Sustainable Competitive Position of Mobile Communication Companies: Comprehensive Perspectives of Insiders and Outsiders

Junwei Ma, Jianhua Wang and Philip Szmedra
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Junwei Ma: Changshu Institute of Technology, School of Economic and Management, No. 99, 3rd South Ring Road, Changshu 215500, China
Jianhua Wang: Changshu Institute of Technology, School of Economic and Management, No. 99, 3rd South Ring Road, Changshu 215500, China
Philip Szmedra: School of Business Administration, Georgia Southwestern State University, Americus, GA 31709, USA

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 7, 1-15

Abstract: The identification of a sustainable competitive position in enterprises is a common concern of information science and sustainable development research. Achievement of sustainable competitive position and superior performance is the first priority of business organizations. However, the existing research focuses on technology competition and light market competition. The research proposes a comprehensive framework for identifying an enterprise’s sustainable competitive position based on a two-dimensional perspective of insiders (enterprise self-positioning) and outsiders (public cognition), including enterprise technology competition identification based on technology proximity, and enterprise market competition identification based on URL co-occurrence analysis. Based on the patents collected using the Derwent Innovation Index (DII) and the URL data collected from the Internet, the sustainable competitive position of mobile communication companies is identified from two dimensions of insiders and outsiders. QAP (quadratic assignment procedure) correlation analysis shows that these two dimensions are complementary. The two-dimensional perspective is integrated to comprehensively analyze the sustainable competitive position of Huawei, and thus obtain valuable information. In order to achieve the sustainability of competitive position in the industry, mobile communication enterprises must improve their management level (marketing characteristics of management and low cost structure), and must also have the ability to break through the governance system (rigid characteristics of governance) in a timely manner, and gain the ability to create value for customers in the long run (enhancement of public cognition and public image, and customer loyalty). Meanwhile, the mobile communication industry is a typical network externality market. If the companies want to obtain a sustainable competitive position in the competitive landscape, they need to manage user’s expectations, expand the foundation of users, achieve extensive cooperation and alliances with manufacturers of complementary products, and improve the quality and reputation of their brands.

Keywords: sustainable competitive position; patent; URL co-occurrence; technology proximity; public cognition (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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