The use of information technology (IT) is becoming an essential component within the commercial sector. While large number of companies have adopted IT applications to achieve competitive advantage, and number of studies have been done on competitive advantage through an IT application, it is not clear what the impact of an IT application on competitive advantage is. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of an IT application on competitive advantage and how to create and sustain competitive advantage through an IT application. For that purpose, this study adopted Sethi and King's (1994) instrumental tool, while the theory of resource based view of the firm (RBV) was the theoretical underpinning for the investigation of how to create and sustain competitive advantage through an IT application. In other words, this study examined how an IT application impacts the seven dimensions which are attributes of competitive advantage through an IT application, and how a firm's resources and capabilities, which are measured in three dimensions. moderate the impact of an IT application on competitive advantage. The three dimensions were identified from the review of literature concerning on the theory of RBV. / Ph. D.

Background – Under the acceleration in globalising tendencies of monopoly capitalism aided by social hyper-connectivity and a supply of cheap international labour, fashion companies struggle to find sufficient agency to manoeuvre their way out of the unsustainable, self-inflicted problems. Since fashion companies' rhetoric on sustainability matters is often far ahead of corporate action, it requires further development and engagement by all actors. Purpose – The purpose is to investigate motivational bases for the engagement in sustainability development (SD) among employees and review the compatibility between management control systems (MCSs) in order to incentivise sustainable behaviour. Methodology – With the Design Thinking approach as baseline, a single case study design is guided by both the resource-based view as well as institutional theory to explore individuals’ motivation for engaging in SD and identify MCS misalignment inefficiencies from a bottom-up perspective. Primary data is sought through semi-structured interviews with employees of the case company, which is complemented by secondary data documents and a conceptual framework grounded in literature. The data is analysed qualitatively and quantitatively through iterative coding cycles in MAXQDA. Findings – The data not only reveals the relative importance of different determining variables of sustainable behaviour at three institutional context levels of analysis, but also allows for their categorisation into behavioural progressions in engaging in SD. Even though varying motivational bases respond to different external stimuli depending on the personal interest in sustainability topics, findings on misalignment inefficiencies point towards informal MCSs requiring reinforcement by formal MCSs. Here, a lack of knowledge or perceived incompatibility with conventional business practices hamper transformational change in SD. Implications – The single case study implies that even though dominant cultural controls have institutionalised sustainability awareness among employees, the fashion SME needs to support the engagement of employees in SD with strong sustainability leadership showing courage behind conviction and assigning clear responsibilities as well as a personal purpose to the corporate sustainability missions. Additionally, MCSs need to be set up that allow for an enhanced learning culture and increase the flow of ideas even beyond corporate walls. Since findings are limited to the single case study as well as to its institutional context, this research refers to general implication of institutional theory with resource-dependent arguments as suggested by Oliver (1997) to incentivise the engagement of employees in SD. Originality– The novelty of the work lies within the Design Thinking approach, as employee profiles on progressive behaviour for engaging in SD are theorised and crucial MCSs incentivising these specific motivational bases are derived for the case company. In addition, the ideation process leads to the theoretical establishment of an incentivisation network in which social relationships between departments are rewarded that enable collaboration, creativity and productivity in favour of SD based on Social Physics.

The problem of the present study was to determine training professionals' perceptions of their awareness of and involvement in the integration of training in the firm's business strategies and the impact of training on the firm's competitiveness. The analysis of data obtained from the online survey of 111 participants who were training professionals employed in small, medium, and large firms across three different industries - service, retailing, and manufacturing - revealed that more than 50% of the participants indicated that they either had some understanding of or understood in depth the integration of training in their firms' business strategies. And more than 50% of the participants reported moderate, high, or very high involvement in the integration of training in their firms' business strategies. Moreover, the majority of the participants rated the impact of training on measures of their firms' competitiveness moderate, high, or very high. In addition, the participants were most frequently based on their communication with colleagues and management team regarding their perceptual judgment of the impact of training on all measures of their firms' competitiveness. There was a statistically significant relationship between the participants' firm sizes and the extent to which training contributed to three of the measures of their firms' innovation. Finally, the results indicated a statistically significant positive relationship, r(98) = .576, p < .01, between training professionals' perceived involvement in the integration of training in their firms' business strategies and the impact of training on their firms' competitiveness.

This study investigates the association between CEO foreign work experience and CEO total compensation. The sample contains 863 observations from 2007 to 2016 from seven European countries. As certain aspects of foreign work experience are considered beneficial for the firm, it is likely that those who have worked abroad may appropriate some of the benefits themselves in the form of higher compensation. Contrary to the proposed positive association based on the resource-based theory, I find evidence that CEOs with foreign work experience receive significantly lower levels of total compensation compared to similar CEOs without foreign work experience, regardless of the diversity of their work experience. The results are robust to the endogenous CEO selection using a propensity-score matching method. The results show that the negative association between CEO foreign work experience and CEO total compensation is more pronounced for CEOs that are at the head of firms with a higher level of internationalization, measured as percentage of foreign sales. Managerial implications and suggestions for related future research are provided.

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Yes / Research shows that big data analytics capability (BDAC) is a major determinant of firm performance. However, scant research has theoretically articulated and empirically tested the mechanisms and conditions under which BDAC influences performance. This study advances existing knowledge on the BDAC–performance relationship by drawing on the knowledge-based view and contingency theory to argue that how and when BDAC influences market performance is dependent on the intervening role of disruptive business models and the contingency role of competitive intensity. We empirically test this argument on primary data from 360 firms in the United Kingdom. The results show that disruptive business models partially mediate the positive effect of BDAC on market performance, and this indirect positive effect is strengthened when competitive intensity increases. These findings provide new perspectives on the business model processes and competitive conditions under which firms maximize marketplace value from investments in BDACs.

Yes / This study looks at the relationship between big data analytics capability and market performance and how this relationship can be facilitated by adopting disruptive business models in competitive environments.

I will look at what impact big data have had on the managerial strategic decisions in the food and beverage industry. This in order to understand the complexity and theory of organizational strategic management, an effort to define the contemporary strategic theory into a holistic conceptual model is done through a literature review on organizational strategy. This literature explicitly proposes four distinctly different types of strategies that management need to consider in the organizational context. Namely, long-term strategy, internal business strategy, external corporate strategy, and competitive strategy. The study analyzed the food and beverage industry over a decade (2005-2014), where the three of the largest actors in the industry were selected, Nestlé S.A, PepsiCo Inc, and Unilever. The choice of method was content analysis, where three structured categorization matrixes were developed which each analyzed parts of the annual reports. The study propose the role of big data as a strategic tool for managerial decision from a theoretical standpoint. The content analysis show that hypothesis 1, could be confirmed, big data have an impact on all the proposed four managerial strategic decisions. Second hypothesis could not be confirmed, since decentralization does only occur for one of the organizations, but increased external environment turbulence could be concluded for the industry in general. The third hypothesis could be confirmed, which show that there is an increase in individualization due to increased customer involvement and demand. The analysis discovered three distinct time periods during the last decade, namely pre- economic instability period (2005-2007), economic instability period (2008-2011) and finally the post-paradigm period (2012-2014). Where the year 2011 was the most turbulent in terms of economy and technology for the industry. The study clearly show that customers are now involved in the production process, customers are co-creators of the products. There is now a two-way communication and increased social responsibility awareness. This study shows that the old traditional approach of looking at markets in order to position yourself to stay competitive are obsolete as this study predicted. customers demand to be a part of the organizational culture. This conclude that big data is an important tool for all strategic managerial decisions.

Society's concern over the negative impact of business activities on the natural environment has significantly increased and, as a result, environmental regulations have grown considerably both in number and scope. As these policies affect businesses and their competitive environment, firms are interested in shaping the nature of such legislation through corporate political activities (CPAs). This thesis investigates the CPAs of MNEs in the automotive industry that are directed towards environmental regulations in the EU. Using the resource-based view as its theoretical framework, it investigates six research questions that address the characteristics, determinants and consequences of these CPAs in relation to three regulatory areas (pollutant emissions, CO2 emissions and end-of-life vehicles). Case study analysis is based on 71 interviews with stakeholders from the automotive industry (the entire population of 11 MNEs from the Triad regions that are politically active in Brussels) and related industries, EU institutions and civil society organisations, representing the societal triangle (market, state, civil society). The thesis finds that the 11 automotive firms engage in CPAs to inform policymakers, and because of the impact that regulations have on their businesses. Whilst the firms attempt a cooperative approach, in reality this is not always the case: whereas individual company and association activities should lead to a united voice, this does not occur when it comes to important company-specific technologies and particular environmental policies. These regulations are viewed by companies as both a costly burden and as opportunities, though non-corporate respondents perceive that MNEs see them only as costs. The main (political) resources and competences used in CPAs are found to be human resources (including the related resources of expertise, contacts, trust and reputation, i.e. social capital), and technological resources. Regulations and the technological resources influencing CPAs are directly and uniquely linked to the product portfolios of MNEs. These differences in technological resources and product ranges account for most of the variance in MNEs‟ CPAs rather than the respective countries of origin within the Triad.