Abstract Globally recognized for its investment strengths, Taiwan offers superior geographical and cultural advantages, a vibrant yet stable economy, technological prowess, tightly integrated industrial infrastructure, professional talent and a skilled labor force. Taiwan¡¦s economic strength is rooted in its industrial base, which started with a manufacturing boom in basic-level exported goods and progressed to technology intensive industries, such as electrical goods and chemicals. The Taiwan government is dedicated to attracting investment by establishing a free and open investment system, and by providing a good environment for corporate operations. According to the 2005¡ã2006 global competitiveness report issued by the World Economic Forum (WEF), in 2005 Taiwan ranks fifth in the world (behind the countries of Finland, the US, Sweden and Denmark), and first in Asia, in growth competitiveness. In its 2nd report in 2006, Business Environment Risk Intelligence (BERI) of Switzerland ranks our investment environment sixth in the world and third in Asia. The assessments compiled by these institutions, all of which enjoy a high degree of public trust, make it clear that Taiwan has a low-risk investment environment that is suitable for investment, and that its investment environment is a highly advantageous one1. Therefore, the study applies the resource-based theory to the exploration of relationship between core resources and strategy, makes use of records and case study to develop the relevant conclusion and further presents the academic and practical contributions, and provides suggestions for Taiwan enterprises to deliberate the further strategy and direct how the subsequent research concerned is conducted.

Abstract The situation of the world varies from minute to minute, and the market of the traditional industry changes fast also. Many parameters occur which challenge and strike against the highly polluted, low profit textile and dyeing-finishing industry. For instance, the issue of the global warming keeps spreading influence the whole world such as American and Europe to place more attention on the ecological environment. Second, the lack of the energy and natural resources raise the prime cost. Next, the opportunity the World Trade Organization (WTO) gives to the trade market forms a more competitive international relationship around the world. The difficulties and the threat the textile and dyeing-finishing industry meets urge the industry to find their way out. They should analyze the industrial structure and the international benefits, and find an alternative proposal and key success factor to create the competitive edge of their own. Furthermore, the best choice among all the solutions is that the industry should catch the world wave, producing environmentally friendly green product and devoting to lower the emission of the carbon dioxide (CO2¡^ during the producing process. This decision can not only lower the prime cost and earn more profits for the enterprise but also promote the corporate image. Moreover, when talking to establish the goal of reforming strategy, the enterprise should strengthen the integration of the inner and outer resource. Through the cluster model of the industrial structure they can support each other, forming the best green supply chain. Only through the above procedures can the enterprise maintain their long-lasting competitive advantage. Therefore, the paper is going to focus on the textile and dyeing-finishing industry in terms of : (1) the difficulties of the industry. (2) the turning point for the industry- the green supply chain. (3) the key success factor of the reforming strategy. (4) the perspective and opinion from experts and scholars. (5) the implication and conclusion.

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<p>Purpose: The purpose is to gain a better understanding in how a construction com-pany like Held & Francke calculate the price of an offer for a building project and what role cost calculation, in relation to quality and time, plays in achieving competi-tive advantage.</p><p>Method: Since the method of cost calculation only was investigated at one company we found it suitable for us to use a holistic single case study as the research strategy. The method used in this study is a qualitative research method since our empirical data, to a large extent, is based on interviews. Further, because our study is of a quali-tative nature, we have chosen to perform semi-structured interviews.</p><p>Conclusions:</p><p>After examining Held & Francke we found that they manage very well to use some of the theoretical methods for cost calculations. Their main method of calculation is ABC, where the project is broken down into smaller work steps. Cost calculation plays a large role as a competitive advantage for Held & Francke. Cost is the sole as-pect where Held & Francke has full control and providing competitive project prices therefore becomes imperative in order to generate sales. With the focus on costs the cost calculation becomes an important role in achieving a competitive advantage.</p>

In business environments characterized by technological change and rapid imitation, firms must continually innovate and identify new opportunities in order to remain competitive. This study investigates how external actors provide firms with innovative opportunities, ideas, and solutions. Specifically, it examines how firms are influenced by being approached by external innovators who “pitch” ideas for new products that they want to commercialize in cooperation with the firm. Conceptually, the study analyzes firms as magnets to which ideas and resources from outside the firm are attracted.Employing a multiple case study design of Swedish and U.S.companies, the thesis reveals that a firm’s capacity for innovation and exploration of new opportunities is partly shaped by its ability to attract ideas and inventions from the outside environment. It also demonstrates that firms that are particularly attractive to external innovators are in a favorable position to identify and act on strategic opportunities and threats that emerge in their competitive environments. The findings of the study suggest that in order to support their innovation and strategy creation processes, firms should work to stimulate inflows of externally developed ideas and inventions. This involves building a reputation of being trustworthy and receptive to external ideas, as well as broadcasting innovation projects and strategies so that external actors can easily understand how their ideas and inventions might fit in to the firm’s innovation projects and strategies.

Much research show that strategies of personalization aiming to meet customers' needs and behaviors are an important aspect to influence the competitiveness within an industry. However there is a gap of studies on how airlines use customer involvement for creating personalized strategies in the field of e-commerce while enhancing the competitive advantage. This study is aims to describe how airlines can create personalized e-commerce strategies by considering the customer involvement in order to enhance their competitiveness. In conjunction with this first assumption the study aims to demonstrate how airlines could increase their customer loyalty by implementing the concept of customer relationship management (CRM) within their e-commerce strategies. A theoretical framework has been developed derived from a review of the existing literature in order to describe how airlines can use personalization as a strategy in e-commerce to develop a competitive advantage.  A qualitative multiple-case study has been chosen for this study. Three companies have been studied within the European airline industry and have been led by a deductive approach which will aim to investigate the theoretical framework.The analysis of empirical findings revealed some relevant conclusions, which can bring value to the research area, and also to the practice. The main findings show that airlines are involving customers into their e-commerce strategies in various forms and different levels regarding a specific project. One of the major result of this thesis is that airlines seem to focus on point of contacts with customers external to the e-commerce platform.

Competitive advantage has received considerable attention. Few studies have however chosen a holistic approach taking multiple aspects and organisational levels into consideration. This research has the goal of filling parts of this void. The aim is to deepen the understanding of competitive advantage in the service industry by analysing how alignment of strategy, control and organisation structure on multiple organisational levels impacts competitive advantage of a service company over a long period of time. Based on the idea of multiple factors and the importance of connecting different levels with each other, including production level, a framework for the service industry is developed based on the ideas of Nilsson and Rapp (2005). The framework is used to analyse the rich data gathered in a longitudinal case study of an insurance group embracing the environmental changes and the choices taken as well as the resulting competitive position. According to the analysis, the Insurance Group is not ensuring an overall coordination of its activities, although there is a fit among some dimensions. The level of misalignment increased over the time, as a result of changes in the environment and less than consistent management decisions. Although the Insurance Group has been profitable and increased its market share since its foundation, the competitive advantage, measured as performance compared to market average, decreased. The declining performance combined with the increasing level of misalignment supports the assumed importance of reaching a consistent positioning among strategy, control and organisational structure. It can therefore be presumed that strategic congruence, integrated control and coherent organisational structure influence competitive advantage. However, due to the semi-protected insurance market the effects are weaker than they probably would have been in a more competitive and unpredictable market. The Insurance Group inherited valuable and unique resources at its foundation. Their apparent stable value ensures the Insurance Group a competitive advantage, although no activities are undertaken to strengthen or even to maintain them. It can therefore be concluded that an integrated approach of competitive advantage where both positioning framework and valuable resources are used as complementarities seems to be beneficial when competitive advantage is studied. / Strategy, Control and Competitive Advantage

This study is about helping managers identify and enhance the idiosyncratic firm resources required for delivering superior perceived use value to customers. Specifically, the research has focused on the organisational knowledge required for routinised service delivery, and has operationalised this organisational knowledge as activities. Project 1 was a comparative study involving observation and interviews in two similar but differentially performing financial services organisations in order to identify the activities involved in service delivery and the differences between the two operations. Project 2 identified customers’ perceptions of value through customer interviews, and then mapped the links between these and the service delivery activities identified in Project 1. Project 3 involved a clinical inquiry intervention aiming to encourage and leverage the firm specific resource of inter-team coordination to enhance the delivery of customer value. The research has confirmed the role of firm specific resources as a source of competitive advantage, and has demonstrated a link with customers’ dimensions of perceived use value. In this study, effective inter-team coordination is identified as the firm specific strategic resource that appears to enable effective service delivery as perceived by customers, through the sharing of knowledge and interpretations, and the development of service process innovation. Many of these coordination activities are discretionary rather than prescribed, with implications for management practice. From this research, a framework has been developed for considering and managing firm specific sources of advantage at the detailed operational level. This is a micro level approach that makes specific links between the customer experience and internal activities, through identifying internal and external competitiveness factors, mapping the ‘inside-outside’ connections, and achieving alignment between internal activities and customer perceptions of value.

p. 1-199 / Submitted by Santiago Fabio (fabio.ssantiago@hotmail.com) on 2013-03-07T19:21:38Z No. of bitstreams: 1 111aaa.pdf: 1991814 bytes, checksum: 63349300fd6db0a98b40c6e3640a922a (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Tatiana Lima(tatianasl@ufba.br) on 2013-03-13T20:17:21Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 111aaa.pdf: 1991814 bytes, checksum: 63349300fd6db0a98b40c6e3640a922a (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2013-03-13T20:17:21Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 111aaa.pdf: 1991814 bytes, checksum: 63349300fd6db0a98b40c6e3640a922a (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006 / A vantagem competitiva das nações. Apenas em seu título o tema já sugere diversidade de dimensões e possibilidades de análise dos aspectos que tornam um Estado - Nação ou uma região mais ou menos competitivo dentro de um determinado contexto econômico. Entrementes, da mesma forma que as dimensões de análise são multi-variadas, inúmeros são os questionamentos que acompanham essa temática tão intrigante. Em quais aspectos residiriam essa vantagem, ou quais fatores seriam decisivos na construção dessa vantagem. Certamente, as vantagens competitivas de países são um dos principais elementos em termos de alocação internacional da atividade econômica, atraindo fluxos de capitais. No caso do modelo de Michael Porter, o foco dessa dissertação, a competitividade é analisada em seus principais determinantes e seus inter-relacionamentos. O modelo é apresentado e criticado em suas deficiências e lacunas como um modelo insuficientemente explicativo do desenvolvimento econômico. / Salvador

Organizational subunits such as marketing, sales, human resources, and customer service invest in software as a service (SaaS) as a means to reduce information technology costs, speed time to market, gain access to new technologies, and improve application support and maintenance. For these reasons, SaaS has been characterized as a form of outsourcing, and one in which the internal IT function is losing relevancy because contracts are being executed between external application service providers and the affected subunits directly without IT oversight. Here we argue that SaaS is not outsourcing as it has been traditionally envisioned and enacted, and that through the generation of four types of functional slack it has demonstrated the ability to result in higher levels of IT innovation in support of a digital business strategy. A redistribution of IT resources from efficiency to innovation as a result of SaaS adoption was found that prescribed movement toward an equilibrium of ambidexterity between exploitative and exploratory activities. This research has established a number of firsts: 1) explored the production and combination of multidimensional slack, concentrated at a functional level; 2) demonstrated a previously disconfirmed positive relationship between IT outsourcing and innovation; 3) confirmed the feasibility of a theorized positive relationship between outsourcing and ambidexterity, and 4) discovered a new pathway within the realm of digital business strategy between a key external trend and an internal organizational shift of roles, responsibilities, and knowledge patterns. Further, our findings suggest that IT ambidexterity may be a better construct for investigating the impact of IT on firm performance than traditional measures of IT performance.