Academia as a league system

In this paper, we explain the stability of top university ranks and discuss attempts to create top national universities. Firstly, it is shown theoretically that in a world with differently-gifted poor and rich students, a three-tier university system may become very stable, with a super league of the best research universities that attract the best students, whether rich or poor. Secondly, it is empirically demonstrated that half of the highest ranked universities enjoy very stable competitive advantages. Thirdly, we examine attempts of China, France and Germany to overcome these disadvantages and to get into this super league. The recent attempt of China to create such super league universities shows the financial and societal costs of these attempts. France demonstrates how the concentration of financial resources on two newly built universities that complement the forces of existing ones—either real or only by labelling—may succeed. Despite the complexly designed and competitive German Excellence Initiative, ongoing since 2004, no German university was among the top 50 in the Shanghai ranking in 2021 (compared to one university in 2004). The mixed results of all these worldwide attempts may reflect the problem that late market entry into the super league may be too costly, given that the classical university business model is in the mature phase of its life cycle.

EVOLUTION OF COMPETITION PRINCIPLES AND STRATEGIES ECOSYSTEM APPROACH

The article describes the development of the concept of competitive advantages, analyzes the change of principles and strategies of competition, sources of competitive advantages, and currently the construction of business ecosystems is singled out as an effective way of competition

Competitive advantage in algorithmic trading: a behavioral innovation economics approach

PurposeThis paper investigates the strategic behavior of algorithmic trading firms from an innovation economics perspective. The authors seek to uncover the sources of competitive advantage these firms develop to make markets inefficient for them and enable their survival.Design/methodology/approachFirst, the authors review expected capability, a quantitative behavioral model of the sustainable, or reliable, profits that lead to survival. Second, they present qualitative data gathered from semi-structured interviews with industry professionals as well as from the academic and industry literatures. They categorize this data into first-order concepts and themes of opportunity-, advantage- and meta-seeking behaviors. Associating the observed sources of competitive advantages with the components of the expected capability model allows us to describe the economic rationale these firms have for developing those sources and explain how they survive.FindingsThe data reveals ten sources of competitive advantages, which the authors label according to known ones in the strategic management literature. We find that, due to the dynamically complex environments and their bounded resources, these firms seek heuristic compromise among these ten, which leads to satisficing. Their application of innovation methodology that prescribes iterative ex post hypothesis testing appears to quell internal conflict among groups and promote organizational survival. The authors believe their results shed light on the behavior and motivations of algorithmic market actors, but also of innovative firms more generally.Originality/valueBased upon their review of the literature, this is the first paper to provide such a complete explanation of the strategic behavior of algorithmic trading firms.

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.

Quality Management System and Risk Analysis

Many business leaders believe that a comprehensive risk management system provides an essential foundation for maintaining competitive advantages. Moreover, the company is today in the need to set up this device since its environment is unstable and it is constantly changing. In the current circumstances of the virulent pandemic COVID-19, risk management is gaining importance. The majority of Moroccan companies, especially SMEs, are still in an embryonic stage with regard to the practice of risk management. It should be noted that certain SMEs have set up, in particular in the food industry, a food risk management system since this is of a regulatory nature. The results of empirical research have shown that the implementation of a quality management system or an integrated quality and food safety system in the companies promotes risk management. The risk approach is a transversal approach that allows companies to improve their operation and be resilient.

Organizing Human Resources in Family Firms During Generational Succession

HRM in family firm (FF) research has moved from its narrow focus on selection and succession planning towards studying the broader antecedents, content and outcomes of HRM. Today, HRM is acknowledged as a crucial factor for attracting new talent, improving employee attitude and behavior, enhancing performance, and fostering the long-term competitive advantages. The aim of this study is to identify which tools and practices FFs adopt with HR during succession planning. For example, do they use the replacement table with the aim of providing the firm and its management with a map that allows them to make the most appropriate decisions to replace a person who is no longer available to fill a certain position? Or is it possible to identify other tools? Similar questions help the authors to investigate around the importance regarding people in firms during generational succession.

Competitive Advantages in the Turkish Retail Industry

Retail is one of the most important industries that is continuously improving around the world and in particular in Turkey. Competitive advantages owned by firms keep businesses one step ahead of their competitors. The main objectives of this chapter are determination of the main competitive advantages and capabilities for firm performance, determination of competitive advantages and capabilities which are relatively important for firm performance, and determination of competitive advantages and capabilities that are mainly used under the effects of environmental dynamism for firm performance in the Turkish retail industry. In this chapter, retailers are evaluated into two groups as organized and traditional. Totally, 50 competitive advantages and capabilities were identified in the research. The results of the study would be beneficial both for retail literature and retail business life.