BACKGROUND Exploring literature about corporate sustainability and cost leadership strategy and to study the collusion of the two concepts through the case of Ikea. AIM Researching whether firms can align corporate sustainability approach to doing business on the imperatives of a cost leadership strategy. The contribution aims to provide guidance on choosing appropriate sustainability activities within the context of cost leadership strategy. Furthermore, it should be noted that this paper sets out to analyze the compatibility between sustainability and cost leadership remaining/gaining competitiveness. METHODOLOGY The study regards Ikea’s implementation of sustainable business practices through a mixed method, via informal interview, bottom-employees survey and secondary data. FINDINGS Companies having a deep understanding of sustainability can achieve to conciliate their efforts toward sustainability with their cost leadership strategy. KEYWORDS Corporate sustainability, cost leadership strategy, triple bottom line, maturity phase, challenges, competitive advantage

Effective internal communication is an important factor for organizational success. Organizations need to evaluate and improve their internal communication especially in an increasingly difficult and competitive economic environment. In this regard, measurement instruments enable organizations to monitor communication effectiveness of internal communication systems (Ruck & Welch, 2012). The focus for this study will be the concept of internal communication within an organization. In order to establish and identify the purpose of the study a literature review was        performed that examined the existing research within the field.The purpose of this study is to investigate the factors that influence the effectiveness of internal communication from the employee perception at the logistic department of Electrolux. Three research questions were then conducted in order to answer the purpose. The study has been conducted through a case study in the form of in-depth interviews. The study was carried out through 11 interviews with employees from the logistic department of Electrolux Laundry System AB in Ljungby. In the current business environment a formal way of strategically handle the              communication that is practiced within an organization is needed in relation to higher competitive advantage. The study reveals that Electrolux logistic center is not practicing this in any higher degree in accordance to the theory of effective communication. No clear goal regarding communication or measuring communication was identified. In accordance to this practical managerial implication was concluded based on these findings. The presented research model done was suggested to be developed as a further research

ABSTRACT This research is about identifying the characteristics or success profiles of professionals working in the turnaround industry. The turnaround industry possesses a number of dynamic capabilities in processes, positions, resources and paths that are unique to its industry. The firms that compete in the turnaround industry serve their clients, the dying organizations, by using a mix of these dynamic capabilities. While these dynamic capabilities are seen as the turnaround firms’ “secrets of success,” they have over time evolved into “best practices.” This commoditization of best practices in the turnaround industry has created a need for turnaround firms to search for a competitive advantage. Specifically, this advantage is identified in the literature as the skills, knowledge, and experience of the turnaround professional. These unique characteristics of the turnaround management professional (TMP), see appendix C for a complete definitions of terms, have been accounted for in the Turnaround Management Association (TMA) certification process called the Certified Turnaround Professional, or CTP. One of the TMA’s goals is to establish professional work standards and guidelines and to regulate the industry. While a noble effort, this focus takes the “competitive advantage” away from the turnaround organization and standardizes it into the “best practices” arena via “certified” professionals leaving these organizations to compete on size and location alone. Evidence from a focus group, case research interviews, and two different surveys, suggests that there is a profound difference in the effectiveness of TMPs beyond the knowledge, skill, and experience levels identified as one of the core components of dynamic capabilities theory. This evidence led to the investigation of psychometric profiling as a method to measure the distinct success profiles of these “highly successful” TMPs, or Most Valuable players (MVP). Measuring the thinking style (cognitive reasoning ability), work motivation, personality behaviors, and occupational interests of MVP s, has led to the discovery of a success composite. The findings of this research suggest that MVP s score higher on this composite than do other TMPs who were identified as “low performers”, or Least Valuable Players (LVP), as well as non-turnaround managers, executives, and business professionals in general. It is postulated that by using this composite score in hiring, training, and promoting turnaround professionals, a turnaround firm will obtain a competitive advantage in their industry and generate higher success for all stakeholders. Resultantly, the researchers have uncovered a critical gap in the dynamic capability theory surrounding the construct of human capital. Evidence suggests that psychometric profiling is an acceptable and, indeed, important measure of the value of human capital.

Business processes and information technology are two areas that are very closely related to the sustained competitive advantage in organisations. However, investment in information technology often leads to disappointment, which may in part be due to the non-alignment of the information system domain with the business process domain. Simulation modelling is an established technique often used in business process change projects, as it allows a comparison of different possible scenarios without the expense of physically implementing the system. However business process simulation fails to effectively capture the information systems perspective in the model. This thesis contends that by combining information systems modelling techniques with business process simulation the model will be able to capture all the four perspectives (functional, behavioural, organisational and informational) of an organisation, and the design of the business processes and the information system will be better aligned. Initially, attempts were made to integrate business process simulation with computer network simulation in a simple two- or three-layered simulation model, but this gave rise to significant problems the most significant being the underlying assumptions of the original hypothesis. This led to a refined hypothesis in which the layered models were discarded along with the network domain. The revised hypothesis aimed to capture the informational changes that occur in the information system and therefore combines prototyping with business process simulation. This overcomes the unsafe assumptions of the initial hypothesis about whether the system is 'correct' and provides a method of validating the design of the information system within the context of the business processes. The integrated model allows concurrent design of the information system domain and the business process domain and therefore ensures that the domains are better aligned. The framework is tested on a case study and the results indicate that it is an effective tool in the combined design of business processes and information systems.

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To competitively operate in an environment where even the basic social needs of the population are not met, it makes business sense to uplift the stakeholders that form part of the business environment. With approximately five and a half billion rand spent on philanthropic activities in 2010 alone, it is important that this spend translates into a competitive advantage for the company.The purpose of this study was to explore the concept of philanthropy as understood by companies. Further to that, the intention of the research was to understand how engaging stakeholders, utilising resources available and the intention of the giving by the key decision makers, contributed towards achieving the competitive advantage of the company.Qualitative research in the form of interviews with the key decision makers in the companies in respect of giving was used for data gathering, along with secondary data in sustainability reports to support findings.The research found that competitive advantage can be gained by using corporate philanthropy as a tool. The paper proposes a framework based on the core theories that can be referenced to assist decision makers in determining which areas needs to be improved, in order to raise the competitiveness of the company by means of corporate philanthropy. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / MBA / Unrestricted

This paper argues that greater levels of risk, generally thought to be detrimental to business performance in emerging markets, are actually a benefit and an important source of competitive advantage for emerging multinational enterprises (EMNEs) competing in the global arena. EMNEs that have survived despite these challenging business environments are more comfortable with and skilled at managing risk than their developed market peers as evidenced in two ways. First, EMNEs are able to stabilise their business performance to statistically match the risk spread of those in developed markets despite their more volatile environments, and second, EMNEs perform progressively better than developed market firms at increased levels of risk. Interestingly, EMNEs react identically to risk drivers that developed market firms responded to twenty years ago, but developed market firms no longer respond the same way. Today, these risk drivers vary significantly between EMNEs and multinational enterprises (MNEs). For example, in every EMNE-MNE comparison, expectation, firm age, firm independence and available slack had contrasting influences. These differences may be attributed to the earlier stage of development for EMNEs rather than an emerging market influence. Most firms, regardless of origin, strive for low risk levels while the best returns are to be made at medium risk levels. This evidence both supports and contradicts Bowman’s Paradox of a negative risk-performance relationship. The strongest risk drivers are internationalisation, recoverable slack and past performance. Copyright / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

African football academies are a seriously neglected field of research but are a highly important step in the evolution of football (Scherrens, 2007). The study is motivated by the lack of research on football academy structures in particular South Africa. The primary focus of the research is on football development in South Africa, whilst it also reviews substantial literature concerning the phenomenon of elite sport development in order to explain the dynamics surrounding the football academy structure. The study identifies the relevant key components within the current football models and proposes a ‘winning’ model for South Africa. The study unpacks two theoretical frameworks, in understanding the impact of competitive advantage within a football academy. Through gaining insight into the strategic models employed within the various researched academy systems, this study outlines the important resources, competencies and capabilities within a football academy. The analysis revealed certain trends and provided the basis for the answering of the research questions. Hence the broad scope which is critical to understanding the football development phenomenon.The research aims to empower administrators and management of football clubs in South Africa with the strategic knowledge to provide a sustainable and competitive academy through player development, which can aid our national teams. The dynamic processes involved in football development enabled a winning model for a football academy in South Africa which could provide a competitive, sustainable advantage for a football academy. Copyright / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

Purpose: The main research objective is to identify how an organization is using a CSRstrategy to gain a competitive advantage Method: The selected research method is a descriptive method followed by an inductive one.Secondary data has been collected from books at Halmstad University’s Library and academicjournals and other articles founded in the University’s Databases. Primary data has beenobtained through an interview carried out with the head manager of Coop Halmstad, JorgenWestman. Theoretical framework: We firstly define in details the concepts of Corporate SocialResponsibility and its three aspects which are Economic, Social and Environmental. Thedescription of the concept of competitive advantage and how to obtain a sustainablecompetitive advantage. Finally, food retailers are defined. Conclusion: A summary of the findings obtained from our study is posted. Another summaryto point out the bounds between corporate social responsibility and competitive advantage.The limitations of the study as well as some suggestions for further researches are added inthis section

Taiwan has listed on developed countries, people in Taiwan are more and more emphasis on leisure activities following on the higher income, increased GNP and changed life style of aging society. Besides, 5-working-day scheme and promotion of tourism and leisure industries have become Taiwan government¡¦s important policy. Tourism and leisure industries is a tremendous potential market, which implies billions of dollars treasure there. Moreover, tourism and leisure industries can help Taiwan government to resolve high un-employee problems. I believe that this potential emerging market of leisure and tourism industries may draw more and more attention from authorities and interested parties. So as this paper hi-lights leisure industries and takes a case study of Shitzuwan Beach Resort. From business operational environment point of view, there are certain factors that cause an enterprise operates very successfully in its field, these certain factors are well known as key success factors. On the other hand, resource-based view is looking into and focusing an enterprise¡¦s internal resources and its capabilities, this theory has been implemented since 1990 and becomes a fad now a day. From resource-based view, the formation of competitive advantage of a firm is weather or not its resources and capabilities match with key success factors, this model of ¡uresource and core competence ¡÷ key success factors ¡÷ competitive advantage¡vhave been proved by the ¡ucompetitive advantage matrix analysis model¡v whereas the model created by the author. The main purpose of this paper therefore, is to contribute to the theoretical creation of competitive advantage matrix analysis model, this model is based on two dimensions of key success factors¡]KSF¡^and resource-based view¡]RBV¡^, through this competitive advantage matrix can illustrates the types of competitive advantage and intensive of competitive advantage of the designated enterprise. The result of matrix analysis also gives hints for the enterprises to overview and to reinforce his internal resources as well as core competence, so as to keep and create its competitive advantage. Key Words¡GKey Success Factor¡]KSF¡^, Resource-based View¡]RBV¡^, Core Competence, Competitive Advantage, Competitive Advantage Matrix Analysis.