Competitive Rationales: Beneath the Surface of Competitive Behavior

Competitive dynamics research has focused on studying whether rivals are able and likely to carry out competitive actions, typically by examining indirect reasons such as characteristics of the actions themselves, the firms involved, or the competitive context. We explore why rivals initiate a specific competitive action at a particular time and situation. Drawing from the philosophy of action literature, we introduce the concept of competitive rationales to examine the primary reasons that cause tactical actions. Given the rapid exchanges characterizing tactical competitive dynamics, we conducted an inductive, multicase study to explore the reasons behind over 800 discrete tactical decisions carried out by 9 professional basketball coaches during 15 basketball games. To garner insight, we develop a conceptual framework revealing their types and scope. Even during intense head-to-head rivalry, most rationales were not rivalrous but were instead organizational—to optimize resource use, strategic consistency, and reputation—or social—to manage relationships. Moreover, the three main types of rationales varied in scope, extending beyond immediate competitive situations and rivals to address longer term, strategic outcomes, and assorted stakeholders. Thus, our analysis reveals these rationales to be complex and potentially difficult for rivals to decipher. It also recasts each component of the dominant awareness-motivation-capability (AMC) model of rivalry, suggesting that awareness is challenged by subtle rationales, motivation drives not only action but also forbearance, and capability is both a requirement and product of action.

Too much of a good thing? An assessment of the effects of competitive and cooperative action repertoires on firm performance

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to integrate research on competitive and cooperative repertoires and to simultaneously assess the direct, indirect and curvilinear effects of competitive and cooperative action repertoires in relation to firm performance.Design/methodology/approachThe analyses are conducted using a longitudinal dual-industry sample of publicly traded firms, including over 6,500 competitive actions and 750 cooperative actions. The authors use fixed effects (FE) regression models to test the diminishing returns of action volume on firm performance as well as the moderating effects of action diversity.FindingsThe results suggest that increasing competitive and cooperative actions yields diminishing returns in relation to firm performance. Furthermore, in the context of competitive action repertoire diversity, increased diversity magnifies the diminishing returns of competitive action volume on firm performance.Originality/valueThe study provides a firm-level conceptualization of overall competitive and cooperative repertoires to extend the literature on competition and cooperation beyond dyadic interactions or structural determinants of competitive and cooperative actions.

PENGARUH AGILITAS STRATEGIS TERHADAP SUSTAINABILITY COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE MELALUI AKSI KOMPETITIF BISNIS SICEPAT EXPRESS

The Covid-19 pandemic has suppressed almost all business and economic sectors. However, the Sicepat Courier service business actually shows a competitive advantage over other business organizations. This study aims to analyze how strategic agility is able to form a sustainable competitive advantage through the competitive action of Sicepat's courier services. The sampling technique used purposive sampling. The research respondents were 63 middle managers of Sicepat Express. The analysis technique uses the Structural Equation Model (SEM) with SmartPLS. This study proves that competitive actions by companies increase strategic agility in forming a sustainable competitive advantage. This study contributes to strengthening the view that strategic steps cannot be separated from competitive action to form competitive advantage. The results of this study recommend the Sicepat courier service company to constantly increase its competitive action. In the future, research is needed that involves a more detailed competitive action construct with a wider coverage of respondents so that the results of this study become a more established concept. Pandemik Covid-19 menekan hampir seluruh sektor bisnis dan ekonomi. Namun bisnis jasa kurir Sicepat justru menunjukkan keunggulan bersaing dibanding organisasi bisnis yang lain. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menganalisis bagaimana agilitas strategis mampu membentuk sustainabilitas competitive advantage melalui aksi kompetitif jasa kurir Sicepat. Teknik sampling menggunakan purposive sampling. Responden penelitian adalah middle managers Sicepat Express sebanyak 63 orang. Teknik analisis menggunakan Structural Equation Model (SEM) with SmartPLS. Penelitian ini membuktikan bahwa aksi – aksi kompetitif yang dilakukan perusahaan meningkatkan agilitas strategis dalam membentuk sustainabilitas keunggulan bersaing. Penelitian ini memberikan kontribusi untuk memperkuat pandangan bahwa langkah strategis tidak dapat dipisahkan dengan aksi kompetitif untuk membentuk keunggulan bersaing. Hasil penelitian ini merekomendasikan kepada perusahaan jasa kurir Sicepat untuk senantiasa meningkatkan aksi kompetitifnya. Kedepan diperlukan penelitian yang melibatkan konstruk aksi kompetitif yang lebih detail dengan cakupan responden yang lebih luas sehingga hasil penelitian ini menjadi sebuah konsep yang lebih mapan.

Chief Executive Officer Regulatory Focus and Competitive Action Frequency

Using regulatory focus, the Chief Executive Officer-Top Management Team (CEO-TMT) interface, and upper echelons theories, the present study casts additional light on the competitive action frequency of firms, as determined by their chief executive officers (CEOs) regulatory focus under the contingent effect of the CEO–TMT dissimilarity of informational demographics. Applying regulatory focus and upper echelons theories, this study first hypothesizes how CEO regulatory focus influences competitive action frequency. Next, leveraging CEO–TMT interface research, this study suggests moderating effects on the part of CEO–TMT dissimilarity, across functional background and tenure, and on the relationship between CEO regulatory focus and competitive action frequency. Drawing on a sample of 218 firms from India for a 5-year period (2010–2015), we find that a CEO promotion focus enhances a firm’s competitive action frequency and that a prevention focus diminishes the same. Furthermore, dissimilarities in terms of both CEO–TMT functional background orientation and tenure in the organization moderate this relationship. This study concludes with a discussion of the article’s theoretical and practical implications.

Insight into the Mechanism of 17β-Hydroxysteroid Dehydrogenase Type 3 Inhibition by the Androsterone Derivative RM-532-105

Background: The last step in the production of androgen testosterone from 4-androstene- 3,17-dione (4-dione) in testis involves the 17β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 3 (17β-HSD3). Blocking this microsomal enzyme with an inhibitor would lower the level of testosterone and, consequently, could be an approach for the treatment of androgen-dependent diseases. RM-532-105 was developed as a steroidal inhibitor of 17β-HSD3, but its mechanism of action is not yet known. Objective: To identify potential binding sites of the 17β-HSD3 substrate 4-dione, cofactor NADPH, as well as inhibitor RM-532-105. Methods: Since there is no crystal structure of 17β-HSD3 available, complexed or not with a ligand, a homology model was prepared followed by molecular docking, and enzymatic assay experiments were performed. Results: Transfected LNCaP prostate cancer cells were used as a source of 17β-HSD3 activity for the transformation of 4-dione into testosterone in the presence of varying concentrations of a substrate, a cofactor or an inhibitor. Molecular modeling experiments and enzymatic assays with these cells suggest a competitive action of RM-532-105 with the cofactor and a non-competitive action with the substrate 4-dione. Conclusion: These results allow the selection of one inhibitor orientation in the enzyme binding site, from the two possibilities predicted by the docking experiments, and appear to be in agreement with previous structure-activity relationships.

Marketing Intelligence And Sustainable Competitive Advantage Of Selected Small And Medium Scale Businesses In Ekiti: An Overview Babatunde

The study examined the effect of marketing intelligence on the sustainance of competitive advantage among Small and Medium Scale businesses in Ekiti State. Specific objectives investigated in this study are competitors’ threat; and competitive risk and their influences on sustainable competitive advantage in Small and Medium Scale businesses. The target population of the study comprised of 84 SMEs operators in Oye-Ekiti Local Government Area of Ekiti State, Nigeria as registered with Ministry of Commerce, Industries and Cooperatives, Ekiti State. The sample size of the study is 69 respondents. Frequency and percentages were used for descriptive statistics respondents to view questions of research instrument. Inferential statistics were also used to achieve objectives I, II and multiple regression analyses were employed to test the hypotheses. It was found that Competitor’s threat: potential competitor (p= 0.013). Competitive risk: Marketplace Change (p= 0.000), Intelligence-based assessment (p= 0.000) are determinants of sustainable competitive advantage as far as SMEs are concerned in Ekiti State. .The study concluded and revealed that salesmen do share information about competitors in the market and recommended that there should be rapid response to competitive action to achieve their goals.

Toward a routine-based view of interfirm rivalry

Although organizational routines have attracted increasing attention in strategy and organization research, they have received surprisingly limited attention in competitive dynamics scholarship. Our essay seeks to advance a routine-based view of interfirm rivalry by bridging the competitive dynamics and routine literatures. We put forward a conceptual model of the routine-based view of interfirm rivalry that is centered on “competitive action routines.” The model clarifies the roles that managers play in driving a firm’s competitive behavior, challenges the assumption of routine-based rigidity in competitive behavior, and adds nuance to our understanding of managerial cognition in competitive dynamics. Moreover, the routine-based view offers new insights regarding the awareness-motivation-capability framework, and amplifies previous calls to broaden the methodological repertoire of competitive dynamics research.

Identification of factors affecting competitive tension in the domestic air transport market in Turkey

Competitive tension refers to pressure that is considered to exist among firms operating in a competitive market and that forces them to take competitive action against each other. An imaginary upper limit of competitive tension symbolizes the difference between whether to take competitive action or not. The antecedents of competitive tension are examined in this study. Within this scope, market commonality and resource similarity are the variables studied as components of competitor analysis; market concentration that provides clues for the competitive structure of competed markets; and finally, competitive asymmetry, presuming that the competition among the companies is not equal and rivals do not consider each other at the same level as competing firms, were taken as primary variables of competitive tension. In order to test whether these variables have an effect on competitive tension among airlines, airlines operating in the domestic air transport market in Turkey were examined in this study. The perceived competitive tension that was detected as a result of regression analyses was studied on three different dimensions, namely, internal tension, external tension, and total tension, and each dimension was analyzed as a different model. The findings of the study revealed that market commonality and market concentration have a significant effect on competitive tension. These effects were found to be positive for market commonality and negative for market concentration. Resource similarity and competitive asymmetry were found to have no significant effect.