PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to identify the strategies that private fitness centres implement and to evaluate their impact on financial performance.Design/methodology/approachBased upon a ...sample of 151 private fitness centres in Portugal, multivariate statistics report the implemented strategies and their effect on financial performance. We applied exploratory factorial analysis as our methodology to identify the types of strategy and the ANOVA in order to verify if there are differences of financial performance in the strategies.FindingsThe results obtained demonstrate how private fitness centres implement different strategies, including: cost leadership, differentiation, focus, quality of service, combined and stuck in the middle approaches. The relationship between strategies and financial performance, private fitness centres adopting a cost leadership strategy obtain the best financial performance levels in terms of the sales variable relative to any other strategy but with the combined strategy returning a better performance in terms of the return on assets when compared with the cost leadership strategy.Originality/valueThe originality of this paper stems from its identification of the strategies implemented by private fitness centres, thus, just what type of strategies are in effect across the fitness industry: leadership through cost, differentiation or a focused strategy. However, in addition to ascertaining just which strategies undergo implementation, it is also pertinent in determining just which strategy drives the best financial performance for private fitness centres given that private centres may only remain in the market when achieving financial sustainability. Therefore, this paper seeks to provide information for managers as regards the strategies implemented and their impacts on the financial performance of private fitness centres.
Several authors developed predictive analytic models that link the value that represents customers to a firm (i.e., customer lifetime value) to several outcome variables, such as customer ...profitability, in relationship marketing. However, similar models that link the value that customers perceive and firm outcomes or customer responses are uncommon. To reduce this gap, we construct an analytic model that links customer-perceived value and a company’s competitive strategy, achieved through a multi-attribute model, analytic hierarchy processing, and a conceptualization of value that considers disparity between benefits and sacrifices. Operationalized in a context of industrial enterprise, the model predicts and orients a company’s competitive strategy and extends generic competitive strategies introduced in Bowman’s strategy clock mode by identifying when two strategies create competitive advantages.
An appropriate alignment between business strategy, manufacturing strategic objectives and manufacturing capabilities reportedly influences business performance positively. However, few papers ...empirically analyse this proposition for the case of Porter's generic strategies of cost leadership and differentiation, and none jointly considers all four elements. This paper integrates strategies, capabilities and performance in a single model and proposes that both manufacturing competitive priorities and capabilities, articulated in terms of cost and flexibility, are essential for explaining the link between generic business strategies and business commercial and financial performance. Within this analytic framework, we test whether companies that emphasize one business strategy rather than another achieve a better alignment and superior performance. The analyses conducted with a sample of 148 Spanish manufacturers provide general support for these propositions and contribute to a deeper understanding of the role played by functional strategies in understanding the outcomes of business strategy.
Research in strategy has identified and tried to explain four types of rents: monopolistic rents, efficiency rents, quasi rents, and Schumpeterian rents. Building on previous work on political and ...institutional strategies, we add a fifth type of rent: influence rents. Influence rents are the extra profits earned by a firm because the rules of the game (laws, regulations, and informal rules) are designed or changed to suit it. To aid the analysis of the relationship between institutional context and firm performance and to provide a structure to guide research, we develop a framework with five key components: (a) an identification of the five fundamental problems of a market economy, (b) a typology that describes the five different types of institutions that emerge to solve these problems, (c) the market-ordering mechanisms used by institutions to solve these problems, (d) the common causes of weak institutional performance, and (e) generic strategies used by firms to exploit these weaknesses of an institutional context to enhance firm performance. We highlight potential applications of the framework as well as an illustrative research agenda that can advance the development of theory to explain the emergence and persistence of influence rents.
The objective of this research was to examine Cargolux Airlines International’s, one of the world’s major dedicated all-cargo airlines, strategic position in the global air cargo supply chain. To ...achieve this objective, a qualitative research approach was used. The data gathered for the study was examined by document analysis. The strategic analysis of Cargolux Airlines International was underpinned using Porter’s Five Forces Model. The study found that Cargolux has developed an extensive portfolio of products that satisfy discrete air cargo market segments’ requirements. The airline has also entered strategic partnership agreements with Emirates SkyCargo, Nippon Cargo Airlines (NCA), and Oman Air, which has enabled the partners to expand their route networks and to better optimize their available air cargo capacities. Cargolux has also established Milan-based Cargo Italia, which focuses on serving the important Italian air cargo market. The airline has also developed a successful two hub strategy in conjunction with one of its major shareholders, Henan Civil Aviation and Investment Company (HNCA). In 2017, Cargolux commenced a journey of transformation with the introduction of the “Cargolux 2025 Strategy”. A limitation of the study was that Cargolux’s annual revenues were not available. It was, therefore, not possible to analyze the airline’s revenue performance.
The present work takes into account the consistency of five reference points considered as highly significant for the current strategic management: the strategy, the competitive advantage, the five ...forces model, the VRIO framework and the generic strategies. They have been selected by taking into account both the frequency of their use in the textbooks, and also the consequences they have generated in the field theory and research. The study starts by considering the main reference points which assume the role of defining the selected concepts, in order to develop an analysis by highlighting their debatable features. The relation between concepts and virtual implications of the current stage in their development represents an implicit aim of this work. The methodological framework approached considers, as preliminary elements, the works referring the concepts in question and the significant milestones related to their approval. The next step is to take into account some critical references, assuming positions that contradict those promoted by the previous works. They enjoy a fairly limited popularity, which makes them more interesting for the development of an approach which counterbalances the standardized textbooks, characterized by a lush amount of bibliography that complies with the official trend. The methodology used is of qualitative type. At the first stage, an analysis of concept definitions and proximate elements is developed. Afterwards the results of certain empirical studies validating the concepts discussed are taken into account. Their results relate to the critical positions assumed by studies which raise an amount of relevant points of discussion. A logical filter has been used in order to mitigate the groupthink oriented effect caused by the appraisal of concepts in the American textbooks. In an absolutely predictable manner, the analysis results are able to temper the academic conformism involved in the dissemination of strategic management. One can infer there is enough evidence available for questioning the reliability of the whole field structure involved in the economic sector. An extreme frailty can be distinguished for a great amount of concepts and connected elements, a frailty able to generate insurmountable dilemmas for the practical use. The discussion dealing with the weak points of the researched concepts questions the reliability of the results acquired by empirical research, considered as relevant by the supporters of the current situation in the theory development. In practice, the problem of utilizing the tools derived from the studied concepts will be addressed, due to the fact that the results will be influenced by the problems identified as results of the present study. The topic selection relates this study to the category of works attempting at a more realistic approach of the “made in USA” theory. The author has selected the key concepts to be analyzed, identifying the most sensitive points involved in the theoretic elements network, developed on the basis of these concepts.
The article discusses the participatory elaboration of strategies for sustainable regional development in an Alpine tourist region in Austria to cope with global change effects evolving locally, ...considering climate change, economic change as well as (local) societal change. Local stakeholders in an Alpine village in the Montafon region contributed in workshops to achieve the final results: participant teams conducted system analyses of the regional system to explore key elements of the region. Narrative scenarios described possible positive and negative development trends and indicated the critical issues controlling future development; 3D-images of landscape transition simulations show the consequences of certain development directions. Alternative development directions supported the local stakeholders to elaborate regional development strategies. In the end, the scientist team derived generic strategies for Alpine regions based on the locally developed strategy bundle. The article presents the intention, progress and outcome of the participatory approach and elaborates the potential to derive generic strategies from local ones and discusses the possibly occurring conflicts regarding cross-scale transfers of these local strategies. Overall, tourism was seen as a key element for future regional development, which can on the one hand derogate Alpine regions and is on the other hand threatened by climate change and diminution of landscape attractiveness. The suggested development strategies will help to cope with global change issues mitigating the negative consequences on the local society and environment.
The study deals with the design of an information system for companies' manufacturers' saddlery and harness in Venezuela, which allows offering its users the possibility of developing an effective ...and efficient performance. To achieve in this paper types Generic Strategies (Porter) is analyzed and the theoretical foundations of the Balanced Scorecard (Kaplan and Norton) also runs as strategic management model that seeks to verify the alignment of the organizational functions with the strategy through structural indicators proposed by this model. The product of this study is the System Scorecard (SICMAIN), software that allows through the use of indicators to measure the management strategy of the organization. The software is a web-based system was conceived and developed under the philosophy of Balanced Scorecard of Kaplan and Norton Doctors, specially designed for manufacturing companies in the industrial sector in Venezuela saddlery and harness. It is a modular system consisting of 4 sections which are included; the registration data of the company, a loading and maintenance of indicators to be monitored, one for the analysis of balanced scorecard and for graphical analysis. The development is based entirely on free programming language (free software) such as: PHP, HTML, JavaScript and JQuery latter integrated together with other components. Under Apache server and MySQL database.
The environment in which public sector organisations operate is becoming ever more volatile, with such organisations increasingly facing the dual pressures of growing customer expectations coupled ...with significant budget reductions. This study presents an exploratory research model to uncover significant relationships between generic strategies and the business and social performance of public leisure providers, in an attempt to ascertain if generic strategies are fit for purpose in the public leisure sector. The findings suggest that low cost and price-based strategies are inadequate for service delivery. Rather, a hybrid strategy – which seeks to add value while also having a cost base that permits low prices – is deemed fit for purpose in the public leisure sector, satisfying the dual strategic agenda of public leisure providers. This study provides contributions to the strategic management, public management, and leisure services literatures.
Today, the cyber market is evolving rapidly in the networked age. In the cyber market, the traditional competitive strategy appears to no longer be effective. This study investigates the strategic ...choice differences of online firms based on their strategic capabilities and performance. More specifically, the study reviews the advantages and disadvantages of early movers and followers based on Porter's strategic topology, as well as strategic capabilities derived from Sand Cone model. The results show that early movers have more cumulative strategic capabilities than followers do in market differentiation, innovative differentiation, and cost leadership. However, early movers have better focus strategy than followers. These results have provided new insights for the scholars and entrepreneurs to reexamine traditional strategic approaches and the order of entrance effects in the cyber market.
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