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With the changing economic structure, from the textile, food, petrochemicals, steel,to high-tech industry, capital and technical requirements are gradually increasing. With the liberalization and internationalization, market competition was intensified. The large conglomerates have strong financial, human, technical resources and capabilities, who are more competitive to face the intense environmental change. Taiwan 100 Group's asset size is 600 times than 40 years ago. As a result, large conglomerates grasp Taiwan's economic lifeline. The majority of conglomerates engaged in diversification, but which resources and capabilities can engage in what kind of diversification to deliver competitive advantage for conglomerates is an important subject. Therefore, this study chooses two long history and successful business group in Taiwan, which are Far Eastern Group and Yuen Foong Yu Group. To investigate that what kind of resources and capabilities they use to implement diversification strategies. Then escalating group¡¦s resources and further expand the scale of the groups. According to this study, the analysis showed that the Far Eastern Group and Yuen Foong Yu Group, technology, human resources, assets, industry position, industry business experience, management ability, organizational ability, are the key resources and capabilities to perform any kind of diversification strategies.

As the leading brand in the international PC industry, Acer has been encountered countless challenges on dramatically environmental change when it endeavored to create and operate its own brand. To achieve the aim of sustainable management and the strategy of organizational growth, Acer has embarked on its reengineering several times since it was established. The purpose of this study is based on the Resource-Based View to uncover what kind of key factories contributed in Acer¡¦s two time of reengineering? And what kind of unique resources and capabilities were created? This study also characterized and catalogued these unique resources and capabilities to figure out clearly that what kind of main resources and capabilities existed at the first glance. There are three stages for Acer¡¦s transformation: the first time reengineering was happened in 1992; the reengineering in 1998 was called the quasi-reengineering stage that Acer adjusted its organizational structure to relocate operational direction; the second time reengineering was happened in the end of 2000. Based on above three different stages, this study analyzes the effect of internal and external environment as well as the operational strategies on each stage to infer its resources and capabilities. Moreover, This study categorizes these resources and capabilities by the classify method of Fong- Cher Min (2000) into four groups, Tangible Asset, Intangible Asset, Human Resource and Organization Capability, and discuss how Acer used these resources and capabilities to foster them became the Sustainable Competitive Advantage to overcome the harsh IT industry environment. By the way of analyzing the case company in depth, this study found that the probability of resources or capabilities can be upgrade into the Sustainable Competitive Advantage was not only affect by the properties such as Appropriability or Inimitable, but also greatly influence by outside environment. Furthermore, the next time success of reengineering was attributed to those of resources or capabilities which have been accumulated since earlier periods. Therefore, this study suggests that a firm should continuously adjust its competences as well as accumulate reengineering experiences to cope with the unpredictable environment.

The development and application of internet successfully changed human¡¦s life. For example, when going shopping ,you don¡¦t go outside and compare the different prices in different stores. With the various applications of internet, all kinds of information form internet is overloading and the internet users are hard to explore the websites which is useful and meaningful. Therefore, the portal website is created to solve the problem. Jerry Yang established the first portal website named Yahoo! which is based on a catalogic search engine, and the Yahoo! Business model became the basic framework of portal websites. In Taiwan, Yam is the first Chinese portal website and then Pchome and Yahoo! kimo entered the market and shared the market value. Because of the internet bubble in 2000, The rising situation of market competition has changed rapidly, and only the survivors can face the crisis and decide to change their business models to find the definite position. The research is based on the framework of RBV to discuss the different business model of the three representative companies¡ÐYam, Pchome Online and Yahoo! kimo. According to the RBV, we can understand the resources of the three companies and analysis how to use the different resources to form their business model. The result of the research shows that the relationship between resources and business model, and describe the different shapes of the three companies. I hope that the case study of the research can be an good example to other potential portal website to create their competitive advantage

Diversification is an important strategic alternative commonly used by organisations in pursuit of different markets and greater returns. Within the resource based view, (Collins&Montgomery, 2005) suggest that an effective diversification strategy can only be conducted if there is a fit between resources and the business opportunity so that resources contribute to competitive advantage.A quantitative research methodology was followed whereby organisations listed within the Industrial sector of the Johannesburg Securities Exchange (JSE) were categorized as diversified from period 2000 to 2010. The study empirically examined the independent and joint relationship between physical and skill base of relatedness against three financial measures in the form of hypotheses, to determine which base of relatedness influenced better performance.All three bases of relatedness had no significant effect on organizational financial performance. The findings refine our understanding of relatedness as a multidimensional concept and suggest that to have a more comprehensive evaluation of corporate diversification and its value in boosting company performance, a matrix of interrelationships across lines of business, activities, resources, industry effects and many more variables should be considered. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

<p>Background: Firms are today competing for educated and qualified people within the IT-industry, due to the high business activity. Firms require new employees to have both a formal education and relevant work expe-riences. Newspaper articles state that IT-companies have difficulties finding qualified employees and that they also see this shortage of competencies as the most prominent hinder to economic growth. To handle this shortage are an increased amount of companies starting structured training activities for their new employees, which by general terms is called trainee programs. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to do an explorative study of compa-nies in the Swedish IT-industry, to see if and why a trainee program could be a source of competitive advantage. Method: A qualitative approach has been applied when collecting data. Four small case studies were made by interviewing top managers and col-lecting company related information. The companies had diverse sizes and different experiences from trainee programs. The data was analyzed with the Resource-based view as a guiding theory applying the VRIN framework. Conclusion: By doing the studies three value adding aspects was found. They were staffing/recruitment, marketing and, organizational learning and development. Within the resource-based views boundaries were: recruitment and staffing found to be a source of at best tem-porary competitive advantage, the same conclusion applies for trai-nee program as a marketing tool. Organizational learning and de-velopment could be seen as a source of competitive advantage due to the complex impact a trainee program has to an organization. To summarize the above mentioned; trainee program could be a source of sustainable competitive advantage. Three obstacles for implementing trainee programs were found; feeling of being to small, short-term thinking and the lack of time.</p>

<p>Small and medium enterprises play an important role in the development of a country. </p><p>The growth of SMEs is also important for the world economy which has been widely </p><p>discussed in recent years. Although the growth of small firm is a well known topic in </p><p>theoretical research, still there are some research gaps that need to be filled. There is </p><p>no single multidimensional theory which would embrace all possible approaches; </p><p>most studies on SMEs’ growth examine the growth factors one by one. (Wasilczuk, </p><p>2000) Nor is there any single theory that can adequately explain small business </p><p>growth due to the heterogeneity of SMEs. Moreover, growth itself is difficult to </p><p>measure, and can be measured either objectively or subjectively. (Delmar, 1996) </p><p>Therefore, this study incorporates the resource-based view, as well as the </p><p>consideration of SMEs’ fives stages model to examine the growth factor of SMEs. </p><p>The resource-based view provides a unified approach in the conceptualization of the </p><p>resource analysis in the small firm. The five stages model shows the position of SMEs </p><p>current growth stage. By analyzing SMEs’ key resources (tangible and intangible </p><p>resources), indentifying their growth stages, SMEs can find out the critical resources </p><p>which influence their business growth. </p><p>As a conclusion, the study finds that each resource has its importance in different </p><p>stages. Tangible resources, such as cash and physical resources are critical in the </p><p>start-up firms, while intangible resources are prioritized in the success and resource </p><p>maturity stages. In order to gain the competitive advantages, SMEs should fully </p><p>develop the unique and inimitable resources such as the brand, technology, culture </p><p>and reputations.</p>

Background: Firms are today competing for educated and qualified people within the IT-industry, due to the high business activity. Firms require new employees to have both a formal education and relevant work expe-riences. Newspaper articles state that IT-companies have difficulties finding qualified employees and that they also see this shortage of competencies as the most prominent hinder to economic growth. To handle this shortage are an increased amount of companies starting structured training activities for their new employees, which by general terms is called trainee programs. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to do an explorative study of compa-nies in the Swedish IT-industry, to see if and why a trainee program could be a source of competitive advantage. Method: A qualitative approach has been applied when collecting data. Four small case studies were made by interviewing top managers and col-lecting company related information. The companies had diverse sizes and different experiences from trainee programs. The data was analyzed with the Resource-based view as a guiding theory applying the VRIN framework. Conclusion: By doing the studies three value adding aspects was found. They were staffing/recruitment, marketing and, organizational learning and development. Within the resource-based views boundaries were: recruitment and staffing found to be a source of at best tem-porary competitive advantage, the same conclusion applies for trai-nee program as a marketing tool. Organizational learning and de-velopment could be seen as a source of competitive advantage due to the complex impact a trainee program has to an organization. To summarize the above mentioned; trainee program could be a source of sustainable competitive advantage. Three obstacles for implementing trainee programs were found; feeling of being to small, short-term thinking and the lack of time.

Small and medium enterprises play an important role in the development of a country. The growth of SMEs is also important for the world economy which has been widely discussed in recent years. Although the growth of small firm is a well known topic in theoretical research, still there are some research gaps that need to be filled. There is no single multidimensional theory which would embrace all possible approaches; most studies on SMEs’ growth examine the growth factors one by one. (Wasilczuk, 2000) Nor is there any single theory that can adequately explain small business growth due to the heterogeneity of SMEs. Moreover, growth itself is difficult to measure, and can be measured either objectively or subjectively. (Delmar, 1996) Therefore, this study incorporates the resource-based view, as well as the consideration of SMEs’ fives stages model to examine the growth factor of SMEs. The resource-based view provides a unified approach in the conceptualization of the resource analysis in the small firm. The five stages model shows the position of SMEs current growth stage. By analyzing SMEs’ key resources (tangible and intangible resources), indentifying their growth stages, SMEs can find out the critical resources which influence their business growth. As a conclusion, the study finds that each resource has its importance in different stages. Tangible resources, such as cash and physical resources are critical in the start-up firms, while intangible resources are prioritized in the success and resource maturity stages. In order to gain the competitive advantages, SMEs should fully develop the unique and inimitable resources such as the brand, technology, culture and reputations.

The phenomenon analyzed within this thesis is the uprising of cloud computing technologies and their potential impact on SMEs. Cloud computing is ought to enable new capabilities for SMEs by the key benefits of being less expensive and its ubiquitous accessibility. The research was constituted on the theoretical framework of the resource based view and was conducted via semi-structured interviews along the themes of application history, financial impact, structural impact, strategic impact, risk considerations and future outlook. Thereby the core research question was to understand the impact of cloud computing technologies as new resources on the competitive advantage of SMEs. Therefore, 183 SMEs were contacted via email which were selected from a commerce authority and internet inquiry from which 6 agreed to an interview. The interview outcomes were analyzed by coding and an interpretation of the qualitative findings. Significant outcomes were that cloud computing provides SMEs capabilities of collaboration and mobility. The impact on innovation could not be verified but was indicated. Moreover, the adaption of cloud computing has led to SMEs saving resources in terms of time, IT budget and specific IT knowledge. The provision of the new capabilities and the savings of resources have shown to improve the SMEs’ overall performance by complementing, supplementing and substituting existing resources. Nevertheless, no direct linkage could be identified to a contribution to a competitive advantage but suggestive indirect linkages were found. However, the findings might deliver new comprehension about the organizational impact of cloud computing on SMEs in terms of resource enhancement and their impact on business practices. Furthermore, implications for future research include the need for investigation of the internal charging of cloud services and particular to narrow down the key advantages of cloud computing for SMEs and raise their business awareness as a source of competitive advantage. / <p>This paper has been a collective effort between Sten Ekström Winroth and Franco Bettels, the thesis has though been written in collaborative between the Management and Informatics department at Jönköping International Business School. These two departments have different requirements of the thesis writing process, which entails that we the authors have had different requirements. This is the reason that two theses exist with the same name, these two theses differ in the details, but are overall the same. </p>