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This paper reports research on the number of competitive methods used by firms and their impact on firm performance. The research was based on a survey of banks in the New England Federal Reserve district. It was found that an increased number of competitive methods resulted in a higher level of firm performance. It was also found that there is an optimal range of competitive methods that positively impact on performance. Firms that emphasized between 16 and 20 competitive methods realized higher performance than firms below or above this optimum level. The results of this study have important theoretical, marketing, and managerial implications that are presented and discussed.

There is a paucity of empirical studies on the impact of entrepreneurial management on small and medium enterprises (SME) performance. Against this backdrop and drawing upon the resource-based view, this study aims to explore the relationship between entrepreneurial management and SME performance and the mediating role of competitive advantage in an emerging economy.

This study adopted a survey research design and a quantitative approach. A self-reported questionnaire was used to collect data from a conveniently selected sample of 174 manufacturing SMEs in Nigeria. This study performed mediation analysis to test the proposed hypotheses using Hayes’ PROCESS macro v4.

The findings indicate that entrepreneurial management positively impacts competitive advantage and SME performance. Furthermore, competitive advantage has a positive impact on SME performance and plays a significant mediating role in the relationship between entrepreneurial management and SME performance.

This study only examines manufacturing SMEs in a single country, Nigeria; thus, the generalisability of its findings is limited.

The findings of this study offer practical implications for SMEs and SME owners or managers. The findings suggest that to gain a sustainable competitive advantage and achieve superior performance, SMEs should pursue opportunities regardless of the available resources, promote flat and flexible organisation structures, adopt fast growth orientation and strategies, reward employees based on the value they add to the organisation and foster an entrepreneurial culture.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to provide empirical evidence of the mediating effect of competitive advantage on the relationship between entrepreneurial management and SME performance in an emerging economy. This study demonstrates that implementing entrepreneurial management practices by SMEs can result in sustainable competitive advantage and superior performance.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an organizing lens for viewing the distinct contributions to knowledge production from those research communities addressing the impact of competitive strategy on company performance in general, and the influence of cost leadership and differentiation strategy on organizational performance in detail.

The research methodology was based on the PRISMA review, and thematic analysis based on an iterative process of open coding was analyzed and then the sample was analyzed by illustrating the research title, objectives, method, data analysis, sample size, variables and country.

The main factor that influenced the competitive strategy is strategic growth; strategic growth has a significant influence on competitive strategy. Furthermore, competitive strategy will boost firm network, performance measurement and organization behavior. In the same way, the internal goal factor will enhance organizational effectiveness. Also, a differentiation strategy will support management practice factors, strategic positions, product price, product characteristics and company performance.

This study contributes to the literature by identifying a framework of competitive strategy factors, company performance factors, cost leadership strategy factors, differentiation strategy factors and competitive strategy with global market factors. This study provides a complete picture and description of the resulting body knowledge in competitive strategy and organizational performance.

Prior research has reported the indirect implications of firm's dynamic capabilities on their competitive firm performance. Our attention now turns to open innovation since it has been confirmed to be an influential factor contributing to the superior performance of technological firms. So far there has been little research on assessing the relationship between a firm's dynamic capabilities as an antecedent of the competitive performance of the firm or investigations into the mediating role of open innovation in this relationship.

Drawing on the theory of dynamic capabilities, we developed a framework as a way to better understand the role of open innovation, which could then help to better explain the relationship between firms' dynamics capabilities and their competitive firm performance. Based on the empirical data of 465 firms operating in innovative and non-innovative industries, we employed structural equation modelling (SEM) to examine the research hypotheses and the path relationships in the proposed model.

The SEM analysis revealed that a firm's dynamic capabilities significantly impact its open innovation performance and that open innovation, consequently, impacts the competitive performance of the firm. Moreover, the results show that the path between dynamic capabilities and competitive firm performance is partially mediated through open innovation.

The findings provide practical implications and draw managerial attention to the importance of: (1) investing in innovation, (2) engaging customers in the innovation process and (3) maintaining innovation management excellence as significant antecedent factors in increasing competitive firm performance.

Considering the lack of empirical research in the literature on the links between dynamic capabilities and open innovation, this paper contributes to the dynamic capabilities and open innovation literature by confirming that open innovation not only mediates the relationship between these two aspects but also strengthens the effect the dynamic capabilities have on competitive firm performance. Besides, due to the significant impact of dynamic capabilities on open innovation, dynamic capabilities might be regarded as an antecedent of open innovation.

Literature suggests that there are sets of common variables that are capable of explaining organisational performance differentials. These variables are used to examine performance variance and its contribution to organisation profitability. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to examine the determinants of large construction organisations’ performance in South Africa using a partial least squares path analytic method.

This study examines the interrelationship between a number of constructs, namely, organisational characteristics, resources/capabilities, competitive strategies, business environment and performance, using a questionnaire survey to obtain data from 72 large construction organisations in South Africa. Using a path analytic approach, the paper examines the relationship between the constructs discussed in the study.

The findings from the analysis of the data show that organisational characteristics do indeed influence the performance of organisations, and that the business environment is capable of moderating the relationship between competitive strategies and performance. The results, however, indicate that organisations that combine sustained organisational characteristics and strategy tend to experience high performance over those that do not.

The study findings have implications for management practice, as it could help managers of construction organisations to acknowledge the influence of organisational characteristics, unique resources/capabilities, competitive strategies and business environment as sources of competitive advantage. The study contributes to the current debate on the causes of performance differentials among large construction organisations.

The purpose of this study is to examine the impacts of different forecasting methods (judgmental, quantitative and mixed forecasting) on firms' supply chains and competitive performance.

Working with three groups of manufacturing companies, we explore the consequences of judgmental, quantitative and mixed forecasting methods on firms' competitive performance in supply chains. The validity of constructs and path relationships was examined using structural equation modeling (SEM).

Our findings indicate that supply chain efficiency influences both cost reduction and customer satisfaction. In addition, the three dimensions of supply chain performance are shown to be direct antecedents of competitive performance. Our empirical results reveal that although all studied forecasting methods meaningfully influence supply chain performance, the mixed method, compared to the other two methods, has greater capabilities to enhance supply chain performance.

This research provides originality and insight into supply chain practices through forecasting methods to improve competitive performance.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the mediating effect of competitive advantage in the relationship between intellectual capital and financial performance in Uganda's microfinance institutions. The major aim is to establish the role of competitive advantage in the relationship between intellectual capital and firm performance.

The paper adopts MedGraph program (Excel version), Sobel tests and the Kenny and Boran approach to test for mediation effects.

Competitive advantage is a significant mediator in the association between intellectual capital and financial performance and boosts the relationship between the two by 22.4 percent in Ugandan microfinance institutions. Further findings confirmed a partial type of mediation between the intellectual capital, competitive advantage and financial performance.

Only a single research methodological approach was employed and future research through interviews could be undertaken to triangulate. Furthermore, the findings from the present study are cross‐sectional. Future research should be undertaken to examine the mediation effects studied in this paper across time.

In order to have a meaningful interpretation of the results of the relationships between study variables, it is always vital to assess the role of the third variable (competitive advantage) in the relationship. This enables practitioners and scholars to comprehend and make legitimate decisions and conclusions that can foster business growth.

This is the first study that focuses on testing the mediating effect of competitive advantage on the relationship between intellectual capital and financial performance in Ugandan microfinance institutions.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the possible moderating role of organisational characteristics (organisational structure, management style and decision-making style) in the relationship between strategy and organisational performance among large construction organisations in South Africa.

The study adopted a quantitative research approach using a questionnaire survey to obtain data from 72 large construction organisations in South Africa. Using hierarchical multiple regression, the paper examines the relationship between the constructs discussed in the study.

The internal characteristics of the organisation form the vital basis for achieving optimal performance. The results obtained from the analysis revealed that decision-making style directly influences the measure of organisational effectiveness, while it could also be inferred that organisational characteristics partly moderate the relationship between competitive strategy and organisational performance. The findings indicate that internal characteristics is one of the means through which organisational strategic factors and contextual aspects are organised to achieve greater organisational performance levels.

The findings have theoretical implications for strategic management literature in construction as it extends the scope of research on strategic management from assessing a set of individual management practices to evaluating a complex mechanism that connects internal characteristics and competitive advantage. It is believed that this study will contribute positively to the role of organisational characteristics in the competitive strategy-performance relationships in large construction organisations in South Africa and to the ongoing discussion on emerging strategic management issues in construction.

This study has two objectives:(1) to examine impacts of environmental activity, relational marketing, and corporate green image on firm’s competitive performance; and (2) to determine whether relational marketing and corporate green image mediate relationships between environmental activity and firm’s competitive performance. They were data from 375 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) of the food processing industry in Bangkok, Thailand. This study also investigates the relationships between environmental activity, green corporate image, relational marketing, and influences of these factors on firm’s competitive performance. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to analyze data. Results reveal significant and positive relationships between environmental activity, green corporate image, relational marketing, and firm’s competitive performance. Moreover, environmental activity, an antecedent variable, indirectly affects a firm’s competitive performance mediated by green corporate image and relational marketing. Therefore, green corporate image and relational marketing can act as mediators between environmental activity and firm’s competitive performance. Findings suggested that firms should focus on improving green corporate image and relational marketing with an appropriate environmental activity strategy to enhance the firm’s competitive performance. Moreover, this study’s result is related to the economics of the environment in terms of cost and benefit. It provides firm’s decision on environmental activity.

The study examines the intricate interplay between supplier relationship management (SRM), procurement performance, supply chain responsiveness (SCR) and competitive advantage. Additionally, the study examines the mediating role of procurement performance and SCR in the link between SRM and competitive advantage.

A research model grounded in the resource-based view and dynamic capabilities theory (DCT) was developed and tested using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). Data were obtained from 122 firms in Ghana.

The study revealed that SRM has a positive and significant effect on procurement performance, SCR and competitive advantage. Additionally, SCR has a positive and significant effect on competitive advantage; however, procurement performance has a negative and insignificant effect on competitive advantage. It was also revealed that SCR partially mediates the relationship between SRM and competitive advantage but fully mediates the relationship between procurement performance and competitive advantage. Also, it was also revealed that procurement performance does not mediate the relationship between SRM and competitive advantage.

The study contributes to literature by highlighting the mediating role of SCR in influencing the effect of SRM and procurement performance on competitive advantage.

Practically, the study findings highlight the need for firms to seek, build and manage meaningful relationships with their suppliers in order to enhance their competency and capability to influence their competitive position in the marketplace.

To the best of the researchers' knowledge, no prior study has examined the effect of SRM on procurement performance and SCR. Additionally, no previous study has examined the mediating role of procurement performance and SCR on the link between SRM and competitive advantage.