The era of globalization and knowledge-economy has become the trend of the world. The enterprise faces such environment must consider the way how to maintain the competitive advantage. The way of the competitive advantage can adopt global logistics which transfer some department to relative advantage country in order to improve it¡¦s productivity. In1987, the Government released the law about restricting people to contact between Taiwan and China, and the trade between Taiwan and China became more and more important. With the trend of economic community in globalization and the industrial environment that changed in Taiwan, the Taiwanese firms should think more about how to keep advantages in global competition. Internationalization is the best choice that can help Taiwanese firms promote their competitive position in the world. China is a developing market and having a lot advantages, such as rich resources and cheaper labors. In a word, China has become the major location of Taiwanese firm¡¦s foreign direct investment. Before setting up a plant,the enterprise needs to know why they try to do that? First, if they just do a trial investment, build an offshore factory is enough. Otherwise, the enterprise not only loss the capital and then will hurt the assets of headcompany. Until the branch is operated steadily; or finding another nich. Enterprise could invest more resource and change the invested way to other type such as resource plant model, contribution plant model, front plant model or leadership plant model. The purpose of this thesis is to study if the enterprise builds new plant should consider which relative plant location. These factors provide a building new plant decision-making and investment referential framework. In other word, through this way the enterprise acquired the lowest cost and improved the sustainable competitive advantage. According to scholar¡¦s research, the factor of plant location includes: cost, infrastructure, business service, labor, government, customer/market, supplier / source, competitor. If we analyze quantity and quality in these factor that discover some signification such as the labor, infrastructure, government. From the environmental factor aspect (such as plant size, industry), the enterprise emphasize labor, supplier¡¦s factor that will set up plant in Taiwan; Otherwise, the enterprise will set up plant in China when it enhances the customer and market. Finally, we give some conculsion and suggestion.

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The delivered quantity of TFT-LCD of Taiwan is more than that of Japan in the first quarter 2002. It pushes Taiwan to the position of No 2 in the world, only next to Korea. Hence Taiwan government has included the TFT-LCD industries as the strategic industries to develo. In the near future, we can forecast that TFT-LCD will succeed the semi-conductor industry to stand for the star industry of Taiwan The purpose of this research is to probe the competitions of TFT-LCD industries among Taiwan, Janpan and South Korea, including core competence, developing strategies, business model, and to discover the key success factors(KFS) of competitive advantage of nation in these industries within different countries. By way of the KFS to forecast the future development and potential niche market in the global TFT-LCD industries. The results lead to the conclusion that follows¡G 1. TFT-LCD industry is a hypercompetitive global industry. 2. The TFT-LCD industries of Taiwan, Japan and South Korea each has his competitive advantages. 3. Core competence is the most important strategic resource. 4. LCD-TV will become the largest niche market in the future. 5. The Diamond-Model of TFT-LCD industries in Taiwan and Japan will link together.

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A common perception in many SMEs is that the corporate culture is fuzzy and hard to manage. A common problem is that many business owners and managers in SMEs do not understand the importance of a well-functioned culture, but instead focus on the core business. Therefore, the purpose of this thesis is to examine how SMEs can strengthen and use the corporate culture as a competitive advantage. The research contains an analysis of corporate culture in four different Swedish SMEs, two small-sized and two medium-sized enterprises. In order to fulfil the purpose of this thesis a qualitative research method, through semi-structured interviews, is used. The empirical findings indicated that some companies embrace and develop actively with corporate more proactively than others. The overreaching conclusion is that all the participating companies see corporate culture as important. However, there are differences in how to manage corporate culture and also differences in which way the companies perceive their corporate culture as a competitive advantage. Significant findings from the research are that visions and motives help corporations to make their culture more tangible. Along with proper internal information the culture becomes stronger and more functional. The CEO has an important and influential role when managing corporate culture.

Most research in terms of reward focuses on the financial aspects. Little has been done to understand the value of non-financial rewards. The objective of this study is to determine if South African organisations are utilising nonfinancial rewards as a competitive advantage in attracting and retaining employees. A survey was developed and distributed to gather data regarding the preferences of organisations and individuals for financial versus non-financial rewards. The data was statistically analysed to determine the organisational value of both – with special attention on how organisations use non-financial rewards. As expected, organisations indicated a preference for financial rewards, but this preference was also strongly indicated by individuals. Given the cost effectiveness of non-financial rewards, and its long-term value, the study determines that there is still a place for such rewards within the broader context of the total reward approach. The cost and legislative implications associated with financial rewards makes non-financial rewards, if well positioned, an attractive option as a distinctive competitive advantage in attracting and retaining employees. In addition, it presents organisations with a certain level of fluidity in offering alternatives to employees and in dealing with profitability challenges. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

Recent literature on economic geography suggests the emergence of a new theory of advantage for the 21st century - constructed advantage - following absolute, comparative and competitive advantage theories in the previous three centuries. However, current definitions and descriptions of this construct suffer from conceptual ambiguity and unclear distinstion from former theories, in particular competitive advantage. This study attempts to clarify current knowledge of the concept of constructed advantage at the regional level and extend it to the organizational level. The main question addressed by the present study are: 1) What is "Constructed Advantage?" and 2) What are the differences between construcyed advantage and competitive advantage? These research questions are "what-type"questions, reflecting the exploratory nature of this study. The present study is grounded in a chronological review of the four refered theories of advantage, drawing from different bodies od literature - internatioal economics, industrial economics, industrial marketing and purchasing, and economic geography. For that purpose, the bibliography was carefully selected and analysed, without directly refering to data collection and analysis. Thus, this research is exclusively theoretical. A structured view of the theories of advantage is proposed. These theories are arranged according to an integrative matrix model with two dimensions, relating four centuries of advantages theories. Industrial marketing and purchasing proponents see business relationships as a network of suppliersand customers, thus suggesting a distinction between supply and demand, the two dimensions of the matrix. Economic goegraphers and strategists argue in favor of a more dynamic approach to the "construction" of advantage, which suggests the existence of a static-dynamic dichotony. Given this model, we then redefine constructed advantage. This study concludes with a discussion of implications (...)

Following up with China¡¦s WTO entry, China without doubt has become the ¡¥Must-go¡¦ place for any Taiwanese enterprise which is keen to turn its operation to be international or global. However, entering Chinese market would never be a promise to lead to a subsequent successful ¡¥going-global¡¦ story without taking account of certain points as follows. How Taiwanese enterprises enter Chinese market strategically? How to efficiently as well as effectively manage the subsidiaries following their entries? How to maintain and accumulate their ownership advantage afterwards? All of these questions have become the major challenges these days faced by those Taiwanese enterprises that attempt to enter the giant China. In today¡¦s knowledge-driven economy, for the capital-, technology-, as well as knowledge- intense pharmaceutical industry, it would be even more critical to effectively link foreign subsidiaries¡¦ organizational management and coordination to the foreign investment entry modes. Consequently, Taiwanese pharmaceutical enterprises are chosen as the samples in this current research.¡@Qualitative research is conducted for this current research using case study research method. Through in-depth interviews, data are gathered from two Taiwanese pharmaceutical enterprises, representing large and small scale enterprise respectively. Finally, findings obtained of this research as the following attempts to make some contributions to Taiwanese pharmaceutical enterprises¡¦ future investment in China. 1. Enterprise¡¦s characteristics, including business scale, years of China¡¦s investment, and internationalization experience, have influence on the ownership, location, and internalization advantage. 2. Features of pharmaceutical industry in China have influence on the development of the investment advantages in China. 3. Enterprise¡¦s characteristics and China¡¦s investment advantages have influence on the subsidiary¡¦s integration and control as well as the value chain activities.

This study focuses on corporate social responsibility from a management perspective. The study had the following objectives - to investigate the level of adoption of CSR by companies in Botswana; to find out why companies in Botswana have embraced CSR; to investigate the views of governments, pressure groups and stakeholders on companies which have embraced CSR in their communities; and to recommend to company management and stakeholders on how best they can use CSR to their best advantage. A Positivist (quantitative) strategy was used to execute this study and data capture was done through the use of a structured questionnaire. This instrument was issued to 100 members of management from companies based near Mahalapye and Gaborone. The response rate was 88%. The key findings were that many companies have CSR policies at their workplaces but they are not yet fully functional. Many companies have also embraced CSR for political mileage reasons only and to appear to be environmentally conscious. / Thesis (MBA) North-West University, Mafikeng Campus, 2013