Este trabalho foca os grupos estratégicos, que são, de certa forma, o resultado de uma análise estrutural realizada dentro de um setor. Até o começo dos anos 1970, era comum aceitar que as empresas de um setor de atividades eram afetadas pelas mesmas demandas e restrições ambientais e tinham de superar as mesmas barreiras de entrada. Era de se esperar que as empresas se assemelhassem. Naquela década, Hunt fez o primeiro estudo sobre grupos estratégicos e descobriu que as empresas de um setor eram impactadas em níveis diferentes pelas condições externas, tinham de superar barreiras de entrada diferentes e podiam seguir estratégias próprias. De acordo com essas descobertas, as empresas de um setor poderiam ser agrupadas com base em conjuntos de características distintivas. Para classificar as empresas de um setor em grupos, é exigida dos analistas uma boa compreensão do setor e dos concorrentes, o que nos leva às análises setorial e da concorrência, ambas intrinsecamente conectadas, mas sem uma ordem de precedência estabelecida entre elas. A análise da concorrência exige dos analistas a difícil tarefa de obter e interpretar uma grande variedade de informações sobre os concorrentes, como seus objetivos, seus pressupostos sobre si mesmos, sobre as outras empresas e o setor, suas estratégias, seus recursos e competências, e seus mercados-alvo. Em setores oligopolizados, como poucas empresas estão envolvidas, a análise pode ser um pouco mais fácil, mas em setores com concorrência perfeita ou concorrência monopolista o grande número de empresas pode tornar o processo muito complexo, difícil, caro e demorado. O conceito de grupos estratégicos oferece uma forma alternativa para simplificar o processo de análise, uma vez que permite agrupar empresas por conjuntos de características de forma a manter empresas relativamente semelhantes em um mesmo grupo. Ao fazer isso, a empresa que realiza a análise pode decidir quais grupos estão próximos o suficiente para merecer uma análise mais profunda, como grupo, ou pela seleção de empresas específicas, individualmente. Em muitos trabalhos acadêmicos, os grupos estratégicos foram obtidos utilizando-se procedimentos estatísticos, geralmente a análise de clusters. Optamos por uma abordagem distinta. Sem diminuir a importância das ferramentas estatísticas, incorporamos informações extraídas das análises setorial e da concorrência, utilizadas para confirmar ou contestar a precisão dos grupos definidos estatisticamente. Da mesma forma que não existe ordem de precedência entre as análises do setor e da concorrência, não há ordem de precedência entre o uso dessas análises e das ferramentas estatísticas. É possível classificar primeiramente as empresas estatisticamente, para facilitar a análise posterior da concorrência e do setor, ou analisar o setor e a concorrência para definição dos grupos, confrontando os resultados com dados estatísticos. Nessas análises, estão envolvidos elementos estatísticos e cognitivos, ambos sujeitos a vieses. Nos procedimentos estatísticos, há a arbitrariedade intrínseca na definição das variáveis, enquanto nos processos cognitivos há a influência de modelos mentais específicos na percepção dos analistas. A adoção de uma abordagem combinada, como fizemos neste trabalho, permite confirmar ou contestar os grupos obtidos por uma forma ou outra. Os fundamentos teóricos do trabalho estão baseados, principalmente, em uma revisão bibliográfica abrangente das análises da concorrência e setorial. As referências de campo foram antecedidas por um estudo abrangente do setor farmacêutico brasileiro e consistiram de um estudo de caso múltiplo das empresas brasileiras Aché e Eurofarma e da multinacional francesa Sanofi-Aventis, o qual forneceu subsídios para uma análise de aglomerados (K-médias). Ao confrontar os resultados estatísticos e as informações extraídas das análises do setor e da concorrência, foi possível detectar questões importantes para o ajuste dos agrupamentos e defender que a complementaridade entre os processos estatístico e cognitivo (incorporados nas análises da concorrência e do setor) é essencial para obtenção de grupos consistentes. / This work focuses on strategic groups, which are, to some extent, the result of a structure analysis within an industry. Until the early 1970s, common belief was that firms from an industry were affected by the same environmental demands and constraints and had to overcome the same entry barriers. Based on these considerations, firms operating in a same industry would resemble each other. In that decade, Hunt pioneered the research of strategic groups and found out that firms of an industry were impacted in different levels by external conditions, had to overcome different entry barriers and could, therefore, adopt different strategies. According to these findings, firms could be grouped based on sets of distinguishing characteristics. To classify the firms of an industry in groups, a good understanding of the industry and the competitors is required, which leads us to industry and competitor analyses, intrinsically connected, but with no precedence order established between them. A competitor analysis imposes on the analysts the difficult task of obtaining and interpreting a great variety of information regarding competitors, such as their goals, their assumptions about themselves, the other companies and the industry, their strategies, resources and competences, and target markets. In oligopolies, the analysis may be somewhat easier since few companies are involved, but in industries with perfect competition or monopolistic competition the large number of companies can make the process very complex, difficult, expensive and time consuming. The strategic groups\" concept offers an alternative way to simplify the analysis process, since it allows to group companies by sets of characteristics so that relatively similar companies are kept in a same group. By doing so, the company running the analysis can decide which groups are close enough to deserve a deeper analysis as a group or to sort out firms for an individual analysis. In many academic works, the strategic groups were obtained by using statistical procedures, cluster analysis mostly. In this work, we chose a distinct approach. Not diminishing the relevance of statistical tools, we incorporated information extracted from industry and competitor analyses and used them to confirm or contest the correctness of statistically defined groups. Similarly to the lack of precedence order established between industry and competitor analyses, there is no precedence order among these analyses and statistical tools. It is possible to first classify the companies statistically in order to facilitate a following competitor or industry analysis, or to make the industry and competitor analyses in order to define the groups, confronting the result with statistical data. In these analyses, cognitive and statistical elements are involved, both subject to biases. In statistical procedures, there is the intrinsic arbitrariness in the definition of the variables, while in cognitive processes there is the influence of specific mental models on the analysts\" perceptions. The adoption of a combined approach, which we chose in this work, allows confirming or contesting the groups obtained in one way or another. The theoretical underpinnings are mostly grounded in a comprehensive bibliographic review on competitor analysis, industry analysis and strategic groups. The field activities were introduced by a comprehensive survey of the Brazilian pharmaceutical industry, which consisted of a multiple case study of the Brazilian companies Aché and Eurofarma and the French multinational company Sanofi-Aventis and provided subsidies for a cluster analysis (K-means). By confronting statistical results and information extracted from the industry and competitor analyses, we were able to detect important issues to a fine-tune of groupings and defend that the complementarity between statistical and cognitive processes (embedded in competitor and industry analyses) is essential to obtain consistent groups.

This Master’s thesis deals with processing business plan of establishment of a pension house in Suchá Loz. The aim is to determine possible scenarios based on the marketing research in the local area. These variants are being reviewed focusing on the feasibility. Subsequently, the optimal variant is being proposed so it will be able to succeed in competitive environment.

På grund av teknikens snabba utveckling behöver företag utveckla sina förmågor inom bevakning och analysering av ny information för att på så sätt få eller bevara försprånget gentemot sina konkurrenter. Många företag har en bristande strategi när det kommer till marknadsanalyser och företagen behöver idag förbättra sin utvärdering av verksamheten, marknaden och konkurrenterna. Syftet med detta arbete är att undersöka processen då ett företag ska hitta, studera och integrera ny teknik. Vidare ämnades det undersökas vilka utmaningar som finns för dessa processer och vilka metoder som används för att ta sig runt dessa. Frågeställningarna besvarades genom att inledningsvis upprätta ett teoretiskt ramverk av referenser och undersöka ämnet genom litteraturforskning för att få en grundläggande förståelse. Teorin jämfördes med en empirisk studie baserad på semistrukturerade intervjuer av verksamma på ett företag inom fordonsindustrin. Resultatet av studien visade att respondenterna inte använder sig av en bestämd systematik för omvärldsanalys och insamling av information utan snarare baserar sina metoder på det som passar bäst individuellt. Det finns utmaningar för nyanställda att hitta sin egen metodik och det finns även andra utmaningar såsom att specifika problem är svåra att hitta information om samt att företagets sekretess försvårar informationssökningen. För att effektivisera omvärldsanalysen och informationssökningen beställer företaget in produkter från konkurrenter som analyseras. Det tas även hjälp av intern expertis för att få utökad kunskap inom ett visst ämne. AI kan komma att bli ett viktigt verktyg för insamling av information i framtiden men är idag ej tillämpbart inom vissa organisationer på grund av företagssekretess. / Due to the rapid development of technology, companies need to develop their capabilities in monitoring and analyzing new information in order to gain or maintain an advantage. Many organisations lack strategies when it comes to market analysis and are in need to improve their evaluation of business, market and competitors. The purpose of this work is to investigate the process when an organisationsearches for, studies and integrates new technology. Furthermore, the work aims to investigate which challenges exist for these processes and which methods are being used to ease these challenges. The questions were answered by initially establishing a theoretical framework of references and researching the topic through literature research to gain a basic understanding. The theory was then compared with an empirical study in the form of views from interviews of employees at a company in the automotive industry based on a semi-structured interview survey. The results of the study showed that the respondents do not use a specific system for intelligence analysis and gathering information, but rather base their methods on individual preferences. There are challenges for new employees to find their own methodology and other challenges such as specific solutions are difficult to find and that the company's confidentiality requirements obstruct the search for information. In order to streamline the analysis of the environment and the search for information, the company orders products from competitors that are analysed. Internal expertise is also used to expand their knowledge within a certain subject. AI may become an important tool for gathering information in the future, but as of today it may still be an issue using it as a tool due to corporate confidentiality.

The combination of artificial intelligence (AI) with microwave heating technology is offering a unique and specialized potential, leading to significant transformations across numerous sectors. This novel device integrates artificial intelligence technology with environmentally sustainable microwave heating, offering the potential to decrease human labour, improve precision, minimize expenses, and promote efficiency. Furthermore, it makes a substantial contribution towards achieving environmental objectives via the reduction of carbon emissions and the conservation of energy. This research investigates the economic viability of an innovative microwave heating system that utilizes artificial intelligence technology. Additionally, it evaluates the system's competitive strengths when compared to established industrial heating systems. Key insights are identified via the use of qualitative research methods, namely through the implementation of semi-structured interviews with a sample size of six industry specialists. Thematic analysis is employed to analyse the collected data. The VRIO framework is used to identify the competitive advantages of the decentralized AI microwave heating system. The results of the study demonstrate that this technological innovation not only effectively mitigates carbon emissions but also resonates with environmentally aware individuals, hence fostering the principles of sustainability. Furthermore, the use of artificial intelligence (AI) not only improves the overall user experience but also provides autonomous monitoring capabilities, hence significantly increasing energy efficiency. From an economic standpoint, the implementation of decentralized AI microwave entities results in a reduction of transportation costs, hence enhancing their economic viability. Nevertheless, the achievement of effective commercialization requires meticulous examination of market dynamics, consumer trends, operational capabilities, supply chain optimization, and maintenance preparedness.

Yes / Incorporating the global production network approach and competitor analysis, this paper establishes an analytical framework with two hypotheses for the role of foreign multinational enterprises (FMNEs) in indigenous firms’ exports and domestic sales. First, the presence of FMNEs as a whole is likely to have a negative impact on indigenous firms’ domestic sales but a simultaneous positive impact on their exports in an emerging economy like China. Second, the presence of MNEs from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan (HMT MNEs) is more likely to generate this pattern of impact than MNEs from other countries (Other FMNEs). The FDI-led export strategy contributed to the dominance of the scenario described by the first hypothesis in China, while a higher degree of market commonality and resource similarity of HMT MNEs with that of indigenous Chinese firms than Other FMNEs leads to the second hypothesis. These novel hypotheses are tested and supported by a very large and recent firm-level panel dataset from Chinese manufacturing.

The master´s thesis discusses the analysis of the plasma donor market in the Czech Republic with focus on Prague and Central Bohemian Region. The main aim of this thesis is to assess this market, identify behaviour of blood plasma donors and motives leading to regular donations, through research of primary and secondary data. Further the thesis deals with detection the awareness of donating blood plasma among studnets of prague universities and barriers to become a donor. The theoretical part of this thesis defines a donor market with legislation. Application part includes competitor analysis based on secondary data and research of blood plasma donators and Prague students. Thesis concludes with a marketing recommendations for a selected donor centre, which are deducted from the analysis.

This thesis proposes the optimal measures to expand company's business by entering the Polish market. The actual solution is based on a thorough analysis of the local environment using standard and advanced methods of evaluation. Emphasis is placed on the quality of data and their correct interpretation. The thesis provides a comprehensive look at the situation on the market and proposes the most appropriate method of implementation, taking into account all the risks and opportunities, which the company may encounter during the expansion.

The diploma thesis deals with the company development through providing new services in connection with business expansion newly created service PCO (centralized protection). The bottom line for the introduction of this service is the PCO demand for existing clients of the company. On this basis was proposed business plan from which have developed proposals for solutions in the form of the introduction of PCO as a sheltered workshop, within which the project was funded 88% of input costs Labour Office in Brno.

Diploma thesis deals with the topic of social networks and their usage in terms of business support. The main goal of the thesis is to find out the possibilies of using social networks for business support in the perspective fitness industry. Theoretical part contains recent theoretical findings in areas of online marketing, social media, social networks and use of social networks for business. The analysis of the tools for monitoring and analysis of social networks is an important part of the theoretical part. One chosen tool is used for the comprehensive competitor analysis of online shops, that deal with online sales of fitness products and supplements. The outcome of the thesis is the system design of use of social networks for the support of competitiveness in chosen sector.

The main objective of my diploma thesis is to analyse customers perception of Pure Jatomi Fitness brand. Based on results of a questionnaire survey, I recommended improvements that the management of the company should take into consideration in order to reach better results. In the theoretical part, I defined the concepts of service marketing, mark and its elements. Then I also focused on terms such as segmentation, targeting and positioning. The next chapter is devoted to the qualitative and quantitative research methods. In the practical part, I mentioned characteristics of Pure Jatomi Fitness company as to it's history and philosophy. I analysed the competitive market of Prague fitness centers and I presented the SWOT analysis. In the research part, I defined target segment of this fitness center chain with emphasis on analysing the perception of the respondents. In the final chapter, I proposed appropriate improvements that would strenghten the accurate position of Pure Jatomi Fitness.