Pulling from the front or pushing from behind: how competency prioritisation should differ to optimise firm competitiveness

Purpose This study aims to contrast the disparities in optimal competitiveness configurations across international economies. Additionally, we analyse the competitive efficiency across firms of different performance endowments to identify distinctions and determine whether standardised or customised competitiveness configurations are optimal. Design/methodology/approach This study uses a multilevel regression model to confirm country-specific effects followed by a non-parametric “Benefit-of-the-Doubt” (BoD) method to conduct an international comparison of the competitive efficiency of top- and poor-performing firms across eight European and Latin American economies. Findings Not only are national ecosystems significant differentiators of competitive efficiency, but contras firm-level characteristics also explain these differences. It is found that more recent start-ups tend to experience significantly greater competitive efficiency. However, by separating the top-performing firms from the poor performers in each economy, it is found that the configurational outputs that potentially contribute most to competitive efficiency are not necessarily the same; while “technology” is a key factor for driving the competitive efficiency of top-performing firms, “market” drivers are most essential for improving the competitive potential of poor performers. Originality/value The configurational outputs that potentially contribute most to competitive efficiency are not necessarily universal.

Digital transformation in the business: a solution for developing cash accounting information systems and digitizing documents

Digital transformation is becoming an inevitable trend, having a profound impact on business activities, processes,, and modelsands improving the operational efficiency of businesses. In enterprises, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, accounting professions are mainly still handled manually on books and documents. They have not standardized the professions, especially those that arise in the course of operation. This makes it difficult for accounting such as accounting work gradually increases, the handling of work is delayed, easily confused and errors .... Leading to limiting the development and expanding the size of the business. The problem for each business is the need to automate some accounting operations to adapt to the trend and context of digital transformation, contributing to improving the competitive efficiency of the business. Stemming from the above difficulties, the research will find solutions to help businesses approach and apply processing operations professionally towards the formation of digital businesses. The article will focus on building cash accounting modules and handling professional accounting processes to implement digital transformation in enterprises. The operations mentioned in the article include building the professional process of cash accounting, controlling cash collection - spending, the process of digitizing documents stored at the enterprise, etc... The article will propose how to process data and make reports required by managers for decision-making based on invoices and handling arising transactions.

Electron & Biomass Dynamics of Cyanothece Under Interacting Nitrogen & Carbon Limitations

Marine diazotrophs are a diverse group with key roles in biogeochemical fluxes linked to primary productivity. The unicellular, diazotrophic cyanobacterium Cyanothece is widely found in coastal, subtropical oceans. We analyze the consequences of diazotrophy on growth efficiency, compared to NO3–-supported growth in Cyanothece, to understand how cells cope with N2-fixation when they also have to face carbon limitation, which may transiently affect populations in coastal environments or during blooms of phytoplankton communities. When grown in obligate diazotrophy, cells face the double burden of a more ATP-demanding N-acquisition mode and additional metabolic losses imposed by the transient storage of reducing potential as carbohydrate, compared to a hypothetical N2 assimilation directly driven by photosynthetic electron transport. Further, this energetic burden imposed by N2-fixation could not be alleviated, despite the high irradiance level within the cultures, because photosynthesis was limited by the availability of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC), and possibly by a constrained capacity for carbon storage. DIC limitation exacerbates the costs on growth imposed by nitrogen fixation. Therefore, the competitive efficiency of diazotrophs could be hindered in areas with insufficient renewal of dissolved gases and/or with intense phytoplankton biomass that both decrease available light energy and draw the DIC level down.

Features of game activity of basketball students

The article covers the issue of playing activities in basketball. The value of speed and accuracy of basketball players' game actions is revealed. The dependence of basketball players' game efficiency on indicators of their psychophysical development of their organism and the need to study the influence of morphofunctional and psychophysiological indicators of basketball players on the speed and accuracy of game actions are substantiated. In sports games, technical training is of great importance, which includes a large number of different techniques. Basketball activity is based on individual and group technical actions of athletes, the main of which are throws to the basket, passes, driving, interception, selection, selection of the ball, etc. The ability to perform these actions quickly and accurately is the main condition for a successful game of basketball players. Game efficiency depends on the spatio-temporal characteristics of game actions, which, in turn, are determined by the peculiarities of the psychophysical development of the body of athletes. One of the main ways to achieve high sportsmanship is the constant improvement of the technique of the chosen sport, the study of its structure, components and psychophysiological basis. Therefore, the study of the parameters of the game activities of students who play basketball, which includes analysis of the impact of morphofunctional and psychophysiological indicators of the body on competitive efficiency, is relevant in today's conditions of intensification of sports training.

Performance Evaluation of Teams in Chinese Professional Baseball League

In this article, a performance evaluation of the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) was conducted from a human resources (HR) perspective. Two important aspects were included: (1) a comprehensive evaluation of the competition performance of the professional baseball teams in international games and regular season games; and (2) the data envelopment analysis (DEA) and “two-stage” methodologies, which were employed to process truncated data to resolve the factors that affect the efficiency of the decision-making unit (DMU). By applying DEA and truncated regression analysis with bootstrapping, the performances of CPBL teams in games of different intensities were investigated. The number of foreign coaches and native players both were the key factors to affect the competitive efficiency of CPBL teams, and the Uni President 7-ELEVEN Lions had the best performance efficiency team. This interdisciplinary investigation provided the most appropriate references and recommendations for professional baseball teams on HR management so that baseball fans' expectations are met.

The competitive efficiency of Costa Rican small and medium-sized businesses: a data envelopment analysis approach

Purpose Building on the resource-based view theory, this paper aims to evaluate the role of innovation on competitiveness and competitive efficiency among Costa Rican small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs). Design/methodology/approach The study uses a sample of 231 Costa Rican small and medium-size firms for 2019. The authors compute a competitiveness index that includes four pillars: innovation, strategy, markets and human capital. To estimate competitive efficiency, the authors use a non-parametric model, namely, data envelopment analysis, with a single constant input. Findings The results confirm that competitive and efficient SMEs present a more homogenous distribution of resources and capabilities. The innovation pillar is positively correlated with competitive efficiency. A positive correlation exists between market experience (business age) and innovation and between innovation and business size in terms of the number of employees. Practical implications The study contributes to the understanding on how SME managers’ decision-making processes affect resource allocation within the business, and on how SMEs can introduce strategic actions based on improvements of those resources that will likely have a greater impact on competitive efficiency. Originality/value This study contributes to better grasping how the configuration of resources and capabilities, in which innovation plays a decisive role, and contributes to shape the competitive efficiency of small and medium-sized businesses in a developing economy.

A non-parametric analysis of the effect of the configuration of competitive pillars on competitive efficiency

Purpose This study aims to evaluate how the configuration of competitive pillars impacts businesses' competitive efficiency by using a non-parametric model, namely, data envelopment analysis (DEA), with a single constant input. Design/methodology/approach The proposed DEA model evaluates technical inefficiency, which results from differences in the availability and allocation of resources, and configuration inefficiency, which we link to differences in the way businesses amalgamate their competitive pillars. The sample includes 115 Spanish businesses operating in manufacturing, construction, retail and knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS) sectors. Findings The results reveal that, on an average, firms can improve their overall competitive efficiency by 53.53%. The findings suggest that the configuration of competitive pillars has important implications for efficiency analyses: human capital and strategy are the most relevant aspects shaping competitive efficiency in manufacturing and construction firms; whereas innovation emerges as the most relevant competitive aspect driving competitive efficiency in KIBS firms. Originality/value The novelty of this study lies in the analysis of competitive efficiency in a model where efficiency can be explained by overall (industry-specific) competitive efficiency within the industry and by strategic choices on how resources and capabilities are combined within the business.

Study on food-feed competitive efficiency of Moringa fodder in the active Brahmaputra-Jamuna Floodplain Agro-Ecological Zone of Bangladesh

The research work was carried out to evaluate the food-feed competitive efficiency of Moringa fodder in the Active Brahmaputra-Jamuna Floodplain Agro-Ecological Zone (ABJF-AEZ) of Bangladesh. For determining the competitive land use efficiency of Mornga feed (Mf) production, the Moringa fodder was cultivated in Gaibandha district at ABJF-AEZ with four replications. The annual dry matter (DM) yield of Moringa at on-farm condition was the height (26.67 ton/ha) and it was varied significantly (P<0.05) with on-station condition. Comparing the Moringa fodder with available cash crop, the cost of production of Moringa was higher than that of other two cropping system like Boro-fellow-Jute (BFJ) and Boro-Fellow-Matikalai (BFM) but the gross return of Moringa cultivation was Tk.186.3 thousand, it was about five times higher income than existing cash crop. For determining the impacts of Mf on milk production and their quality, twelve local cows of third or fourth parity after 1 to 2 weeks of calving in Gaibandha Sadar Upazila were selected and divided into three dietary groups having four animals in each considering their live weight and ante-diet daily milk yield. During 50 days feeding period all experimental cows were fed freshly threshed rice straw and keeping randomly a group under on farm practice that received supplementation of conventionally mixed concentrates (CMC), the other two groups of cows were either received a commercial cattle feed available at the market or Mf replacing conventional concentrate supplements. Mf produced significant amount of milk (1.64 kg/day) and meat (441.3 g/day) followed by commercial cattle feed (1.1 kg/day and 128.2 g/day) and CMC (0.73 kg/day and 48.4 g/day), respectively. It was also indicated that Mf is better than market feed for the increase of milk yield and live weight gain. So, Mf is an unbeatable animal feed to increase the productivities of cows. Bang. J. Anim. Sci. 2019. 48 (1): 36-41