Output flexibility—A competitive advantage for small firms

Avi Fiegenbaum and Aneel Karnani

Strategic Management Journal, 1991, vol. 12, issue 2, 101-114

Abstract: We explore three theoretical perspectives that look at output flexibility as a competitive advantage for small firms as was initially described by Stigler (1939). First, small firms are more willing to fluctuate their output. As a result: second, small firms can trade cost inefficiency with volume flexibility to increase their profits; third, output flexibility is a more viable source of competitive advantage in volatile and capital‐intensive industries, and less viable in profitable industries. Indeed, the empirical analysis of over 3000 companies representing 83 industries during the 1979‐87 time period supports our theoretical perspectives. Future research directions that combine firm flexibility and other strategic dimensions are discussed in the context of providing a general strategic framework for small firms competing against large ones.

Date: 1991
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (29)

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.4250120203

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bla:stratm:v:12:y:1991:i:2:p:101-114

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.blackwell ... bs.asp?ref=0143-2095

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Strategic Management Journal from Wiley Blackwell
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Wiley Content Delivery ().