Orientador: Vagner Cavenaghi / Banca: José Alcides Gobbo Júnior / Banca: Davi Noboru Nakano / Resumo: O ambiente competitivo e de mudanças dinâmicas ao qual as empresas brasileiras estão inseridas exige que estas adotem estratégias, para que suas ações sejam previstas e, sua estrutura seja adequada para o ambiente que se deseja atuar. A indústria de confecção, além deste ambiente competitivo, possui a particularidade de ser, em parte de sua cadeia, envolvida com grande diversidade e mudança de seus produtos, implicando diretamente em seus processos de produção, o que acentua ainda mais a necessidade de alinhamento das estratégia de produção. O presente trabalho objetivo analisar o alimento das estratégias competitivas e de produção em empresas produtoras de confecção, pertencentes ao Arranjo Produtivo Local Moda Sudoeste (APLMS). Como objetivo secundário, busca-se examinar o alinhamento entre a estratégia de produção a partir de suas prioridades de produção, e as áreas de decisões estruturais e infra-estruturais do processo produtivo que suportam estas prioridades competitivas. Desenvolveu-se um estudo de caso descritivo a partir de uma pesquisa de campo com seis empresas. Os resultados desta pesquisa revelaram que as empresas são em sua maioria de pequeno porte, e atuam em duas estratégias competitivas. As produtoras de calças em modinha jeans possuem a estratégia competitiva de diferenciação, e as produtoras de calça social possuem a estratégia competitiva de menor custo. As prioridades de produção encontradas entre as empresas com estratégia competitiva de diferenciação são principalmente a qualidade e a flexibilidade, e das empresas com estratégia competitiva de menor custo são qualidade e custo. Observe-se ainda, a identificação da falta de alinhamento prático entre a estratégia competitiva e de produção das empresas pesquisadas, sobretudo pela grande oportunidade de implementação de técnicas e práticas que desdobrem as prioridades de ... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: The competitive and dynamic changes to which Brazilian comapanies are included demands tahth they about strategies so that their actions are planned, and it structure is suitable for the environment you want to act. The clothing industry, in addition to this competitive environment, has the distinction of being in part of their supply chain involved with diversity and change their products, resulting directly in changing their production processes, which further accentuates the need alignment of strategies and competitive production strategy. This paper aims to analyze the aligment of competitive strategies and production companies producing clothing, belonging to the Arranjo Produtivo Local Moda Sudoeste (APLMS). As secondary objective, we seek to examine the alignment between manufacturing strategy through its production priorities and areas of structural decisions and infrastructure of the production process that support these competing priorities. We developed a descriptive case study through a filed with six companies. The results of this survey revealed that companies are mostly small, and act in two competitive strategies. The producers of pants fad jeans have the competitive strategy of differentiation, and the social production of pants have the competitive strategy of lowest cost. The priorities of mainly the quality and flexibility, and business and competitive strategy are the lowest cost quality and cost. Data were also obtained, to identify the practical lack of alignment between competitive strategy and manufacturing companies surveyed, especially the great opportunity to implement techniques and practices that deploy competitive priorities of those companies in structural decisions and infrastructure that are active and competitive strategy aligned to them / Mestre

廠商間的競爭互動是策略管理的重心。本研究檢測四種不同的競爭行為─減少競爭行為、不公平競爭行為、價格性競爭行為與非價格性競爭行為,在三種行為特性─專屬性、執行性、複雜性下的反應行為。研究發現: 競爭行為的專屬性會影響反應者的數目, 專屬性愈高, 反應者愈少。競爭行為的執行性會影響反應者的反應速度, 執行性愈高則反應時間愈長。競爭 行為的複雜性會影響反應者的反應策略, 愈複雜的競爭行為 , 競爭廠商愈會採取模仿的反應策略; 較不複雜的競爭行為, 競爭者較會採取創新改良的反應策略。研究也發現在產業成長趨緩的零和期, 廠商較會採取價格性競爭行為; 反之, 產業在成長快速的非零和期時，廠商較會採行非價格性競爭行為。在策略群組的反應方面, 當廠商採取價格性競爭行為時, 若是規模較大的廠商發動的, 則會連續引發同一群組與不同群組的廠商在極短時間內反應; 但若是規模較小的廠商發動的，則只會引發同一群組的廠商反應。然而, 只要產業中發生了價格性競爭行為，則廠商較偏向採用集體協議來停止此種行為。反之產業在快速成長的非零和期時，廠商較會採行非價格性競爭行為; 此時, 如果廠商採行的是執行性較高的策略行為時, 會引發所有群組的主要廠商反應; 若廠商採取的是執行性較低的戰術行為時, 則只會引發同一群組的廠商反應。因此建議廠商在採行競爭行為時, 應評估自身與競爭者的相對實力及競爭行為可能引發的反應行為, 應盡可能的以策略性行為來建構競爭力的強化，以戰術性競爭行為來防禦競爭力的衰退。

<p>Strategy and IT research has been extensively discussed during the past 40 years. Two scientific disciplines Management Science (MS) and Management Information Science (MIS) investigate the importance of IT as a competitive factor. However, although much research is available in both disciplines, it is still difficult to explain how to manage IT to enable competitive advantages. One reason is that MS research focuses on strategies and competitive environments but avoids the analysis of IT. Another reason is that MIS research focuses on IT as a competitive factor but avoids the analysis of the competitive environment. Consequently, there is a gap of knowledge in the understanding of the strategic management of information technology (SMIT).</p><p>The strategic analysis of IT as a competitive factor is important for achieving the competitive advantages of IT. This thesis explores factors related to strategy and IT that should be considered for the strategic analysis of IT as a competitive factor, and proposes a framework for SMIT. The research is conducted by means of a qualitative analysis of theoretical data from the disciplines of MS and MIS. Data is explored to find factors related to SMIT.</p><p>The results of the analysis show that the strategic management of information technology is a continuous process of evaluation, change, and alignment between factors such as competitive environment, competitive strategies (business and IT strategies), competitive outcome, and competitive factors (IT). Therefore, the understanding of the relationships between these factors is essential in order to achieve the competitive advantages of using IT.</p><p>This thesis contributes to strategic management research by clarifying the relationships between strategic management, competitive environment, and IT as competitive factor into a holistic framework for strategic analysis. The framework proposed is valuable not only for business managers and for IT managers, but also for academics. The framework is designed to understand the relationship between competitive elements during the process of strategic analysis prior to the formulation of competitive strategies. Moreover, it can also be used as a communication tool between managers, in order to achieve alignment among company strategies. To academics, this thesis presents the state-of-the-art related to strategic management research; it can also be a valuable reference for strategic managers, as well as researchers interested in the strategic management of IT.</p> / Report code: LiU-Tek-Lic.2006:53.

<p>The hotel industry in Stockholm is characterized by intense competition, and within the next couple of years the construction of a number new hotels is planed. As the number of hotels in Stockholm increase, the competition will increase and the importance of having well functioning strategies will become vital. The purpose of this essay is to examine how two hotels within the hotel industry in Stockholm experience and handle the competition. The two hotels that are included in the study are Clarion Hotel Stockholm and Scandic Continental. The essay derives from models and theories that are related to marketing and competition. Our study shows that the perception of competition varies, in addition to the fact that choice of competitive strategies varies dependent on the hotel’s concept. The hotel industry in Stockholm is divided into different areas, depending on which area hotels choose to serve the competitive environment will differ. A hotel with a specific niche will limit its competitors to a narrow number that operate within the same niche. The results of our study show evidence that the competition in the hotel industry in Stockholm is divided, and that this divisional competition will continue to increase as the industry develops. The building of new hotels in the next couple of years will aid the progress of a possible collaboration between the hotels in Stockholm in the future, and thus attract larger meetings and events.</p> / <p>Hotellbranschen i Stockholm kommun präglas av intensiva konkurrensförhållanden, och inom de nästkommande två åren planeras tio nya hotellbyggen i Stockholm kommun. I takt med att nyetableringarna ökar intensifieras konkurrensen mellan aktörerna och det blir allt viktigare att för aktörerna att hitta passande strategier för att hantera den rådande konkurrensen. Syftet med uppsatsen är att undersöka hur två aktörer inom hotellbranschen i Stockholm kommun uppfattar och hanterar konkurrensen. De aktörer som ingår i undersökningen är Clarion Hotel Stockholm samt Scandic Continental. De teorier och modeller som uppsatsen har utgått ifrån är relaterade till marknadsföring och konkurrens. Vår studie visar att uppfattningen om konkurrens, samt valet av strategier, skiljer sig åt beroende på vilken inriktning hotellen väljer. Hotellbranschen i Stockholm kommun är indelad i olika inriktningar och beroende på vilken inriktning man som aktör väljer att betjäna möts man av skilda konkurrensförhållanden. Ett hotell som väljer en specifik inriktning begränsar sina konkurrenter till ett få antal som är verksamma inom samma område. Resultaten visar tydliga tecken på en splittrad konkurrens inom Stockholm kommun samt att denna splittring troligtvis kommer att fortsätta öka i takt med utvecklingen av branschen. De nyetableringar som kommer att ske de nästkommande åren kommer att underlätta för ett möjligt samarbete mellan hotellen i Stockholm kommun för att locka till sig olika möten, kongresser och evenemang.</p>

Purpose: The main research objective is to identify how an organization is using a CSRstrategy to gain a competitive advantage Method: The selected research method is a descriptive method followed by an inductive one.Secondary data has been collected from books at Halmstad University’s Library and academicjournals and other articles founded in the University’s Databases. Primary data has beenobtained through an interview carried out with the head manager of Coop Halmstad, JorgenWestman. Theoretical framework: We firstly define in details the concepts of Corporate SocialResponsibility and its three aspects which are Economic, Social and Environmental. Thedescription of the concept of competitive advantage and how to obtain a sustainablecompetitive advantage. Finally, food retailers are defined. Conclusion: A summary of the findings obtained from our study is posted. Another summaryto point out the bounds between corporate social responsibility and competitive advantage.The limitations of the study as well as some suggestions for further researches are added inthis section

The purpose of this study is to analyze the current situation and trend over Taiwan's Specialty Chemicals of Printed Circuit Board industry. In addition, this study explores the optimal management strategy through competitive strategy theory and case study, and proposes suggestions on management stratedy to Specialty Chemicals of Printed Circuit Board industry. The key success factors were summarized from literature review and analysis of current industry status. By using these factors as variables to design the questionnaire and conducting the survey with in-depth interview, following concousions were made from the study. 1.The business advangate of Taiwan Specialty Chemicals of Printed Circuit Board industry includes the well-developed finance and stable capital support, great R&D ability, stable quality sandard, outstanding customer and after-sale service, plenty talent person for management and technology, and excellent enterprise culture. 2.Key factors affecting the competiveness among the Taiwan Specialty Chemicals of Printed Circuit Board industry are as follows. (1)Suppliers: product quality and the ability of problems solving and readily answering form suppliers. (2)Customers: identification with the brand quality and the bargaining power and purchasing amount of customers. (3)New entrants: distinctive product and technology, product differentiation and cost advantage. (4)Substitute products: function, quality, price, switching cost and R&D ability of substitute products. (5)Competitive rivalry: switching cost of customers, the integral industry growth rate and the integral actual strength of competitors. 3.The study suggests the Taiwan Specialty Chemicals of Printed Circuit Board industry to adopt the following competitive strategy. (1)Cost leadership strategy: to seek for suppliers with lower supplying cost, stable suppling and lower manpower cost. (2)Differentiation strategy: product innovation and quality. (3)Growth strategy: vertical intergration of upstream to downstream manufacturering partners and discriminiate market development.

The Law for the Development of the Cultural and Creative Industries is passed by the Legislative Yuan on Feb 3, 2010 and implementated on August 30, 2010. It shows that the Taiwanese government is devoted into cultural and creative industries, and also to position cultural and creative industries in a significant place of culture policy. In the Law, there are 16 categories. Among them, the researcher thinks that the handicrafts industry, the digital content industry and the visual communication design industries are full of developmental potential. Therefore, this study will draw three cultural and creative industry projects form these industries as the focus of the analysis. This research applies the resource-based theory on three Taiwan's cultural and creative industry companies. The research interviews one case of each industry listed above. Through interviews and documents, the research attempts to understand those companies¡¦ internal resources, explore their core competencies, and further analyze of the competitive advantages and strategies. Several research questions are listed: what are the successful factors of three cases? What resources are available in their companies? What are their competitive strategies? The analysis will help to understand the development of Taiwan's cultural and creative enterprise and business. In addition, interviewees also provided suggestions for the current policy of Taiwan's cultural and creative industries. Finally, the researcher provides suggestions to the three cases, Taiwanese government on policy of Cultural and Creative Industries in Taiwan, also made efforts for the further studies.

This dissertation investigates the latent but critical effects of risk attitude on competitive success in construction applying an evolutionary approach. The approach considers contractors as individual entities competing with each other for common job opportunities, and competition as an evolutionary process in the market. In construction, competitive bidding is the major mechanism of competition. Bidding itself is an important managerial function in a construction organization while it is risky since the actual cost of a job is unknown. Therefore, contractors' risk-taking in competition is an essential element in the construction business. Individuals may behave differently in competition depending on their own risk attitude which defines what risks can be accepted or not in an organization. Depending on the differences in risk-taking, the result of a competition varies. How contractors compete, that is, how they take risks in competition affects the competition among themselves. Also, contractors' performance is differentiated through competition to decide successful firms and unsuccessful firms. The current study investigates the effects of risk attitude, which is the latent basis for contractors' different behaviors in competition. The current investigation is unique in that it combines: 1) an evolutionary approach; 2) behavioral decision-making under uncertainty; 3) multi-level analyses from the individual to the aggregate; and 4) a long-term perspective on firms' success and life-cycles (birth, death, survival, growth, contraction, and market diversification). The developed evolutionary model simulates and analyzes competition among contractors in the competitive bidding environment. A new method is proposed to represent contractors' different risk-taking behaviors depending on their own risk attitude. The analysis accounts for contractors' differences in risk-taking, their performances through competition, and corresponding organizational changes in life-cycles at the individual level, and aggregate patterns evolving at the population level as resultants of competition over long time periods. The study finds that risk attitude is a latent but dominant competitive characteristic of contractors by identifying the critical effects of risk attitude on competitive success. The results provide new insights on competition and recommendations for contractors' competitive success, which are not available using conventional approaches.

Taiwan¡¦s IC foundry has truly emerged as important roles in Taiwan¡¦s electronic industries, whose fast growth has successfully been in the construction of Taiwan¡¦s economic miracle. Through the differentiation strategy, TSMC, the largest and most successful dedicated IC foundry in the world, expands and develops its business from bottom to top. It also has well driven IC industries a Cluster Effect, prosperously fostering the industries in its supply chain, from IC design and manufacturing to packaging and testing, even rapid growth of Taiwan¡¦s personal computer and peripheral industries relatively. Long-term, increasing growth for IC industries had earned many companies to invest low entry barrier factories - IC packaging that needs lower technical expertise and less capital. However, against semiconductor industrial booming and bust cycles, and the phenomenon known as the Bullwhip Effect in supply chains, most packaging factories have been confronting with the challenges in worse and more competitive environments. Those factories, even the same for the new entrants, actively adopted all different types of competitive, cooperative and integrated strategies, not only for profits but survival. In this study, based on path dependence theory, the competitive strategies among ten new IC packaging companies were introduced to discuss, examine, and more further verify the linkages between their competitive strategies and developing paths. The conclusion indicates that competitive strategies of positive developing path may offer new entrants a successful, experienced model to copy with. 1.The advancement of Taiwan IC packaging new entrants gave evidence for developing path¡¦s model. That is to say, different competitive strategies will result in different developing paths. 2.The competitive strategies of the positively developing path¡¦s model are helpful for new entrants to develop positively. Strategic positioning helps to concentrate company¡¦s resources onto her beneficial path to develop. Innovative strategies will help to break through the limitations of path and guide the developing path to success. Competitive advantage helps the developing path come into positive cycles. 3.IC packaging companies have to review and react very often to manage their competitive strategies when the developing path is influenced by the variances of inner and outer environments.

This study employs competitive dynamics theory, upper echelon perspective, power perspective, and strategic human resource management perspective to examine how executives matter with organizational outcomes. It argues that CEO dominance and executive human resource management system will affect top management team social integration, and the latter will promote aggressive competitive behavior. It also explores the performance implications of aggressive competitive behavior. Finally, it endeavors in opening the black box between executive human resource management system and firm performance. Anonymous questionnaires were distributed to firm executives, and the unit of analysis is firm level. Analyses with structural equation modeling confirmed most of our hypothesized relationships. CEO dominance is found to be negatively associated, but teamwork-oriented executive human resource management system is found to be positively related, with top management social integration. Top management team social integration will facilitate aggressive competitive behavior, and action speed matters with firm performance significantly. Finally, top management social integration and aggressive competitive behavior partially mediate the relationship of executive human resource management system and firm performance. Although strategic leadership research is prevalent, only few studies investigated the psychometric characteristics of top management team, even fewer paid attention to the impact of CEO power dominance on top management team¡¦s interaction. At the same time, strategic human resource management studies also put very few efforts on the topics of competitive behavior and top managers, although these issues should be critical sources of an organization¡¦s competitive advantage. This study is initiated to fill in these research gaps. Implications and limitations are discussed.