Choosing a Competitive Advantage Under the Constraints and Possibilities of the External Environment: An Empirical Study in the Retail Trade Sector in Elbasan, Albania

The effects of macro and micro environmental on the decisions of choosing the operations strategy in the manufacturing industry are part of a number of scientific researches. In addition to this industry, the service industry, mainly in recent years, has attracted the attention of researchers, including the way it develops operations strategies. Based on the experiences of the manufacturing sector, in this paper we will try to analyze the relationships between external environmental factors and decisions on the choice of operations strategy. The conducted study highlights important relations between these variables. Thus, technology, as one of the most dynamic macro-environmental factors, through its elements such as retail computer systems or even innovations, dictates the choice of operations strategy. While other elements, such as labor supply does not appear to have the same impact as technology on choosing the right strategy of operations in the retail sector in our country. In order to prove the hypothesis raised in this study we used the factor and the path analysis. The primary data collected through the questionnaire built specifically for this study were processed with the SPSS program.