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Competitiveness by design and inimitability through service: understanding the dynamics of firm-based competition in the West Midlands jewellery and lock industries

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  • John R. Bryson
  • Michael Taylor

Abstract

Manufacturing firms located in high-cost production locations have developed a series of complex inimitability strategies in response to intensive competition from low-cost producers. This paper draws upon the resource-based view of the firm to explore inimitability, as a strategy firms deploy in response to imitation. The analysis is based upon in-depth interviews with lock, jewellery and whistle manufacturers located in the West Midlands, UK. Many of these firms have been transformed into niche manufacturers whose competitiveness is based around a process of customisation through a co-production relationship with customers, the delivery of service experiences and a continual process of design-intensive innovation.

Suggested Citation

  • John R. Bryson & Michael Taylor, 2009. "Competitiveness by design and inimitability through service: understanding the dynamics of firm-based competition in the West Midlands jewellery and lock industries," The Service Industries Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(4), pages 583-596, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:servic:v:30:y:2009:i:4:p:583-596
    DOI: 10.1080/02642060903096513
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Casson, Mark, 2001. "Information and Organization: A New Perspective on the Theory of the Firm," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198297802.
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