In: Operations Management
describe the competitive landscape and explain how globalization and technological changes shape it
Competitive landscape refers to the circumstances in which competitiveness grows. Its analysis helps in recognizing and knowing the drivers and contextual elements that facilitate the evolution of competitiveness. It enables us to study a particular environment to understand under which situation competitiveness arises. Competitive landscape profile of a company depicts strength and weaknesses of that company’s products/services in comparison to its competitors. Nature of comparison of global industries is changing at a fast pace these days.
Globalization:
Globalization is the increasing economic interdependence among countries and their organizations as reflected in the flow of goods and services, financial capital, and knowledge across country borders. Globalization is a product of a large number of firms competing against one another in an increasing number of global economies.
It is crucial for companies to realize that globalization has led to higher levels of performance standards in many competitive dimensions, including those of quality, cost, productivity, product introduction time, and operational efficiency. In addition to firms competing in the global economy, these standards affect firms competing on a domestic only basis. The reason is that customers will purchase from a global competitor rather than a domestic firm when the global company’s good or service is superior.
Technological changes
Technology has evolved a lot in recent years. This is the age of artificial intelligence and virtual reality. As a result of these changes, the ability to effectively and efficiently access and use information has become an important source of competitive advantage in virtually all industries. It has have provided small firms more flexibility in competing with large firms.
The probability of achieving strategic competitiveness in the competitive landscape is enhanced for the firm that realizes that its survival depends on the ability to capture intelligence, transform it into usable knowledge, and diffuse it rapidly throughout the company.Therefore, firms must develop (e.g., through training programs) and acquire (e.g., by hiring educated and experienced employees) knowledge, integrate it into the organization to create capabilities, and then apply it to gain a competitive advantage.