given such increased FMR, procurement managers and governments become important gatekeepers to balance resource allocation during pandemics both within and between hospitals.

Big Data Analytics and Natural Data Design for Enterprise Management

The advancement of Internet of Things (IoT), economic globalization, consumer satisfaction and competitive advancements have stimulated companies to transform significantly. In that regard, competitive rivalry among various firms is being replaced by the existing rivalry among businesses and their various enterprises. In the present competitive environments, enterprise experts are focusing on dealing with Big Data (BD) to reach agile, effective, efficient and integrated enterprises. Therefore, explosive development in volume and several data types in the business have presented the need to establish technological advancements that can quickly and intelligently assess large sets of data. The concept of Data Analytics (DA) is one of the most effective remedies that can assist firms to overcome challenges. DA provides an instrument for retrieving insightful data and patterns in massive volumes of information. In that case, this study explores the usage of DA.

ACTIVE RISK MANAGEMENT: PROSPECTS FOR A DYNAMIC APPROACH

The article discusses the directions of development of the risk management system of organizations, based on the use of combined methods of assessment and decision-making in dynamic risk management. The relevance of the modernization of the complex for assessing and managing the risks of enterprises is caused by the processes of aggravation of competitive rivalry in the commodity markets, in the field of information technology and international politics, taking place in the world economy.