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Simple Summary: In this study, we ask whether the invasive paper mulberry (Broussonetia papyrifera) has a competitive advantage over neighbor trees in a native area. We determined the competitive capacity of paper mulberry in three deciduous broad-leaved forests using structural indices including the mixing index, the tree–tree interval index, and the diameter/height differentiation index. It was found that the reference paper mulberry had a slight competitive advantage over neighboring trees in both the horizontal and vertical planes. Such a competitive ability may play a significant role in the ecological invasion of paper mulberry. Our findings not only help to reveal the invasion mechanism of paper mulberry, but also provide an important reference for the management and utilization of paper mulberry in invaded areas. Paper mulberry (Broussonetia papyrifera) is currently an invasive species on several continents. However, little is known about whether paper mulberry has a competitive advantage over its surrounding trees in its native distribution range, subtropical regions of China. Here, we determined the relative intraspecific and interspecific competitive capacity of paper mulberry in three subtropical deciduous broad-leaved forests using the indices of structural diversity including the mixing index, the tree–tree interval index, and the diameter/height differentiation index. It was found that more than 80% of mingling index values were not greater than 0.25, suggesting a stronger competitiveness of paper mulberry relative to other tree species. The tree–tree interval index values ranged between 1 m and 2 m, suggesting a strong competition between paper mulberry and its neighbors. Moreover, more than 60% of the height differentiation index and diameter differentiation index values were positive, suggesting that the reference paper mulberry had a slight competitive advantage over neighboring trees in both the horizontal and vertical planes. These collectively suggest a competitive advantage over other tree species in the native distribution range, which may play a significant role in the ecological invasion of paper mulberry. Our findings not only help to reveal the invasion mechanism of paper mulberry, but also provide an important reference for the management and utilization of paper mulberry in invaded areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies on effective distribution practices specific to the paper industry are largely non-existent. Therefore, through our exploratory research, we first identify key elements of physical distribution in existing literature. Secondly, we empirically investigate the extent to which these elements influence non-cost-based (such as inventory turnover, order fulfillment etc.) measures of distribution performance in the paper industry. Using a sample of 95 National Paper Trade Association member firms, we create three performance groups (low, medium, and high). Then, we use analysis of variance (ANOVA) to test for any differences in the adoption of the physical distribution elements among these groups. Further, through partial least squares regression analysis, we attempt to identify those elements of physical distribution which may be most critical in explaining the differences in distribution performance. Our results provide general support for the importance of the key elements identified in this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How can firms establish competitive advantages using artificial intelligence (AI)? Although AI is beginning to permeate business activities, our understanding of how AI can be used to create unique value is limited. To address this void, I introduce the concept of situated AI and illuminate its importance for establishing AI-driven competitive advantages. The paper highlights the organizational activities involved in situating AI—specifically, grounding, bounding, and recasting. It also explains the conditions in which these situating activities better enable firms to develop AI-driven capabilities that are firm-specific, cost-effective, and appropriate for opportunities in the strategic environment. Thus, this paper provides an integrative framework for connecting a firm's AI pursuits to competitive advantage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the development of virtual reality technology, people are increasingly aware that the combination of virtual reality technology and product design can enable companies to obtain stable profits and maintain long-term competitive advantages. And design evaluation plays a pivotal role in a large number of important decisions in product development. This article takes Lingnan culture and cultural products as an example, combining virtual reality technology with the design of Lingnan cultural and creative products, verifies the effectiveness and rationality of the virtual evaluation system of Lingnan cultural products through the evaluation of examples of Lingnan cultural products, and proposes amendments to the evaluation case. This paper constructs a product design evaluation system based on virtual reality technology and designs a theoretical model VR, which is the application of virtual reality technology in product design evaluation. The PDES system expounds the idea and method of constructing the system model. This paper studies the evaluation object, evaluation content, evaluation method, evaluation platform, and manifestation of evaluation results of the Lingnan cultural product virtual evaluation system and builds the framework of the Lingnan cultural product virtual evaluation system. This paper studies the product display method based on virtual reality technology and realizes the three-dimensional display of products on the Internet and the design of user interaction in virtual reality. In this paper, the two algorithms BRSK and SURF are used together, and the multiscale expression characteristics of BRISK in space and the rotation invariant characteristics of SURF are used. Experimental research shows that, compared with the pure BRISK algorithm, the rotation performance of the method in this paper can be seen through the experimental results in this paper to have better accuracy. The method in this paper ensures the accuracy and accuracy of matching as much as possible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Knowledge is an essential ingredient for economic development, growth and gaining a competitive advantage. In order to produce novel and valuable knowledge, it is advantageous, perhaps vital, to rely on insights gained from prior research efforts. Those knowledge spillovers (KS) provide the rationale for sustained economic growth and produce unique place-based knowledge spaces. Due to the spatial embeddedness and stickiness of knowledge, most investigations mainly pay attention to the localized nature of KS, but what about those spillovers from other jurisdictions, or perhaps even from across the globe? To analyse the role played by international KS, the present study investigates to what extent international KS shape the evolution of the UK science and technology space. The first step involves creating knowledge spaces following the methodology outlined by Kogler et al. (2013; 2017) for the period 2006-15. Subsequently, we are following the paper trail of publications and patents developed by UK authors and inventors to depict to what degree international KS in specific science and technology domains have contributed to the production of novel knowledge in the UK. The results indicate that four out of five citations made in publications and patents in the UK are the works of authors and inventors residing elsewhere. This has important policy implications considering recent tendencies to curtail trade and the free movement of labour, all of which contribute to the diffusion of knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A culture of innovation that can continuously change to ongoing external market shifts will be a critical source of competitive advantage for organizations over the next decade. The lessons for leading such a culture of innovation come from humanity's earliest beginnings and are communicated through our myths. The authors discuss the use of the Hero's Journey with modern change management and innovation techniques such as foresight, customer-centered research and lean startup, to anticipate challenges along an established road of creating a culture of innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: New technologies may offer special opportunities for others to achieve very large returns with approaches to technology development like those of Amazon, Tesla, and Walmart. This paper summarizes those firms' overall approach and offers guidelines for carrying out similar efforts. Design/methodology/approach: The paper is a multi-firm case study, examining long-term technology development processes of Amazon, Tesla, Walmart, Varian Medical, and Deere. Findings: The firms were able to create huge amounts of value (or in Deere's case, seems to be creating a huge amount of value today) because their leaders recognized a huge problem that limited customers greatly and spent decades solving it with digital technology. The approach appears to be replicable by others. Research limitations/implications: This is an initial review. Further study of these firms and others that have similar long-term digital achievements is warranted. Practical implications: The paper describes a practical approach to achieving sustained competitive advantage that may be effective for those willing to pursue solution to a large problem over many years. Originality/value: The most successful users of digital technology have followed a difficult but straightforward path to revolutionizing customer experience: Focus for decades on making something important work really well. This paper identifies similarities among the long-term strategies of the greatest producers of long-term value for the first time and identifies a path through which others may follow them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When participants in introductory business courses encounter the term "operations strategy," it is not easy for them to appreciate what operations strategy is about, or how it fits with overall business strategy. This game breaks down highfalutin jargon into experiences that participants can readily relate to. While working in teams to make paper boats, and competing with other teams, participants realize that they have intuitively engaged in the formulation and implementation of their team's operations strategy. They begin to appreciate the interplay between the customer's requirements, their own team's strengths, the "competitive priorities" that their team must emphasize, and the tradeoffs inherent in making these decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The changing factors of supply chain management include the evolution of technology in market conditions, the transformation of business practices, new expectations of partners in the supply chain, and demand for more valueadded from the end-user consumer. Manufacturing organizations require more flexibility to maintain a competitive advantage as well as to operate in a dynamic environment. As the complexity increases, uncertainty and levels also increase in the supply chain. Hence, risk management has become a major issue in the supply chain and plays a significant role in the supply chain performance and the continuity of the organization's dynamics. In the paper, the process of supply chain risk management has been gone through and a risk mitigation model has been presented. The goal of the paper is to expand the proposed model of Kirilmaz & Erol in which the number of commodities increases. In the first step of the suggested method, a procurement plan is provided by a linear planning model, taking into account cost constraints. In the second step, the plan is revised by considering risk criteria for planning. The transition of orders is made to reduce the risk from high risky suppliers to less risky suppliers. The process of supply chain risk management has been performed by an electromotor company in the Middle East. We use the Kirilmaz & Erol model to validate the proposed model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Strategy is one of the tools that achieves the desired market position, or competitiveness of the company. To achieve a competitive advantage, enterprise must have a well-designed and formulated strategy. The technological environment is a factor that represents the overall knowledge that people possess about how things are done, how innovations are created, how production, distribution and sales are carried out. The technology sector involves the creation of new knowledge and the exploitation of knowledge that creates new products: products, processes and materials. The development of technology is easily seen in new products, tools, machines and productivity. Three main goals of paper are presented: to analyse theoretical framework of production and competitiveness, to analyse and explain areas of Croatian metal processing industry, and to conduct research abut entrepreneurial development based on creating new values and productivity. Methodology of this paper is based on research and statistical analysis (Spearman’s correlation, Kruskal Wallis test. Research is conducted on 508 firms (large size, small and medium) in sectors of Croatian metal processing industry. For data collecting is used postal Business Croatia and for data analysis is used SPSS statistical program (version 16.0, SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). Result of the paper is strategic recommendation that could create new values and improve level of productivity in metal processing industry. Nowadays, is necessary to find strategic models according to set parameters, how creating of new values can develop and increase a productivity and competitive position. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To what extent do the network structural characteristics and prominence of supply chain actors in the buyer firm's network enhance or hinder the ability of the buyer firm to undertake competitive actions? Public Policy Topic Area: How does a firm's non-market actions influence firm supply chain actions and firm behavior? Information Technology Area: How does a buyer firm's information technology capabilities enable the firm to leverage supply chain resources for competitive advantage purposes?. [Extracted from the article]

Enterprises aimed at acquiring a sustainable competitive advantage in the Digital Era are challenged to develop a Transformative Digital Leadership marked by a set of abilities. The paper introduces the Digital Transformative Leadership Compass as an innovative framework to assess wise leaders' characteristics driving organisational digital transformation in today's complex business landscape. It identifies the critical abilities, attitudes, and behaviours distinguishing the profile of a transformative digital leader leading an organisation to continuously innovate and digitally evolve in the same way as the business landscape. This paper contributes to theory building by proposing an interpretative framework of critical abilities distinguishing a transformative digital leader of a transformative digital company. Furthermore, the paper provides practitioners with valuable insights and theoretical evidence on leadership practices in the digital era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Breaking through the company's own green knowledge barriers through school-enterprise cooperation has become an important means for companies to expand market competitive advantages and environmental governance. This article uses China's non-financial listed company data from 2010 to 2021 to study the causal effect of school-enterprise cooperation on corporate green innovation. The results passed a series of robustness tests and confirmed that school enterprise cooperation can improve the level of green innovation of enterprises. This paper also uses the instrumental variable method to mitigate the causal relationship between the two. The results show that school-enterprise cooperation can still significantly improve corporate green innovation. The results of the mechanism test confirm that school-enterprise cooperation will promote corporate green innovation by reducing corporate green innovation risks and easing corporate financing constraints. At the same time, the heterogeneity analysis results show that school-enterprise cooperation has a better effect on improving green innovation for enterprises in heavily polluting industries, enterprises in years with low economic policy uncertainty, and enterprises with a high degree of government-enterprise connection. The findings of this article help to understand the intrinsic mechanism between school-enterprise cooperation and corporate green innovation, and confirm that school-enterprise cooperation can improve the climate and environmental innovation system, which has important practical significance for the construction of the industry-university-research system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper assesses the role shipping and logistics foreign direct investment (FDI) plays in developing country export performance, exemplified by the case of the large multinational corporation (MNC) Maersk's investments in Vietnam. The paper aims to generate a deeper understanding of how the introduction of advanced shipping and logistics services by a foreign investor contributed to export growth. The paper is based on a longitudinal case study of Maersk in Vietnam employing more than 100 interviews from Maersk, Maersk's clients, subcontractors, and industry experts conducted between 2003 and 2016, complemented and validated by primary commercial data from Maersk, and secondary industry- and market data. The paper finds that during that period, Maersk impacted Vietnam's export performance through five mechanisms: 1. Building infrastructure; 2. Creating connectivity and market access; 3. Reducing transaction and logistics costs; 4. Bringing buyers and sellers together; and 5. Upgrading export capabilities. While transport and logistics MNCs' role in building infrastructure and reducing trade costs is described in the literature, the paper provides novel insights into their role as intermediaries in trade that provide value chain access and transparency, reduce transaction costs for buyers and producers, and upgrade export capabilities. The paper suggests that Maersk's contributions to Vietnam's export growth from 2003 to 2016 in part can be attributed to its unique competitive advantages originating from its superior organization, technology, and capital intensity. The paper contributes to the literature by deepening it's understanding of the mechanisms through which large shipping and logistics MNCs influence developing countries' export-led industrialization; by proving novel insights into the role of Maersk in Vietnam's development path; and by providing and validating an analytical framework for analyzing shipping and logistics MNCs' role in export led development that may inspire future research, [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

City marketing strives to promote a specific city and its parts and emphasises its different characteristics, attractiveness, and competitive advantages. This concept is based on the idea of a high quality of life for its residents and attractive conditions for external target groups. The paper deals with city marketing in Brno, the second-largest city in the Czech Republic. The aim of this paper is to analyse the marketing activities of the city of Brno and to evaluate what image the city has in the eyes of its residents. We conducted a questionnaire survey among 552 residents. In addition to this quantitative approach, we also used qualitative methods, which consisted of interviews with experts from practice. Research has proved that the city is aware of the importance of marketing, but marketing activities have not yet been sufficiently developed. Brno is a city that is considered a good place to live, and the majority of respondents are actively interested in what is happening there. On the other hand, the city's marketing efforts are not visible enough to residents. The research confirms that cities in Central Europe should pay more attention to their marketing. The paper provides policy implications for the implementation of city marketing oriented to residents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The motivation for this paper comes from the recognition that our understanding of specialisation might be too simplistic and that the dichotomy of specialisation and diversification could be outdated not reflecting the richness of real complex economic and technological relations among industries. Drawing on a qualitative study of the Hamburg Aviation (HAv) cluster, this paper discusses the peculiarities of a cluster profile in the digital time - the age of Industry 4.0 (I4.0), touching upon the issues of cluster structure and the complexity of production, synchronising specialisation with diversification, branching, and bridging, and the I4.0 attributes facilitating complementarity. The final research proposal, which is empirically embedded in the studied context, states that related variety encompassing both 'specialisation in diversification' and 'diversification within specialisation' can be further developed by a blending process. This can lead to branching and is modulated by the universal character of the I4.0 and a problem-solving attitude. It takes the form of an additive (new entries) or multiplicative (spinoffs) evolution, and, ultimately, owing to the complementarity, it can provide sustainable competitive advantages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The theoretical soundness and practical relevance of strategic human resource management (SHRM) scholarship has recently come under scrutiny. The goal of this symposium is to offer a starting point for SHRM scholars to rethink our approach to understanding the achievement of competitive advantage through HR, guided by a reconsideration of what it means to achieve horizontal fit and vertical fit inHRM. Collectively, the three papers in this symposium contribute to this effort through a reconsideration of the content of the HR systems we study, an expansion of the strategic bases against which we consider the vertical fit of HR systems, and a more explicit incorporation of complexity and change into our understanding of both the horizontal and vertical fit of the HR "ecosystems" in organizations. In this paper, I introduce the key issues and questions with which the papers in the symposium interface and highlight potential avenues that future SHRMscholarship could pursue to address them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Human resource management (HRM) processes are increasingly artificial intelligence (AI)-driven, and HRM supports the general digital transformation of companies' viable competitiveness. This paper points out possible positive and negative effects on HRM, workplaces and workers' organizations along the HR processes and its potential for competitive advantage in regard to managerial decisions on AI implementation regarding augmentation and automation of work. Design/methodology/approach: A systematic literature review that includes 62 international journals across different disciplines and contains top-tier academic and German practitioner journals was conducted. The literature analysis applies the resource-based view (RBV) as a lens through which to explore AI-driven HRM as a potential source of organizational capabilities. Findings: The analysis shows four ambiguities for AI-driven HRM that might support sustainable company development or might prevent AI application: job design, transparency, performance and data ambiguity. A limited scholarly discussion with very few empirical studies can be stated. To date, research has mainly focused on HRM in general, recruiting and HR analytics in particular. Research limitations/implications: The four ambiguities' context-specific potential for capability building in firms is indicated, and research avenues are developed. Originality/value: This paper critically explores AI-driven HRM and structures context-specific potential for capability building along four ambiguities that must be addressed by HRM to strategically contribute to an organization's competitive advantage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper describes digital strategies helping to boost the competitiveness of Russian as a foreign language. The authors argue that it is impossible to deny the universal popularity of the English language. Knowledge of English is important to learners of Russian as a foreign language since it functions as a social language facilitating their transition to multilingualism. Thus, to improve the competitiveness of Russian courses, it is beneficial to supplement them with instructions in English and modern online tools with English interfaces. The paper offers two scenarios of in-class activities for beginner and intermediate-to-advanced learners of Russian, featuring key strategies utilized for students from Kazakhstan and the People's Republic of China. The authors argue that the described activities are also useful for students from other countries. The scenarios are included in the common framework of the "Working for a Russian Digital Company" business game and enhance the competitive advantages of Russian studies programs expanding the limits of teaching language and culture in the field of online technologies and Java programming basics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Goal: This paper aims to identify the dimensions that impact the perception of the quality of Brazilian air services in the eyes of customers, using a questionnaire based on the SERVPERF model adapted for the service studied as a data collection instrument. Design/Methodology/Approach: The research used a quantitative approach, in which 810 questionnaires were analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling methodology. Results: The results showed that the relationship between quality perceived by clients and the dimensions of quality Tangibles and Empathy were those confirmed by Structural Equation Modeling in this research. The fact that the study is exploratory, and temporal indicates that in this period, Brazilian consumers attach more importance to the environment and appearance of aircraft, equipment, and employees of the companies and that their needs are met in a personalized way. Limitations of the investigation: Only Tangibles and Empathy dimensions were confirmed. Practical implications: With the feedback of the customer, including the constant need for an accuracy of the assumptions and hypotheses studied in this paper, an airline can identify what the real needs of its customer must be met and, in its strategic planning, identify the possible actions to be implemented, such as the priority of the investments, and, thus, to be able to increase the competitive advantage, offering the clients what they prioritize. Originality/Value: The information brought by this research can support the development of business strategies oriented in aspects related to tangible elements and empathy in the service to add value to the service perceived by the clients, contributing to the development of the activity and the sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Human resource management in professional service firms (PSF) is one of the most important instruments for promoting sustainable competitive advantage. Despite the major growth of scholars' interest in human resource management (HRM) issues in PSF, the body of knowledge in this field remains highly fragmented and diversified. The purpose of this paper is to systematize key evidence on the use of HRM practices in PSF. Design/methodology/approach: The paper is based on a systematic literature review of 90 peer-reviewed journal papers. Findings: The review revealed typical ability-, motivation- and opportunity-enhancing practices used by PSF and outlined how these HRM practices may differ among various PSF. Originality/value: The paper provides scholars with an updated and comprehensive research landscape and development process in this important field, thereby contributing to greater research interest and enthusiasm for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to explore the links between the efficiency of public sector e-services and sustainable competitive advantage. In line with the emerging approach, the instrumental case study design and the mixed research strategy were used as the most appropriate methodology to answer the general research question that was raised for this study. In this context, we present the positive experience that we have discovered via the Lithuanian case study. A unified model of evaluation of the e-services development system in the public sector was developed. The model explains the application of various e-services development systems methodologies and methods in the public sector and underpins the platform for the interaction of efficiency and sustainable competitive advantage processes. The model developed helps to make the assessment of e-services more effective and demonstrates a personalised outcome that can be applied by other public sector organisations. The paper discusses the efficiency trends in the development of e-services in the public sector in order to achieve Sustainable Development Goals, as well as distinguishes and highlights procedural steps that help to improve the development of e-services and sustainable competitive advantage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of supply disruption, having a resilient supply chain is crucial for the survival and growth of enterprises. It is also essential for gaining a competitive advantage in a turbulent environment. Enterprises need to invest in supply chain resilience to better deal with future uncertainties. This paper constructs a Stackelberg game model with the manufacturer as the leader and the retailer as the follower. We explored how supply chain-related factors under supply interruption risk affect supply chain resilience investment, and studied how to choose supply chain coordination strategies to improve the effectiveness of manufacturer capacity recovery and mutual profits in the context of supply interruption. The study also analyzes the asymmetrical impact of changes in product order quantity, supply disruption probability, and the capacity recovery coefficient on retailer decision-making and the profits of supply chain members. The results indicate that manufacturer profits are negatively correlated with supply disruption probability, while retailer profits are positively correlated with supply disruption probability when product order quantities are low and negatively correlated when product order quantities are high. The supply chain resilience investment is positively correlated with the supply disruption probability. Furthermore, the effectiveness of the cost-sharing contract is closely related to product order quantity and supply disruption probability. When the product order quantity d < α L − c [ 1 − ξ a L + ξ a H ] + s α H ξ + w α L (1 − ξ) k or α H − c [ 1 − ξ a L + ξ a H ] + s α H ξ + w α L (1 − ξ) k < d < α H [ 1 − ξ a L + ξ a H ] (w − c) k , manufacturers can withstand the risk of supply interruption by investing in supply chain resilience alone. But when the product order quantity is α L − c [ 1 − ξ a L + ξ a H ] + s α H ξ + w α L (1 − ξ) k < d < α H − c [ 1 − ξ a L + ξ a H ] + s α H ξ + w α L (1 − ξ) k and α H [ 1 − ξ a L + ξ a H ] (w − c) k < d , the use of cost-sharing contracts is more effective. Additionally, when the sensitivity analysis is conducted, the capacity recovery coefficient positively correlates with supply chain profits in a decentralized mode. However, under the cost-sharing contract mode, it exhibits a U-shaped fluctuation pattern, indicating that the impact of improving capacity recovery efficiency on the profits of both parties is not symmetrical and linear. As ξ approaches 0.5, the profits of manufacturers and retailers decrease. Instead, it undergoes an initial decline followed by a subsequent increase, highlighting the nonlinear benefits of capacity recovery strategies under the cooperative approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Remaining useful life (RUL) prediction is widely applied in prognostic and health management (PHM) of turbofan engines. Although some of the existing deep learning-based models for RUL prediction of turbofan engines have achieved satisfactory results, there are still some challenges. For example, the spatial features and importance differences hidden in the raw monitoring data are not sufficiently addressed or highlighted. In this paper, a novel multi-head self-Attention fully convolutional network (MSA-FCN) is proposed for predicting the RUL of turbofan engines. MSA-FCN combines a fully convolutional network and multi-head structure, focusing on the degradation correlation among various components of the engine and extracting spatially characteristic degradation representations. Furthermore, by introducing dual multi-head self-attention modules, MSA-FCN can capture the differential contributions of sensor data and extracted degradation representations to RUL prediction, emphasizing key data and representations. The experimental results on the C-MAPSS dataset demonstrate that, under various operating conditions and failure modes, MSA-FCN can effectively predict the RUL of turbofan engines. Compared with 11 mainstream deep neural networks, MSA-FCN achieves competitive advantages in terms of both accuracy and timeliness for RUL prediction, delivering more accurate and reliable forecasts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Because the construction industry is widely viewed as the engine that drives economies around the world, understanding how companies achieve their competitive advantages through innovation, the use of information technologies, strategies, business models, or human resources is vital. The current paper aims to identify and categorize the types of competitive advantages that exist, ranging from pure technological advantages such as information storage, coordination, and electronic communication to organizational and management advantages. In terms of methodological approach, performing a quality analysis of the existent literature regarding competitive advantages consists the best tool due to its wide spectrum of gathering the data. The research will be structured in 3 steps, respectively problem formulation, gathering of the data and title, abstract and full-text review. A complex perspective of the competitive advantages can be therefore obtained which can be a valuable asset in helping a construction enterprise in selecting its long-time strategy for becoming more competitive, efficient and sustainable. Through the main findings, innovation, usage of the informational technologies, initial conditions, environment understanding, safety culture or management practices of the human resources can be counted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Strategy implementation scholars have traditionally focused their attention on behavioral and social phenomena in a firm that enable it to both choose and implement its strategies. Unfortunately, some of this work has assumed that it is possible to study strategy implementation independent of the content of a firm's strategies, and independent of the particular competitive context within which a firm operates. Recent developments in the resource-based view of the firm reaffirm the importance of studying the strategic consequences of behavioral and social phenomena within a firm, but suggest that separating this work from the content of strategy, or from the competitive context of a firm, is inappropriate. The papers in this special issue focus on important behavioral and social phenomena in a firm (e.g., organizational behavior), but do so in an explicit competitive context (e.g., competitive organizational behavior). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The International Monetary Fund's Articles of Agreement give countries wide latitude to regulate cross-border capital movements, subject mainly to the proviso that such regulations not be used to manipulate the exchange rate for the purpose of gaining an unfair competitive advantage. Beginning from the 1990s, however, the IMF has seemed far more supportive of fully open capital accounts than its legal framework. This can be seen not only in the institutional push to amend the Articles to enshrine fully open capital accounts in the mid-1990s, but also in subsequent speeches by IMF managing directors impugning capital controls and recent attempts to codify a set of highly restrictive circumstances under which countries may avail themselves of external financial regulations. This history suggests that, institutionally, the IMF would be far more comfortable with an architecture in which countries (strive to) eliminate restrictions on cross-border capital movements than with the vision of capital controls enshrined in its constitution by the IMF's founding fathers, Keynes and White. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This review paper identifies and compares models of inter-organizational relationship development that have evolved in qualitative studies and then proposes an original, situational framework for the evolution of inter-organizational relationships over time. Methodologically, this paper follows a systematic approach and uses metasynthesis of prior qualitative research as a reviewing technique. The analysis of prior qualitative investigations reveals the lack of consistency among authors referring to the number and specificity of phases, with no agreement about the trajectory of relationship development (its linearity, looping of phases, dynamics, start and end points). As its main theoretical contribution, this paper offers a multipath framework covering four phases of relationship development: (1) initiation and initial development, (2) development, (3) maintenance, and (4) dissolution, with three possible subphases to each of them (active, passive, and re-activated). From the managerial perspective, the developed framework may broaden managers' understanding and awareness of the different approaches to modeling the trajectory of the inter-organizational relationship life cycle and configuration of its particular phases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many real-world systems give rise to a time series of symbols. The elements in a sequence can be generated by agents walking over a networked space so that whenever a node is visited the corresponding symbol is generated. In many situations the underlying network is hidden, and one aims to recover its original structure and/or properties. For example, when analyzing texts, the underlying network structure generating a particular sequence of words is not available. In this paper, we analyze whether one can recover the underlying local properties of networks generating sequences of symbols for different combinations of random walks and network topologies. We found that the reconstruction performance is influenced by the bias of the agent dynamics. When the walker is biased toward high-degree neighbors, the best performance was obtained for most of the network models and properties. Surprisingly, this same effect is not observed for the clustering coefficient and eccentric, even when large sequences are considered. We also found that the true self-avoiding displayed similar performance as the one preferring highly-connected nodes, with the advantage of yielding competitive performance to recover the clustering coefficient. Our results may have implications for the construction and interpretation of networks generated from sequences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interest in intangibles has become increasingly important in recent decades. Intangible assets have gradually become the most important sources of competitive advantage. The traditional factors of production (material resources, labor, capital) have gradually diminished in importance. At the same time the importance of intangible assets such as knowledge, information, creativity has increased. Before the organization can grow it has to learn. For most organizations, the ability to create a sustainable future is directly proportional to how well they develop the intellectual capabilities of their employees. Organizations that use their knowledge as a source of competitive advantage are referred to as "knowledge-based organizations". In this paper we analyze the performance of Alphabet Inc. (Google)-a company with a global footprint in the development of the knowledge-based economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This conceptual paper theorizes the emerging concept of personalized human resource management (HRM), which refers to HRM programs and practices that vary across individuals within an organization. As a subset of high-performance work practices (HPWPs), personalized HRM is implemented at the individual level and represents the next generation of HRM, which is characterized by the adoption of advanced HR analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) to provide tailored HR solutions. We argue that personalized HRM constitutes a unique source of sustained firm competitive advantage and offers additional beneficial performance effects on top of other HPWPs. Drawing on the theories of individual differences and person-organization fit, we explain why personalized HRM outperforms traditional standardized HRM in terms of productivity, favorable HR climate, flexibility, return on investment of HRM, and firm financial performance. We also suggest that business strategy is a moderator of the relationship between HRM and firm performance. Building on the AI job replacement theory, we further propose that the mechanical and analytical intelligence (intuitive and empathetic intelligence) required for personalized HRM tasks is positively (negatively) related to the adoption of AI. Lastly, we elaborate on the implications and explain how advanced HR analytics and AI can facilitate the transition toward personalized HRM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to examine how absorptive capacity affects supply chain integration (SCI) and service performance. The association between SCI and service performance was also studied. Data were collected from four-star and five-star hotels in Egypt. A total of 114 responses were obtained. The PLS-SEM technique and SmartPLS 4.0 software were employed for analysis. The study revealed that absorptive capacity has an impact on SCI and service performance. There is also a positive relationship between SCI and service performance. Specifically, a positive influence of internal integration and customer integration on service performance was found. However, supplier integration shows no significant relationship with service performance. This suggests that enhancing awareness of customer needs and internal coordination improves service performance. From a practical viewpoint, managers must promote a learning culture, foster innovation, and encourage internal and external collaboration. These factors were identified as key components that can improve service performance and lead to the development of competitive advantage, as shown in this paper. In addition, supply chain vitality was found to enhance quality and service, particularly when there is coordination between departments and consideration of customer needs. This study is among the earliest to examine how absorptive capacity affects both supply chain integration and service performance in the hotel industry. The research contributes at a theoretical level by shedding light on the role of absorptive capacity in the development of competitive advantage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The turbulence of the business environment creates special conditions for business. In particular, challenges in the context of business competitiveness are growing under unstable conditions at the micro and macro level. The aim of the paper is to determine the role of analytical tools in increasing the level of competitiveness of Ukrainian companies under unstable business conditions. It is emphasized that under the influence of agile global socio-economic processes, companies face the problem of maintaining the level of competitiveness through the use of outdated analytical tools. Attention is drawn to the fact that in Ukraine the problem of using analytical tools for that purpose is exacerbated by protracted socio-economic and financial-economic crises, the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, active hostilities, and humanitarian crisis caused by war. It is emphasized that Ukrainian companies are forced to look for the latest approaches to the development and application of analytical tools in terms of ensuring competitiveness. In particular, the special focus of Ukrainian business is aimed at building an integrated system of competitiveness management, covering all aspects of economic activity that are directly or indirectly related to the creation of competitive advantages. Analysis of macro-level indicators is performed in the context of determining the state of factors influencing Ukrainian business competitiveness. The dynamics of unemployment, consumer prices, and retail trade turnover in Ukraine are proposed as key indicators of the state of the national economy and prospects for its development, which in turn indicate the state of competitiveness. The analysis of the state of competitiveness in Ukraine on the basis of the Index of Economic Freedom was carried out separately. Emphasis is placed on urgent challenges for Ukrainian enterprises in the context of the difficult state of competitiveness in comparison with developed and developing countries in the European region. It is proposed to use the unemployment rate, consumer price index, and the dynamics of retail trade as the main drivers of competitiveness at the macro level. It is emphasized that there is a need to integrate macro- and micro-level indicators into the Balanced Scorecard analytical tool in order to make management decisions regarding business competitiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study aims to investigate the interplay between a proactive attitude towards disruptions – supply chain disruption orientation – and supply chain resilience, increasing our understanding of their influence on reducing the impact of supply chain disruptions within the B2B context. Design/methodology/approach: As unexpected disruptions are closely related to a dynamic and changing perception of the environment, this research is framed under the dynamic capabilities lens, consistent with existing resilience literature. The authors used partial least squares-path modeling (PLS-PM) to empirically test the proposed research model using survey data from 216 firms. Findings: Results show that a proactive approach to disruptions alone is insufficient in mitigating their negative impact. Instead, a firm's disruption orientation plays a crucial role in boosting its resilience, which acts as a mediator, reducing the impact of disruptions. Originality/value: This paper sheds light on the mechanisms by which firms can mitigate the effects of supply chain disruptions and offers insights into how certain capabilities are needed so that firms' attitudes can effectively impact firm performance. This research thus suggests that dynamic capabilities, traditionally perceived as being enabled by other elements, act themselves as enablers. Consequently, they have the potential to translate strategic orientation or attitudes into tangible effects on performance, enriching our understanding of how firms combine their internal attitudes and capabilities to achieve sustained competitive advantage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the Fourth Industrial Revolution, 4IR, manufacturing firms face more competitive environments, rapidly changing information and communication technologies (ICTs), and customers' preferences than ever before. This paper analyzes relevant literature and proposes a systemic customer-centric knowledge-based production value chain (KPVC) to leverage distinctive core competencies (DCCs) and create sustainable competitive advantage (SCA) in manufacturing contexts. The paper introduces an integrative customer-centric KPVC model that enables companies to respond to environmental drivers, leverage DCCs, and create SCA. It adopts an exploratory approach to developing a unified and inherently interdisciplinary model based on a review of relevant scholarly literature. The KPVC integrated model comprises production value chain (PVC), knowledge management (KM) processes, and business process re-engineering (BPR) enabling activities. A successful move to KPVC requires a fully integrated and automated system allowing firms to define, track, and manage their work processes. Effective KPVC is a principal approach for leveraging DCCs in the quest for achieving SCA in today's competitive business world and generating better values for customers and companies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globalization and internationalization create new opportunities but also new challenges for companies to operate on the market. Due to globalization we are witnessing new trends and new technologies where digitalization and digital transformation drastically affect and change the way organizations operate. Digital transformation of business is inevitable and is a key element of further development of the organization in today's modern environment and market. Being competitive, achieving and ensuring long-term competitiveness is impossible today without new digital technologies that create a precondition for achieving it. A systematic literature review was undertaken to provide an overview of digitalization and digital competitiveness, as well as the digital technologies that support them. The terms ("digitalization" OR "digital transformation") and ("digital competitiveness" OR "digital technology") were used to collect data. The papers were reviewed in order to determine correlation between digital technologies and digital competitiveness and impact of digital technology on digital competitiveness. Results indicate that digital technology ensures the creation of sustainable competitive advantage and leads to digital competitiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the strategic dimensions influencing the adoption of environmental innovations (EIs) in small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises (SMEs) in Mexico City. The study aims to understand the fundamental strategic dimensions defining eco-innovation and examine how SMEs manage the complexities of incorporating these practices. Employing a mixed-methods approach with documentary analysis and expert interviews, the study identifies key factors influencing EI adoption through causal maps and the viable system model. Findings highlight the significance of external and internal factors such as competitive pressure, economic constraints, technological capabilities, political support, and social influence. This integrative approach emphasizes the importance of adaptability and responsiveness, presenting eco-innovation as a source of sustainable competitive advantage for SMEs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the eight decades since researchers started to explore the possibility that firms' responsibilities extended beyond the interests of shareholders, research on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has ballooned. The number of calls for more research on a steadily growing number of CSR-related domains has grown in line with the number of calls for businesses to behave responsibly. CSR has become a standard by which firms are measured, and compliance with CSR norms and regulations figures into firms' business decisions. Although many studies suggest that firms can combine profits for shareholders with benefits to stakeholders, the ultimate promise of CSR--that behaving responsibly can contribute to competitive advantage--has not been delivered. This may be because the complexities involved in creating competitive advantage require such a combination of singular focus and favorable circumstances that there is no room for competing goals. The main contribution of this paper is to show that even firms that successfully incorporate substantial and profitable CSR programs into core business activities do not envisage that such programs can contribute to creating competitive advantage. This study examines grocery retail chains that are answering calls for increased responsibility and sustainability by developing profitable food waste reduction programs. Although these sustainability programs increase profits for the retail chains and provide benefits to society, the chains do not see how such programs--or any other CSR initiatives--can contribute to competitive advantage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Copyright of Mercados y Negocios is the property of Universidad de Guadalajara, Centro Universitario de Ciencias Economico Administrativas and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Although the strategic human resource management (SHRM) stream of research has made impressive progress in recent years, the majority of it has become centered on the "universalistic" relationship of a particular kind of human resource system, most commonly labeled as a "high-performance work system," with firm-level dependent variables. We argue that a broader perspective on strategy applied to human resource management (HRM) leverages strategic factor market theory within the resource-based view of the firm to suggest novel kinds of research questions for SHRM. In particular, we highlight four specific underresearched areas of inquiry for SHRM: (1)HRMcapabilities, (2) intangible strategic assets, (3) the "market" for HR practices, and (4) complementarities. Our discussion of these topics shares a common emphasis on the causes and consequences of firm-level heterogeneity with respect to HRM. The strategic perspectives discussed in this paper suggest new ways to consider where, in the relationship between HRM and firm performance, such heterogeneity and, relatedly, competitive advantage through people, may be found. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the investment timing and intensity conditions under which advantages may exist for first movers in environmental investments. The potential advantages on which the paper focuses are timing and intensity of investments in recent pollution-reducing manufacturing technologies that produce salable product at the same time that they reduce pollution. The data come from 50 chemical bleached paper pulp manufacturers in eight countries. The model measures the impact of the independent variables on growth in profits from the mid-1980s to the early 1990s, controlling for national differences in environmental regulations, among other variables. Results indicate a positive relationship between timing of investments and profit growth. There is also evidence that more intense investment patterns, when not tempered by sufficient time to absorb the investments, may lead to lower profit growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analytics is increasingly becoming a key tool to support informed management decisions in organisations. An organisation's capability to make use of data analytics can enhance efficiencies and increase competitive differentiation and advantage. In the context of healthcare, analytics can support improved health outcomes and hence stakeholder value that enhances affordability and access to care. A deep understanding of analytics applications and techniques lends itself to identification of opportunities where analytics techniques are best applied. This paper introduces analytics maturity models as a tool to inform proportionally appropriate analytics applications. In this paper, a broader perspective is provided through consideration of the position on the analytics maturity curve of current techniques utilised in the healthcare system. The relationship between analytics maturity and analytics techniques in the healthcare space is then explored to demonstrate that there are opportunities for applying more sophisticated techniques to more advanced applications and hence enhance the efficiency of healthcare outcomes and health risk management [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper takes the degree of debt concentration and product market competitive advantage as intermediary variables to explore the internal mechanism of the impact of CSR fulfilment on firm debt risk. It is found that the fulfilment of CSR can reduce the debt risk of firms by dispersing the degree of debt concentration and enhancing the competitive advantage of product market. The mediating effect of the degree of debt concentration has a direct impact on the competitive advantage of a product market and is particularly obvious in private firms and firms in the eastern region of China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Risks play an important role in supply chain vulnerability, performance maintenance, and competitive advantage. Therefore, appropriate risk assessment and ranking are among the top priorities of managers and experts in the supply chain. Because there are several quantitative and qualitative risks in the supply chain, multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) and, in particular, multi attribute decision making (MADM) methods are used to rank them. Depending on the type of supply chain, the difference in criteria and information available, it is possible to use existing MCDM methods to rank supply chain risks or introduce new methods. In these methods, options are compared on the basis of different criteria according to mathematical methods. Each of these methods uses their own approaches and assumptions. Therefore, there will be different solutions to the ranking. In this case, one or more methods may be selected as the best method. But it cannot be sure that the superior method is chosen correctly. In this paper, decision making methods are compared with each other for an appropriate method to be chosen. Case examples from the related literature have been compared with the proposed method (three-dimensional integrated mean method). To evaluate the validity of the proposed method, the results were sent to experts in various industries along with the proposed method. For analysis the accuracy of experts' opinions, One-Sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov, Frequencies and Explore tests have been used in SPSS software with 95% confidence level. The obtained results show high reliability of the proposed method for determining an appropriate decision-making method in supply chain risk assessment. However, the proposed method is used for ranking of supplier selection in this paper, but it can be used for many decision-making procedures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Researchers and practitioners agree upon the huge potential of Big Data Analytics (BDA) for firms' competitive advantage. Capitalizing on Big Data (BD) often requires sharing firms' data with their stakeholders in an ecosystem. Sharing data, however, is a double-edged sword, because firms might also risk losing their competitive advantage by doing so. This conceptual paper uses extant literature on data analytics to introduce a comprehensive data sharing strategy framework that helps firms decide which data can be shared in an ecosystem, which should be kept secret, or if additional rules and regulations are required for sharing the data. The framework combines two distinct categorizations of data, and it relates the data categories to firms' strategic competitive advantage by employing the Resource-Based View (RBV). Firstly, the framework is grounded in the stages of the data analytics process and secondly, it distinguishes between operative, strategic and monetizable data, a new categorization introduced by this paper. Depending on the categories of data a company intends to share, the framework recommends five distinct data sharing strategies that help mitigating the risk of losing their competitive advantage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we design two inertial-type subgradient extragradient algorithms with the linear-search process for resolving the two pseudomonotone variational inequality problems (VIPs) of and the common fixed point problem (CFPP) of finite Bregman relatively nonexpansive operators and Bregman relatively demicontractive operators in Banach spaces of both p-uniform convexity and uniform smoothness, which are more general than Hilbert ones. By the aid of suitable restrictions, it is shown that the sequences fabricated by the suggested schemes converge weakly and strongly to a solution of a pair of VIPs with a CFPP constraint, respectively. Additionally, the illustrative instance is furnished to back up the practicability and implementability of the suggested methods. This paper reveals the competitive advantage of the proposed algorithms over the existing algorithms; that is, the existing hybrid projection method for a single VIP with an FPP constraint is extended to develop the modified inertial-type subgradient extragradient method for a pair of VIPs with an CFPP constraint. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]