The premise of this thesis is the need for research regarding the relation between social and natural values and the competitive advantage of a firm. The overall purpose of this thesis is to identify, describe and analyze how a firm can achieve competitive advantage from a transformation of social and natural values. In order to reach the purpose of this thesis a case study of Cascades Djupafors has been carried out which entailed personal interviews with a selection of the firm’s customers.  The theoretical framework involves a description of the creation of a sustainable business, process for creating societal advantage, the transformation of societal advantage to competitive advantage as well as an elaboration of the transformation process. The empirical study deals with the sustainable approach of Cascades Djupafors, their quest for a sustained business, their process from sustainability to competitiveness and an elaboration of Cascades Djupafors’ innovation developments. In the analysis the theoretical framework is related to the results of the empirical study. It is discussed and analysed how Cascades Djupafors can create social and natural values as well as economic values which is continued by a discussion regarding the creation of a sustainable business. In addition, the organizational learning process at Cascades Djupafors is elaborated with focus on capability development. It is concluded that a firm can transform social and natural values to competitive advantage by developing green capabilities to perform CSR activities that the customers value and thereby gain legitimacy. This can lead to a positive reputation which is linked to competitive advantage through the source of competitive advantage, i.e. green innovations. The competitive advantage allows a firm to set a premium price or increase its amount of sales which offers a possibility for increased financial outcome. At last, recommendations for further research within this field are presented together with specific managerial implications for Cascades Djupafors.

The aim of strategic group analysis is to find out if clusters of firms that have a similar strategic position exist within an industry or not. In this thesis, by using a conceptual framework that reflects the strategic context, contents and process of construction companies and utilising alternative clustering methods such as traditional cluster analysis, self-organizing maps, and fuzzy C-means technique, a strategic group analysis was conducted for the Turkish construction industry. Results demonstrate that there are three strategic groups among which significant performance differences exist. Self-organising maps provide a visual representation of group composition and help identification of hybrid structures. Fuzzy C-means technique reveals the membership degrees of a firm to each strategic group. It is recommended that real strategic group structure can only be identified by using alternative cluster analysis methods. The positive effect of differentiation strategy on achieving competitive advantage is widely acknowledged in the literature and proved to be valid for the Turkish construction industry as a result of strategic group analysis. In this study, a framework is proposed to model the differentiation process in construction. The relationships between the modes and drivers of differentiation are analyzed by structural equation modeling. The results demonstrate that construction companies can either differentiate on quality or productivity. Project management related factors extensively influence productivity differentiation whereas they influence quality differentiation indirectly. Corporate management related factors only affect quality differentiation. Moreover, resources influence productivity differentiation directly whereas they have an indirect effect on quality differentiation.

In the beginning of 21st century, like many nations across the world, Taiwan has worked hard in an attempt to establish a new economy. This new economy will be comprised of intellectual property and high-tech industries which high economic return, low pollution, and all other added values will truly bring another phase of prosperity to Taiwan. Ideally, the government hopes to pattern the successful model of Hsinchu Science Park to the new establishment of biotechnology-related science parks across the island. Therefore, the Southern Taiwan Science Park, Nankang Science Park, and Chupei Biomedical Science Park were set up. Meanwhile, the Cabinet¡]the Executive Yuan¡^also evaluated the existing bio-tech industries in terms of natural resources, academic support, and cluster effect through the Strategic Review Board (SRB). The SRB is composed of experts from industries, government officials, academicians, and researchers as well. After sophisticated discussion, SRB reached the following conclusions: 1. biotech science parks are essential to form the cluster effect to Taiwan¡¦s biotechnology. 2. The biotech science parks shall be established in regions across the island in order to integrate the resources from the northern and southern Taiwan . In June of 2002, the Cabinet has officially initiated the plan ¡§The Challenge 2008 ¡V Nation-level Development Plan¡¨ which included ¡§Two Trillion, Two Stars ¡¨ plan devised by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, and the bio-tech development is included in the ¡§Two-Two ¡¨ plan . At the moment, Taiwan¡¦s bio-tech annual output to 100.9 billion NT$, and will bring this number up to 250 billion NT$ by 2006. In addition, the government also aims to attract another 100 billion NT$ of investment in bio-tech by the establishment of another 500 bio-tech companies within the next ten years. Some Cabinet-level agencies, such as the Council for Economic Planning and Development, the National Science Council, and the Council of Agriculture also coordinated with the local governments to plan the establishment of bio-tech science parks. According to the government¡¦s ¡§Bio-tech Industry Promotion Programs (BIPP) ¡§, four bio-tech science parks have been planned : Nankang Bio-tech Park, Chupei Biomedical Park, Southern Taiwan Bio-tech Park, and Tunghwa Bio-tech Incubation Center. The success factors for those programs will hinge on the Taiwan¡¦s ability to conquer over the current economic slowdown, to promote and maintain Taiwan¡¦s existing economic competitiveness and growth. In fact, with Taiwan¡¦s economic power, the avid promotion of knowledge-based economy, the ambition to the bio-tech industry, and the avid support from the different fields, Taiwan has amassed the essential factors to create a successful bio-tech industry. However, to realize the dream of initiating biotechnology to become the next ¡§star industry¡¨ in Taiwan, the detail planning, the execution, and the integration of the government and private resources, it dearly deserves our close attention and supervision. The purpose of this study is to investigate the ¡§bio-tech cluster effect¡¨ with respect to other factors including¡¨ resource distribution¡¨, ¡§social interaction¡¨, ¡§cluster demographics¡¨, ¡§nuclear/peripheral development¡¨, ¡§cluster economics¡¨, ¡§non-profit marketing and sales¡¨ and so on. This study will also introduce some bio-tech science parks and clusters (e.g. Europe, U.S., Asia, and China), to present their current status and past experience, then compare with the planning and development of the bio-tech science parks in Taiwan. With theoretical analysis and factual experience, this study will analyze the advantage and restrictions of the development of bio-tech science parks. Additionally, this study will provide a few viewpoints from the foreign for the government and bio-tech industry in the building of the new star industry. This study pointed out, right at the juncture where the bio-tech sets for the next wave of industry, that we are faced with the shortage of talents, the high-level technology, and funds. As a result, the development of bio-tech industry in Taiwan has fallen short of expectation, and limited the scope of discussion of this study. As of now, the bio-tech industry in Taiwan has not created any significant bio-tech-related product, the funds for bio-tech-related research only amounts to 7 billion NT$, not even 1% of the U.S. With over 100 billion NT$ of venture capital funds, only less than 5% was invested in bio-technology. Unless the government increases its R&D fund and hasten its steps in the promotion of bio-tech start ups; otherwise, Taiwan will continue to lag behind in its bio-tech development. Another unexpected factor, which plays a major role in the development of bio-technology, is the instability of the policy. Bio-technology promotions and development are easily influenced by politicians and leaders of different political backers, and often stalling various plans. For example, an approved proposal with a budget at 3.9 billion NT$ was overturned by the reason of ¡§inappropriate budgeting plan¡¨ in April of 2003. The Cabinet¡¦s proposal consisted of recruiting new bio-tech companies, biotech experts, new technologies, and to purchase Nankang bio-technology building which will increase the substantiality of ¡§the Greater Taipei Biotechnology R&D Cluster¡¨, however, the Congress¡]the Legislative Yuan¡^considered the Chinese-American Economic and Social Development Fund was not suitable for such bio-tech development and promotion. This study also pointed out some certain aspects that are beneficial to the development of biotechnology in Taiwan, to express our support to the current bio-tech-related policies, we sincerely hope that bio-tech industries will has a fruitful growing in the near future. The previous success in manufacturing calculators, computers, and other electronics that once earned Taiwan the title of ¡§Island of Technology¡¨ will again bring the island a new title, ¡§Island of Biotechnology¡¨. One of the major suggestions of this study is to advise the bio-tech industries could give up their existing ¡§subjectivity¡¨ and replace this mindset with ¡§objectivity¡¨ where sharing of knowledge, critical discussion, and mutual interaction, will bring a ¡§cohesive effect¡¨ that will ultimately reflect the benefits of biotech cluster. Researchers, professors, scientists, and students from universities, research organizations, and incubation centers should bring their promising research to nearby science parks to find appropriate matching companies to give the further collaboration in research, co-develop, manufacture, market, and sale promising in biotech products. Another point worth mentioning here is that both the public and private sector should play the equal role and share the same responsibility. In other words, from the Ministry of Economic Affairs, National Science Council, Council of Agriculture to the local government, and the biotechnology science park should get involved the support to the bio-tech and avoid overlaps of resource allocation. The government should evenly distribute resources, encourage fair competitions and beneficial collaborations. Even more, state owned corporations such as Taiwan Sugar Corporation and ADImmune Corporation have jumped in the bio-tech band wagon and also participated in the formation of bio-tech science parks. Anyway, one of the most ideal propositions is to promote agricultural-biotech zone from the middle to southern Taiwan science parks, in order to take advantage of Taiwan¡¦s existing natural resources, the northern science parks should emphasize on R&D, drug manufacturing, medical device design and manufacturing, bio-tech service, and so on. For example, each bio-tech park should focus on a major area and its related-services such as flower industry should match well with fruits, and vegetables while water/ocean produces should be separated. This way, each bio-tech science park will distinguish itself and even cooperate with others, and each will have its own playground and market niche. In summary, combining local political/economic situations and overseas¡¦ bio-tech park experience, this study presents the following key points that may prove to be essential in the successful establishment of Taiwan¡¦s biotech science park and cluster development: 1. Regardless of which party is in charge, government should concentrate on the establishment of science parks; 2. The establishment of science parks should base on cluster style, absorbing all potential talents and encourage R&D seedlings; 3. Sufficient R&D fund, and develop core facilities to incubate up-coming technologies; 4. To establish good relationships and frequent interactions with surrounding universities and research institutes, to ensure the flow of outstanding talents; 5. Government should promote more establishment of science parks through the Association of Allied Industries in Science-Based Industrial Park, National Applied Research Laboratories, Industrial Technology Research Institute, and other non-profit organizations, and to make more reasonable development process and flexibility in terms of hardware planning; 6. To provide easy access to public transportation and highway networks and comfortable and quality living environment to science parks.

越南食品加工業的策略管理,以Masan Consumer公司為例 / The processed food industry in Vietnam is at its growth stage with more companies having joined the market in the past twenties years, attempting to stronger position their brand name or trying to build a loyal customer base. The Masan Consumer Corporation, which belongs to the Masan Group - one of the Vietnam’s biggest private sector companies, has been operating quite well in the market with encouraging business performance. The Masan Consumer Corporation has an efficient logistics management, famous brand names, and a huge investment from a private equity fund, a good production facility and a capable management team with both local and international professionals. The Vietnam’s macroeconomic environment offers the company with many opportunities, such as: Consumers have more interest in branded products and are ready to pay higher price for special offering; High level of disposable income and expenditure on food both in city centers and rural areas; travel industry is developing and looser family structure; The domestic market remains big and faster pace of life in the city centers and online delivery is an untapped channel of distribution. At the same time, there are some threats facing the company, which are the higher expectation from customers; Famous Western products with strong investment of promotion and marketing programs or more companies from the Asian Economy Committee are investing in Vietnam; Hard to predict the inflation rate or too high interest rate; Competition from imported brands from other countries; An increase in energy cost in cost structure of the company. Based on the analysis of looking outside and inside the company, strategic recommendations for business and functional levels and strategic business units are proposed.

在研究波蘭外包服務產業之發展現況與種類後，接著以波特之國家競爭優勢模型，觀察波蘭國家環境是否能孕育外包服務產業，而波蘭擁有高品質之人力資源、優秀之資訊科技和電信基礎設施、經濟特區與科技園區之出現，且地處歐洲之中心、廣闊便利之辦公空間，與吸引人之勞工成本，使得波蘭成為外包服務產業之良好孕育基地。 波蘭外包服務產業之因應策略，包含：提供進階之商業服務、波蘭外包服務產業之現今策略，外包服務產業之長期策略。(一)提供進階之商業服務：以波蘭之人才庫優勢，向全球企業提供最先進的服務，成為商業服務領域之頂尖領導者。(二)波蘭外包服務產業之現階段策略：政府、企業和學術機構之策略改變，皆能促成波蘭外包服務部門之發展，為了成為全球的領先。(三)外包服務產業之長期策略：為使波蘭成為商業服務之國際領導者，新的波蘭投資國際企業須積極創立，提供更適宜之創業環境。 / To study the Polish outsourcing industry development and type, followed by Porter's model of national competitive advantage, to observe whether the Polish national environment can nurture outsourcing industry, while Poland has a high quality of human resources, excellent base of Information Technology and Telecommunications It appears facilities, SEZs and technology parks, the and is located in the center of Europe, the vast convenience of office space, and attraction of labor costs, making Poland a good breeding base for the outsourcing industry.

Magistrantūros studijų baigiamasis darbas, 99 puslapiai, 31 paveikslas, 18 lentelių, 3 formulės, 56 literatūros šaltiniai, 4 priedai, lietuvių kalba. Tyrimo objektas – Šilalės rajono pieno ūkiai. Tyrimo dalykas – pieno ūkių veiklos strategijos. Tikslas – ištirti Šilalės rajono pieno ūkius ir nustatyti strategijos poveikį įvairaus dydžio ūkių konkurenciniams pranašumams. Uždaviniai: 1.Išanalizuoti šalies ir užsienio autorių mokslinę literatūrą strategijų rengimo ir konkurencinių pranašumų kūrimo klausimais. 2.Parengti pieno ūkių tyrimo metodiką. 3.Pateikti pieno ūkio strategijos vertinimo modelį. 4.Atlikti pieno ūkių apklausą Šilalės rajone. 5.Parengti pieno ūkio konkurencinių pranašumų kūrimo modelį. 6.Sukurti smulkaus, vidutinio ir stambaus pieno ūkio veiklos strategijas ir įvertinti jų įtaką ūkio konkurenciniams pranašumams. Tyrimo metodai - mokslinės literatūros loginė, aprašomoji ir palyginamoji analizė; anketinė apklausa bei pusiau struktūrizuota smulkaus, vidutinio ir stambaus pieno ūkių savininkų apklausa; ūkių stiprybių, silpnybių, galimybių ir grėsmių analizė; statistinis metodas (SPSS 13.0 programa); finansinė rizikos vertinimo analizė; grafinis modeliavimas. Apibendrinant mokslinės literatūros analizės, statistinės analizės bei empirinio tyrimo rezultatus galima teigti, jog veiklos strategijos įgyvendinimas pieno ūkyje padeda sukurti konkurencinį pranašumą lyginant su kitais tokio pat dydžio ūkiais. / The final work of master studies, 99 pages, 31 pictures, 18 tables, 3 formulas, 56 sources of literature, 4 supplements, Lithuanian. Research object – milk farms of Šilalė district. Research subject – milk farms action strategies. The purpose of work is to investigate milk farms of Šilalė district and to define strategy influence on different size farms competitive advantages. Research tasks: 1.To analyze national and foreign authors research literature of strategy arrangement and competitive advantages creation. 2.To prepare a technique for research of milk farm. 3.To propose milk farm strategy evaluation model. 4.To investigate milk farms owners in Šilalė district. 5.To frame milk farm competitive advantages creation model. 6.To create small, medium and large milk farm action strategies and to evaluate influence on farm competitive advantages. Research methods – scientific literature logic, monographic and comparable analysis; questionnaire survey and semi-structured interview of small, medium and large milk farm owners; the analysis of farms strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats; statistic method (SPSS 13.0 program); financial evaluation of risk; graphic modeling. In conclusion of scientific literature research, a statistic analysis and empiric research result the decision is that actions strategy in milk farm helps to create competitive advantage in comparison with other the same size farms.

Habilitacijos procedūrai teikiamų mokslo darbų apžvalgoje nagrinėjami svarbiausi Zenonos Onos Atkočiūnienės atliktų 1999 – 2009 metais atliktų mokslinių tyrimų rezultatai. Globaliai procesai, žiniomis grįstos ekonomikos iššūkiai skatina vadybinių paradigmų transformacijas. Formuojasi nauja vadybinė įvestis - žinių vadyba, kurios esmė – ne materialių objektų, o neapčiuopiamų (neišreikštų) išteklių naudojimas, palaikymas, valdymas ir tobulinimas, intelektinio kapitalo kūrimas ir gausinimas, siekiant konkurencinio pranašumo. Tiriant valdymo modelių transformacijas, kurias lėmė žinių visuomenės, žinių ekonomikos iššūkiai, galima identifikuoti verslo pranašumus ir trūkumus, nustatyti organizacijų kritinio strateginio pranašumo kūrimo sritis. Informacijos ir žinių vadybos integralumas argumentuojamas tiek jų kaip vadybos funkcijų, tiek kaip socialinių reiškinių esmę ir savitumus nusakančių objektų – informacijos, žinių tarpusavio sąsajų. Tyrimų tikslas – ištirti , įvertinti ir apibendrinti teorines informacijos ir žinių vadybos žiūras ir atsižvelgiant į aplinkos kaitą bei tarpkultūrinius organizacijų skirtumus atskleisti jų praktinio taikymo organizacijose turinį ir kryptis. Tyrimų uždaviniai: • Apibrėžti informacinės vadybinės veiklos pokyčius, nulemtus žiniomis grįstos ekonomikos raiškos. • Ištirti informacinėje veikloje taikomas rinkodaros strategijas ir pagrįsti rinkos informacinių poreikių tyrimo metodologiją. • Išanalizuoti informacijos... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The review of the scientific works submitted for habilitation analyzes the most important results of the scientific research conducted by Zenona Ona Atkočiūnienė in 1999 – 2009. Processes taking place on a global scale, knowledge-based economic challenges encourage transformations of management paradigms. A new management input – knowledge management – undergoes formation. The essence of such management is the use, maintenance, administration and improvement of intangible resources, formation and enlargement of intellectual capital, seeking to gain competitive advantage. When investigating transformations of management models, conditioned by challenges of knowledge society and knowledge economy, business advantages and shortcomings may be identified and the fields of development of organizations’ critical strategic advantage may be set out. The integrity of information and knowledge management is reasoned by interlink between the objects (information and knowledge) denoting the essence and specific features of information and knowledge as management functions as well as social phenomena. The purpose of research: to investigate, evaluate and summarize theoretical aspects of information and knowledge management, and, taking into consideration environmental changes and intercultural differences of organizations, to disclose the content and trends of their practical application in organizations. The tasks of research: • To define changes of information management activities... [to full text]

<p>A major challenge facing the South African wine industry has been the economic repositioning of the sector, which since 1994 has moved away from a highly regulated domestic environment. The increasing integration of the local industry into international markets and global value chains has been accompanied by the industry&rsquo / s deregulation and restructuring. From the production focus&nbsp / on a limited range of low value-added varieties produced for domestic tastes and to meet monopoly quotas, producers have shifted to planting noble cultivars suited to various international&nbsp / tastes. Despite the lack of growth in traditional Western European markets, new world producers like South Africa have successfully competed and secured new market share. The Western Cape&nbsp / ine industry is ranked as the second-largest contributor to the Western Cape economy. The thesis explores the effect of cluster governance and the coordination of strategic collective&nbsp / actions on the Western Cape wine cluster&rsquo / s competitiveness. The data has been gathered through a combination of documentary analysis and interviews conducted with the leadership and/or&nbsp / management of various industry organisations. A qualitative approach has been adopted in the data analysis and interpretation of the findings, with information gathered via a combination of&nbsp / documentary analysis and semi-structured interviews with key representatives of established industry bodies and key role-players in the Western Cape wine cluster. </p>

The Swedish market for vehicle inspection is re-regulated since June 2010. More than four years after the re-regulation there are eight companies in the market. Two of these companies are a result of the former monopolist's owners divided the business among themselves. The remaining six companies have entered the market through acquisitions or by building up their business from scratch, these are known as new entrants in the study. The competition has developed slowly and the former monopolist still has the highest market share. Industry conditions are to say the least special because the companies and technicians have to have individual licenses in the form of accreditation and certification, which causes high establishment barriers. The study has the aim of contributing to the knowledge of new entrants on the re-regulated vehicle inspection market. In particular, the new entrant’s establishment and their strategic choices are studied to find out how they act to market conditions in order to create competitive advantages. The study is based on four questions: Main Question: How do new entrants create competitive advantages in the vehicle inspection market? Sub query 1: How’s the new entrants view on the competitive situation? Sub query 2: How do the new entrants establish their station-/s? Sub query 3: What strategies do the new entrants use to strengthen its position against competitors? The essay is based on an empirical survey and is designed as a case study with four units of analysis that represent four new inspection companies in the market for vehicle inspection. Data were collected through interviews with people in key positions of the four companies, as well with a person of the authority whose task is to monitor market developments, namely the Transport Agency. Furthermore, also documents issued by the authorities and new entrants were reviewed. The conclusions that the study has come up with is that the new entrants create competitive advantages through a favorable placement of stations, a bit outside the city center. The strict regulation doesn’t allow the new entrants to create competitive advantages through new or modified inspection services. Based on these regulations the new entrants are trying to attract customers through enhanced service and additional services to the inspection. They try to create a total offering to the customer where the obligatory inspection service is included.

The study focuses on the use of information systems in the Heavy Engineering industry in South Africa and the decision to make, buy or rent information systems. Special focus was placed on the factors that influence the decision to make, buy or rent information systems. It is undeniable that changes in the competitive environment, such as technological advances and globalisation, are driving organisations toward new ways of operating. In striving to become flexible, lean, and more competitive, organisations have been increasingly swift to externalise support service functions. Every organisation must adapt to the current economic environment, the technology available in its industry and consider the risk and rewards within the industry framework. Organisations should carefully analyse the impact of their decisions, especially in consideration of the extent to which organisational competencies and competitive advantage could be affected. An extensive literature study was conducted on the factors that influence the decision to make, buy or rent. The literature study portrays the ideal state or methodologies for acquiring information systems and the best practices used in evaluating the best option for the organisation. The literature indicated the criteria for evaluating the decision to make, buy or rent information systems are the business need, in–house experience, project skills, project management and the time frame. These criteria can be broken down into the factors that have an influence on the decision, competitive advantage, security, skills, expertise, available resources, cost, time, implementation, support, maintenance, performance, quality, documentation, vendor issues, size of organisation, expected annual transactions, software control, functionality, productivity and increased turnover. Calculating the benefit that can be achieved from information systems must also include measures to incorporate the total benefit, not only the financial benefit. The balance scorecard approach measures the total return accompanying an investment in information systems, broken down into four sections, the financial perspective that measures the tangible outcomes, the customer perspective that measures customer value (quality, delivery and skill), the internal process perspective that measures the internal processes that add value and have the greatest impact on strategy and finally the learning and growth perspective that measures the intangible assets which focuses on human capital. Information systems form part of the corporate strategy, competitive positioning and must be aligned with the overall strategy of the organisation. A survey was done to determine the opinions about the different options managers/organisations have to consider when seeking to fulfil organisational requirements for information systems. Methodological issues as well as considerations with regard to gathering the data were discussed. A questionnaire was designed to collect data to obtain the information needed to solve the research problem. The internal consistency of the questionnaire was tested and it was found that a moderate to high level of consistency exists. The survey results were then presented in frequency tables and were analysed using descriptive statistics as well as inferring possible trends or conclusions based on relationships between certain responses on specific related questions and referring to the literature study. A framework was compiled from the literature study and empirical study that can be used for the purpose of decision–making in the make, buy or renting of information systems in the heavy engineering environment in South Africa. Benefits from purchasing software from a vendor include competitive advantage, available resources, implementation of the system, support to the system, system performance, documentation and training, and business functionality. Benefits from open source offerings include the size of the organisation and the number of expected annual transactions by the organisation. Benefits from SaaS (Software as a service) include competitive advantage, expertise, system performance and business functionality. Benefits from the outsourcing of development and other IT functions include competitive advantage, security, skills, available resources, implementation of the system, support to the system, system performance, documentation and training, business functionality and technical functionality. Benefits from developing in–house all or part of the effort include competitive advantage, security, skills, expertise, available resources, time, implementation of the system, support to the system, maintenance and upgrades, system performance, quality, documentation and training, business functionality, technical functionality, productivity improvements and increased turnover. Overall the linkage between the literature study and the empirical study concludes / Thesis (MBA)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012.