INTERNATIONAL COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE

Sources of International Competitive Advantage

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Sources of International Competitive Advantage

Introduction

In today's highly competitive world, international competitive advantage is one of the most essential strategies for a business in order to survive in it. A competitive advantage is an advantage that a firm has over its competitors by offering the consumers of tis products and services a greater value for consuming them. They provide greater value either by offering additional services and benefits, or by lowering prices of the products and services which justify possibly higher or similar prices. Nurturing and finding a competitive advantage means increased amount of profits and a business venture which is successful and sustainable over a long period of time (Porter, 2008, p. 76). Companies are constantly on the lookout for offering different types of benefits to its customers in order to gain an advantage over other firms. This study defines the actual essence of competitive advantage. Additionally, it discusses the major sources of competitive advantage that can be possessed by a company. Besides that, the successful product of Smartphone of Apple is taken into consideration in this study to find out the major sources of competitive advantage behind the success of it.

Definition of Competitive Advantage

Competitive Advantage can be defined as “enterprise in the production opening within the territory, able to provide consumers with the same quality or better than the quality of rival products at the lower price, and to get more than competitors average level of profit, then the enterprise has a competitive advantage.” (Liu & Huang, 2009, p. 89)

Sources of Competitive Advantage

Competitive advantage is the factor that makes it easier for a customer to take decision why he should buy the product from this firm instead of the other which is selling the similar type of product (Ehmke, n.d., p. 5-1). There are several sources of competitive advantage that international firms should possess in order to become market leaders. With the help of these sources of competitive advantage, firms can dominate their niche. A few of the major sources of competitive advantage are discussed as follows.

Economic Factors

The economic factor of a region within a speculated time frame is a major source of competitive advantage (Ambrosini, 2003, p. 23). For example, a company operating from India or China will have a competitive advantage over a company operating in the United kingdom or United States due to the fact that the economic conditions in India or China are more favourable with reference to labour cost and start up overhead.

Strong Marketing Strategy

The type of marketing strategy that is adopted by a firm can give it an enormous edge over its competitors. Therefore, a company should adopt a marketing strategy that is extremely unique and in accordance with the requirements of its target customers. In this way, it can have a competitive advantage over others in the field.

Superior customer or product support

Firms are required to provide exceptional customer or product support to its customers by responding in a rapid manner to the needs ...