Keywords
enterprise strategy
strategic management
internationalization
competitive factors
How to Cite
Number of views: 251
Number of downloads: 223
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to answer the following research questions: which factors relating to the international competitiveness of German enterprises are most important for the Polish market? Which competitiveness factors play a key role in helping enterprises from the highest developed countries conquer the market of a relatively less developed country? On the basis of a literature review, a research gap is identified, indicating there is a shortage of studies that clearly identify a group of factors that influence a company’s success on the foreign market. The gap is filled with the empirical qualitative research and the conclusions regarding the key competitiveness factors and their effective combination. Competitive strategies and factors key for their implementation are identified, presenting the factors responsible for the growth of German enterprises on the international market (Poland) and achieving market success. The set of enterprises’ competitiveness factors is established and the hierarchy those factors is presented. Although the qualitative research based on thirteen companies is not representative, the leading German enterprises provide a valuable lesson on how to successfully conquer a foreign market. The key competitiveness factors responsible for such success in the context of strategic goals, competition strategies and modern methods of competition are presented and discussed. The findings are very useful for real enterprises in internationalizing situations, where the management has to determine the competitive strategy which should lead to foreign growth and in consequence success on the international market. The study indicates what to focus on when entering the foreign market and which factors have a direct impact on the growth on the foreign market. The paper is a result of empirical research on competitiveness and provides valuable information about the set of ranked competitive factors that have a direct influence on success in a foreign market.
References
Amit, R., Shoemaker, P. (1993). Strategic assets and organizational rent. Strategic Management Journal 14(1): 33–46.
Andersson, S., Wictor, I. (2003). Innovative internationalisation in new firms: born globals – the Swedish case. Journal of International Entrepreneurship 1(3): 249–255.
Audretsch, D.B. (1995). Innovation and Industry Evolution. Cambridge: MITPress.
Autio, E., Kronlund, M., Kovalainen, A. (2007). High-Growth SME support initiatives in nine countries: analysis, categorization, and recommendations. Report prepared for the Finish Ministry of Trade and Industry. Edita Publishing Ltd., Edita, Finland.
Barney, J.B. (1991). Firm resources and sustained competitive advantage. Journal of Management 17(1): 99–120.
Barney, J.B. (2001). Resource-based theories of competitive advantage: a ten year retrospective on the resource-based view. Journal of Management 27: 643–650.
Bates, T. (1990). Entrepreneur human capital inputs and small business longevity. Review of Economics and Statistics 72: 551–559.
Bellak, C. (2004). How domestic and foreign firms differ and why does it matter? Journal of Economic Surveys 18: 483–514.
Bigsten, A., Gebreeyesus, M. (2007). The small, the young, and the productive: determinants of manufacturing firms growth in Ethiopia. Economic Development and Cultural Change 55(4): 813–840.
Brem, A., Maier, M.A., Wimschneider, C. (2016). Innovation as a source of competitive advantage: the case of Nespresso. Europea Journal of Innovation Management 19(1): 133–148.
Calantone, R.J., Cavusgil, S.T., Zhao, Y. (2002). Learning orientation, firm innovation capability and firm performance. Industrial Marketing Management 31(6): 515–24.
Ciszewska-Mlinarič, M., Obłój, K., Wąsowska, A. (2015). Strategia Korporacji. Wolters Kluewer.
Coad, A., Rao, R. (2008). Innovation and firm growth in high-tech sectors: a quantile regression approach. Research Policy 37(4): 633–648.
Collins, J. (2001). Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap… and Others Don’t. Harper Publishing.
Davidsson, P., Kirchhoff, B., Hatemi-J, A., Gustavsson, H. (2002). empirical analysis of business growth factors using Swedish data. Journal of Small Business Management 40(4): 332–349.
Delmar, F., Davidsson, P., Gartner, W.B. (2003). Arriving at the high-growth firm. Journal of Business Venturing 18: 189–216.
Dunning, J.H. (1988). The eclectic paradigm of international production: a restatement and some possible extensions. Journal of International Business Studies 19(1): 1–31.
Eisenhardt, K.M. (1989). Building theories from case study research. Academy of Management Review 14(4): 532–550.
Eisenhardt, K.M., Santos, F.M. (2002). Knowledge-based view: a new theory of strategy? [in:] A. Pettigrew, H. Thomas, R. Whittington (eds.), Handbook of Strategy and Management. London: Sage Publications Ltd.: 139–164.
Eisenhardt, K., Sull, D. (2001). Strategy as simple rules. Harvard Business Review 79(1): 106–176.
Flint, D.J., Blocker, C.P., Boutin, P.J. Jr. (2011). Customer value anticipation, customer satisfaction and loyalty: an empirical examination. Industrial Marketing Management 40: 219–230.
Henderson, R., Cockburn, I. (1994). Measuring competence? Exploring firm effects in pharmaceutical research. Strategic Management Journal 15: 63–84.
Jarosiński, M., Mierzejewska, W. (2017). Success factors of international new ventures from an economy in transition. Journal of East European Management Studies 22(3): 397–420.
Kimura, R., Reeves, M., Whitaker, K. (2019). The new logic of competition, Boston Consulting Group, <https://www.bcg.com/publications/2019/new-logic-of-competition> [accessed 27 October 2020].
Lages, L.F., Silva. G., Styles, C. (2009). Relationship capabilities, quality, and innovation as determinants of export performance. Journal of International Marketing 17(4): 47–70.
Lakhal, L. (2009). Impact of quality on competitive advantage and organizational performance. The Journal of the Operational Research Society 60(5): 637–645.
Lewandowska, M., Szymura-Tyc, M., Gołębiowski, T. (2016). Innovation complementarity, innovation cooperation partners and new product exports: evidence from Poland. Journal of Business Research 69(9): 3673–3681.
Licht, G. Nerlinger, E. (1998). New technology based firms in Germany: a survey of the recent evidence. Research Policy 26: 1005–1022.
Markusen, J.R. (2002). Multinational Firms and the Theory of International Trade. Cambridge–London: MIT Press.
Martínez-Román, J.A., Gamero, J., Delgado-González, M.L., Tamayo, J.A. (2019). Innovativeness and internationalization in SMEs: an empirical analysis in European countries. Technological Forecasting and Social Change 148 (C). doi:10.1016/j.techfore.2019.119716
McFarland, K. (2008). The Beakthrough Company. How Everyday Companies Become Extraordinary Performances. Three Rivers Press.
Morgan, N.A., Vorhies, D.W., Mason, C.H. (2009). Market orientation, marketing capabilities, and firm performance. Strategic Management Journal 30: 909–920.
Moreno, A.M., Casillas, J.C. (2008). Entrepreneurial orientation and growth of SMEs: a causal model. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice 32(3): 507–528.
Obłój, K. (2017). Praktyka Strategii Firmy. Poltext.
Peters, T., Waterman, R. (1984). In Search of Excellence. Lessons from America’s Best Run Companies. New York: Harper &Row.
Porter, M.E. (1985). Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance. New York: The Free Press.
Prahalad, C.K., Hamel, G. (1990). The Core Competence of the Corporation. Harvard Business Review May/June: 79–91.
Ramadani, V., Hisrich, R.D., Abazi-Alili, H., Dana, L.-P., Panthi, L., Abazi-Bexheti, L. (2019). Product innovation and firm performance in transition economies: a multistage estimation approach. Technological Forecasting and Social Change 140: 271–280.
Ray, G., Barney, J.B., Muhanna, W.A. (2004). Capabilities, business processes, and competitive advantage: choosing the dependent variable in empirical tests of the resource-based view. Strategic Management Journal 25(1): 23–37.
Rosińska-Bukowska, M. (2017). New Approach to international competitiveness of multi-layer enterprises: a reference to macroeconomic models for the assessment of competitiveness as a benchmark. Folia Oeconomica (FOE) 6(332): 145–158.
Slater S.F., Mohr, J.J., Sengupta, S. (2014). Radical product innovation capability: literature review, synthesis, and illustrative research propositions. Journal of Product and Innovation Management 31: 552–566.
Simon, H. (2009). Hidden Champions of the Twenty-First Century: The Success Strategies of Unknown World Market Leaders. London: Springer.
Śliwiński, R. (2011). Kluczowe czynniki międzynarodowej konkurencyjności przedsiębiorstw. Poznań: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Ekonomicznego w Poznaniu.
Śliwiński, R. (2012). Zasoby kształtujące konkurencyjność polskich przedsiębiorstw. Gospodarka Narodowa 4(248): 31–60.
Śliwiński, R., Śliwińska, M. (2016). Growth and internationalization of fast growing firms. Journal of East European Management Studies 21(2): 231–253.
Śliwiński R., Śliwińska, M. (2017). International development of German enterprises on the example of the Wielkopolska region. Entrepreneurial Business and Economics Review 5(2): 211–226.
Storey, D.J. (1994). Understanding the Small Business Sector. Thomson Business Press.
Syapsan, S. (2019). The effect of service quality, innovation towards competitive advantages and sustainable economic growth: marketing mix strategy as mediating variable. Benchmarking: An International Journal 26(4): 1336–1356.
Tavassoli, S. (2018). The role of product innovation on export behavior of firms. European Journal of Innovation Management 21(2): 294–314.
Teece, D.J., Pisano, G., Shuen, A. (1997). Dynamic capabilities and strategic management. Strategic Management Journal 18: 509–533.
Venkatraman, N. (1989). The concept of fit in strategy research: toward verbal and statistical correspondence. Academy of Management Review 14: 423–444.
Weche Gelübcke, J.P. (2011). The performance of foreign affiliates in German manufacturing: evidence from a new database. <http://www.freit.org/RMET/2012/SubmittedPapers/John_P._Weche_Geluebcke53.pdf> [accessed December 2016].
Wernerfelt, B. (1984). A resource-based view of the firm. Strategic Management Journal 5: 171–180.
Wiklund, J., Shepherd, D.A. (2005). Entrepreneurial orientation and small business performance: a configurational approach. Journal of Business Venturing 20(1): 71–91.
Worldbank – Data on GDP/capita sourced on 24.09.2021 from <https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.CD>.
Yin, R.K. (2014). Case Study Research, Design and Methods. 5th ed. Newbury Park: Sage Publications.
License
Copyright (c) 2021 WPiA UAM
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.