THE INFLUENCE OF A FIRM\u27S BASIC CHARACTERISTICS ON THE RELEVANCE OF THE SOURCES AND FORMS OF COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE IN SLOVENIAN FIRMS

The process of competition among firms can be described as a causal-consecutive sequence "sources of competitive advantage forms of competitive advantage performance". The scientific literature usually discusses four basic schools about the sources of competitive advantage of a firm, namely the industrial organization school, the resource-based school, the capability-based school, and the knowledge-based school. Although the competitive advantage can take many different forms they can all be roughly classified into only two groups, i.e. the price advantage and the differentiation advantage. In our empirical research (based on a sample of 225 Slovenian firms) we examine how sources and forms of competitive advantage differ among different groups of firms where these groups are defined according to the firms\u27 basic characteristics such as sector, size, age, type and nationality of ownership, and sales markets. It can be concluded that these characteristics mostly have little influence on the sources and forms of competitive advantage, although some statistically significant differences, especially with regard to a firms\u27 size, type of ownership, and sales markets, do exist

The relevance of the knowledge-based school of thought on the sources of a firm\u27s competitive advantage

A basic characteristic of the knowledge-based school is that it follows the \u27inside out\u27 approach of explaining the sources of a firm\u27s competitive advantage. This means the competitive advantage primarily arises from the firm and its knowledge. There are at least two important classifications of knowledge in the related literature. The first one divides knowledge into its explicit and tacit component, while the second one discusses human and structural capital. Besides knowledge, its adequate management is also necessary to ensure greater competitiveness and performance. Empirical research, based on the sample of 225 Slovenian firms, shows that the firms see the most relevant sources of their competitive advantage in structural capital, tacit knowledge and in the imperfect imitability of knowledge. The more relevant knowledge a firm possesses and the better its management is, the greater the firm performance and competitiveness is, which means our empirical support of the knowledge-based school is quite unequivocal. Among the studied sources of competitive advantage within the knowledge-based school performing the knowledge management tasks and the imperfect imitability of knowledge seem to be the most relevant factors of a firm\u27s competitiveness and performance

Knowledge management as a means of developing a firm’s competitive advantage

Knowledge management is one of the most popular themes of modern scientific literature. However, in spite of all the published research on the importance of knowledge management, there is little said about knowledge as a direct source of a firm’s competitive advantage. In the past decades, three main hypotheses on the sources of a firm’s competitive advantage were developed; namely, the industrial organization, the resource-based and the capability-based hypotheses. In this paper, we argue that the knowledge-based hypothesis can and should be considered as the fourth tantamount hypothesis on how the sources of the competitive advantage of a firm can be explained

Effective Strategy Implementation: The Experience of Slovenian Companies

This paper deals with the findings of empirical research on the main determinants of effective strategy implementation in Slovenian companies

Capability-Based School of Thought’s Relevance on Firms’ Competitive Advantage Sources

Based on a survey of 225 Slovenian companies this study analyses the sources of competitive advantage as seen by the capability-based school, examine the relationship between these sources and a firm’s competitiveness and performance and, based thereon, offer a judgement on the relevance of the capability-based school

The influence of public funding on the strategies and performance of non-profit basketball clubs from SouthEastern Europe

The purpose of this study is to examine how private funding affects non-profit sport clubs in terms of their strategic decisions and organisational performance. Data for the study were collected from a survey of 73 basketball clubs’ managers from four Southeast European countries. Explorative factor analysis and structural equation modelling were employed. The results show that stronger influence of public institutions, reflected in a higher proportion of clubs’ funding from public resources, affects clubs’ strategies so that clubs with a greater percentage of public funds: (1) emphasise risk reduction more than fast results; (2) emphasise local community aims more than top sport results; and (3) emphasise organisational growth more than cost reduction. The study empirically verified the thesis that clubs with a larger proportion of public funds are less successful in terms of sport and financial results, which is partially a consequence of their different strategic focus. The study offers a better understanding of the relationships among the structure of clubs’ funding and its direct (clubs’ strategic conduct) and indirect (clubs’ performance) consequences

Successful competitive strategies of large Croatian and Slovenian enterprises

In this research report, the authors identify and analyze the successful samples of strategic behaviour of large Croatian and Slovenian enterprises, as well as their similarities and dissimilarities. The research has encompassed the levels of corporate and business strategy (i.e. the strategy of a diversified firm and its strategic business units/areas), as well as the analysis of strategic performance and sources of competitive advantage. The research consists of two parts: the theoretical foundation for the analysis of the successful patterns of strategic behaviour and the empirical analysis, based on the primary data collected during the research project

Kulturne razsežnosti in vodstveni slogi, ki jih zaznavajo prihodnji managerji

The article contributes to the body of knowledge about the perceptions of future managers (i.e. business and engineering students) in both Slovenia and a cluster of Central European (CE) countries regarding actual cultural practices in their social environments, the value systems they possess and their attitudes to leadership styles. The main question addressed is whether future Slovenian managers are good representatives of the average future manager from CE (transitional) countries as far as their value system and attitudes to individual leadership styles are concerned. The research results confirm that the Slovenian (potential) future managers perceive actual cultural practices in their environment rather differently from their counterparts from the cluster of CE countries. Two decades of transition from socialist/communist socio-economic systems were apparently not long enough periods to achieve a higher level of harmonisation of existing cultures. The relevant value systems held by the Slovenian (potential) future managers and the CE cluster\u27s future managers still differ significantly. The Slovenian future managers have (statistically) significantly different attitudes to individual leadership styles than their counterparts in the CE countries\u27 cluster. The smallest differences in perceptions between the two stated groups of (potential) future managers exist regarding their views on what are the most important traits and skills of managers.Članek prispeva k znanju, ki ga imamo o zaznavah prihodnjih managerjev (tj. študentov poslovnih ved in inženirskih področij) v Sloveniji in grozdu držav osrednje (tranzicijske) Evrope, vezanih na obstoječe razsežnosti kulture v njihovem okolju, sisteme vrednot, ki jih posedujejo, in njihov odnos do slogov vodenja. Glavno vprašanje, ki se ga loteva, je, ali so slovenski prihodnji managerji dobri predstavniki prihodnjega povprečnega managerja v območju držav osrednje (tranzicijske) Evrope z vidika vrednostnih sistemov in odnosa do posameznih slogov vodenja. Raziskovalni rezultati potrjujejo, da slovenski (potencialni) prihodnji managerji zaznavajo obstoječe kulturne prakse v okolju precej drugače kot njihovi kolegi iz grozda osrednjeevropskih držav. Dve desetletji tranzicije iz socialističnih/komunističnih družbeno-ekonomskih sistemov nista zadostovali, da bi dosegli višjo raven harmonizacije obstoječih kultur. Relevantni vrednotni sistemi, ki so lastni slovenskim (potencialnim) prihodnjim managerjem in managerjem v grozdu osrednjeevropskih držav se še vedno znatno razlikujejo. Slovenski prihodnji managerji imajo statistično značilno različna stališča do slogov vodenja v primerjavi z njihovimi osrednjeevropskimi kolegi. Najmanjše razlike v zaznavah obeh navedenih skupin prihodnjih managerjev je najti glede njihovih pogledov na vprašanje, katere so najpomembnejše lastnosti in sposobnosti managerjev

Influence of stakeholders' perception on value creation and measurement : the case of football clubs

Purpose - The presented study aims to identify and classify the value factors that influence the value of football clubs from the stakeholder perspective, while also discussing how these factors can affect the choice of valuation methods. The paper considers how value should be measured from the perspective of stakeholders. Research focuses on clubs embedded deeply in a wide interrelated network of stakeholders. Design/methodology/approach - A mixed research approach was established in order to obtain a more holistic understanding of value creation, value factors and measurement. The research builds on observational study with a mix of retrospective longitudinal study of Polish men’s football clubs and interviews with stakeholders, which are then triangulated as part of a critical discussion on valuation methods. Findings - The results show the most significant value factors determined by the stakeholders. The study discusses which performance and value measures should be used to measure value for the stakeholders of football clubs. Intellectual capital methods and asset-based methods should definitely be relied on as part of measuring the performance of football clubs within the stakeholders’ network. All findings suggest the use of the multivariate valuation method in accordance with previous research. Originality/value - The classified key value factors enable the management of football clubs to properly manage stakeholder relationships and address various stakeholders’ concerns in a sustainable way. The paper proposes a research process, which may also be implemented in other studies in the non-profit sector and contributes to the literature in the fields of sports management