IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/dug/actaec/y2015i4p33-40.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Influence of Market Context on Business Strategy, Competitor Imitation and Operational Effectiveness

Author

Listed:
  • Madalina Balau

    (Danubius University of Galati)

Abstract

The importance of strategic positioning, along with operational effectiveness, has long been presented as key for the success of the company. There are few studies that highlighted the way in which the market context affects these efforts of the company. The aim of this paper is to explore the influence of the market context on competitor imitation and its further implications on strategy. For this purpose, a literature review was conducted and major concepts were drawn from works of M. Porter, while the influence of market context was found in research papers. Putting together these different perspectives on the company and the strategic choices it must make, the results of our analysis suggest that choosing a differentiation strategy and not imitating the reference competitors is a daring initiative, that involves the risk of standing out from the crowd. The implication of this finding is that imitation of the competitor is an easier solution for the company and it has an important attraction, due to the short term influence on increasing sales, while deterring innovation. The value of this paper consists in exploring the contextual influence of well-established concepts for company’s management.

Suggested Citation

  • Madalina Balau, 2015. "The Influence of Market Context on Business Strategy, Competitor Imitation and Operational Effectiveness," Acta Universitatis Danubius. OEconomica, Danubius University of Galati, issue 11(4), pages 33-40, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:dug:actaec:y:2015:i:4:p:33-40
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://journals.univ-danubius.ro/index.php/oeconomica/article/view/2953/2706
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. AfDB AfDB, . "Africa Competitiveness Report 2013," Africa Competitiveness Report, African Development Bank, number 456, December.
    2. ., 2013. "Regional economic development and competitiveness," Chapters, in: Regional Competitiveness and Smart Specialization in Europe, chapter 3, pages 33-53, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    3. David Soberman & Hubert Gatignon, 2005. "Research Issues at the Boundary of Competitive Dynamics and Market Evolution," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 24(1), pages 165-174, September.
    4. William T. Robinson, 1988. "Marketing Mix Reactions to Entry," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 7(4), pages 368-385.
    5. ., 2013. "Markets, competition and entrepreneurship," Chapters, in: The Rediscovery of Classical Economics, chapter 6, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    6. Margaret Peteraf & Randal Reed, 2007. "Managerial discretion and internal alignment under regulatory constraints and change," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(11), pages 1089-1112, November.
    7. ., 2013. "Revealed competition in European regions," Chapters, in: Regional Competitiveness and Smart Specialization in Europe, chapter 5, pages 103-129, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ricardo A. Santa & Alejandro Acosta & Silvio Borrero & Annibal Scavarda, 2020. "Corporate, operational, and information systems strategies: Alignment and firm performance," Estudios Gerenciales, Universidad Icesi, vol. 36(157), pages 454-464, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Koliou, Elta & Bartusch, Cajsa & Picciariello, Angela & Eklund, Tobias & Söder, Lennart & Hakvoort, Rudi A., 2015. "Quantifying distribution-system operators' economic incentives to promote residential demand response," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 28-40.
    2. Wajdi Abushabab & Reza Abdi, 2017. "Strategic Management Practices: An Investigation of Public Sector Organizations in the Kingdom of Bahrain," Information Management and Business Review, AMH International, vol. 9(3), pages 47-60.
    3. Steenkamp, J-B.E.M. & Nijs, V.R. & Hanssens, D.M. & Dekimpe, M.G., 2002. "Competitive Reactions and the Cross-Sales Effects of Advertising and Promotion," ERIM Report Series Research in Management ERS-2002-20-MKT, Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), ERIM is the joint research institute of the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University and the Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) at Erasmus University Rotterdam.
    4. ter Braak, Anne & Geyskens, Inge & Dekimpe, Marnik G., 2014. "Taking private labels upmarket: Empirical generalizations on category drivers of premium private label introductions," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 90(2), pages 125-140.
    5. Kraus, Ursula G. & Yano, Candace Arai, 2003. "Product line selection and pricing under a share-of-surplus choice model," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 150(3), pages 653-671, November.
    6. Pandza, Krsto & Ellwood, Paul, 2013. "Strategic and ethical foundations for responsible innovation," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(5), pages 1112-1125.
    7. Bouët, Antoine & Laborde Debucquet, David & Traoré, Fousseini, 2017. "The European Union–West Africa Economic Partnership Agreement," IFPRI discussion papers 1612, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    8. Delera, Michele & Pietrobelli, Carlo & Calza, Elisa & Lavopa, Alejandro, 2022. "Does value chain participation facilitate the adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies in developing countries?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    9. Elert, Niklas & Henrekson, Magnus & Stenkula, Mikael, 2017. "Institutional Reform for Innovation and Entrepreneurship: An Agenda for Europe," Working Paper Series 1150, Research Institute of Industrial Economics, revised 16 Feb 2017.
    10. Yiqi Chu & Chengcai Li & Yefang Wang & Jing Li & Jian Li, 2016. "A Long-Term Wind Speed Ensemble Forecasting System with Weather Adapted Correction," Energies, MDPI, vol. 9(11), pages 1-20, October.
    11. Bernard Hoekman, 2014. "The Bali Trade Facilitation Agreement and Rulemaking in the WTO: Milestone, Mistake or Mirage?," RSCAS Working Papers 2014/102, European University Institute.
    12. Olu Ajakaiye & Afeikhena T. Jerome & David Nabena & Olufunke A. Alaba, 2015. "Understanding the relationship between growth and employment in Nigeria," WIDER Working Paper Series 124, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    13. Cambra-Fierro, Jesús & Polo-Redondo, Yolanda & Trifu, Andreea, 2021. "Short-term and long-term effects of touchpoints on customer perceptions," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    14. Ajay Kalra & Surendra Rajiv & Kannan Srinivasan, 1998. "Response to Competitive Entry: A Rationale for Delayed Defensive Reaction," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 17(4), pages 380-405.
    15. Filstad, Cathrine & Olsen, Trude Høgvold & Karp, Tom, 2021. "Constructing managerial manoeuvring space in contradictory contexts," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 39(4), pages 467-475.
    16. Jana Gallus & Bruno S. Frey, 2016. "Awards: A strategic management perspective," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(8), pages 1699-1714, August.
    17. Michael W. Hansen & Thilde Langevang & Lettice Rutashobya & Goodluck Urassa, 2018. "Coping with the African Business Environment: Enterprise Strategy in Response to Institutional Uncertainty in Tanzania," Journal of African Business, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(1), pages 1-26, January.
    18. Cole, Matthew A. & Elliott, Robert J.R. & Strobl, Eric, 2014. "Climate Change, Hydro-Dependency, and the African Dam Boom," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 84-98.
    19. Urbany, Joel E. & Montgomery, David B. & Moore, Marian, 2001. "Competitive Reactions and Modes of Competitive Reasoning: Down-Playing the Unpredictable?," Research Papers 1707, Stanford University, Graduate School of Business.
    20. Timothy J. Quigley & Scott D. Graffin, 2017. "Reaffirming the CEO effect is significant and much larger than chance: A comment on Fitza (2014)," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(3), pages 793-801, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:dug:actaec:y:2015:i:4:p:33-40. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Daniela Robu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/fedanro.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.