Technological change and innovation in Latin American emerging economies: The pork industry of Antioquia, Colombia

Innovation and technology, in appropriate business environments, are considered improvement and survival tools directly related to the establishment of competitive advantages. However, this must be accompanied by a growing economy, and, in some cases, governmental policies that encourage the industry. This chapter inquires about several factors involved in the innovation and technological change of the pork industry in Antioquia, Colombia, based on original research results and other contributions of the authors. The managerial assumption is simple: free trade and strategic moves of the biggest competitors indicate that Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) in the pork industry must accelerate their technological change via innovation management by addressing different factors that are hindering the establishment of competitive advantages. The authors offer a possible path of action from a management perspective to support that the industry will form an oligopoly should innovation management not occur. © 2014 by IGI Global. All rights reserved

Competitive cycles in a hyper-connected world

This chapter presents a competitive framework suggesting a circular perspective in analyzing and managing competitive wars in a hyper-competitive and hyper-connected world. The author uses the expression “competitive cycles” to represent the typical journey of a competitive arena. The journey starts with the status quo, characterized by a direct confrontation on specific success factors (war of position); soon or later, however, the competition is disrupted by a game-changing strategy from some player (war of movement). This leads to the next step of the journey, made of imitation strategies, and ending up when the new game eventually becomes the new status quo. Then everything flows, until a new cycle, with its new rules, will start again. The digital tsunami is adding momentum and clock-speed to competitive cycles. In every moment of a firm’s life, it is vitally important to be fully aware of its different seasons. In fact, behind each of them lies a distinctive rationale, which calls for specific offensive and defensive abilities